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The Supreme Court has ruled that police must try to acquire a search warrant from a judge before they order a drunken driving suspect to take a blood test. However, this applies to individuals who may not consent to a blood test at the time they are suspected of drunken driving. The decision was made 8-to-1 in April, making it…
A Farmington man with three drunken driving convictions in eight years already under his belt was arrested in April by Lakeville Police after he allegedly fell asleep while waiting for food in a restaurant drive-thru. The man, 26-year-old Michael Marshall Simmons, was charged with first-degree DWI and gross misdemeanor driving with a cancelled license, according to the Dakota County District…
An Eagan man is accused of drunk driving for the sixth time in eleven years, according to the charges filed against him in Dakota County Court. James Michael Fossen, 29, has been charged with four counts of DWI and one count of driving after cancellation inimical to public safety in connection with the latest arrest, which occurred on May 18.…
While all States have impaired driving crimes, there are different variations of abbreviations used for them, including DUI, DWI, OWI, OUI, DWAI, and others. One of the problems with using these abbreviations is that people eventually equate “DWI” or “DUI” solely with “driving” while impaired. Many people do not realize that the term “DWI” in most States, including Minnesota, includes…
After drinking a little one night, you see the red and blue lights flashing in your rearview mirror and you worry that you might be in trouble. That’s when you ask yourself if you drank too much to be driving. There is a lot of confusion behind DWI law. Even the name can be confusing since DUI and DWI are…
On April 17, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision of Missouri v. McNeely. This decision has the opportunity to have a direct impact on Minnesota DWI law in years to come. While the extent of the impact is not yet known, we will be arguing that that this decision could be the death knell for Minnesota’s harsh…
So if you drove your Segway to a bar, got drunk, and then decided to jump on your Segway and drive it home, is it a crime? Driving a boat or an ATV while drunk is a crime, so where does a Segway fall? In January, the Minnesota Court of Appeals determined that driving a Segway while intoxicated is not…
State Representative Tom Huntley has released a statement that he was arrested early in February on suspicion of driving while drunk and he intends on pleading guilty to the charge. Huntley admitted to being arrested on February 2, according to the Duluth News Tribune. Huntley says he was driving on Highway 6 in the Deerwood area when he was pulled…
Lakeville North High School’s athletic and activities director, 47-year-old Robert Lornez Ertl, pleaded guilty to gross-misdemeanor DWI in Dakota County District Court. This plea comes after Ertl was arrested with a blood alcohol concentration of .13. After entering his plea, the judge immediately sentenced him to a year in jail, but she stayed the sentence for two years and ordered…
The numbers are in after the Minnesota State Patrol cracked down on drinking and driving throughout the entire month of December. In the month of December, a total of 2,500 impaired drivers were arrested throughout the state. The number is slightly down from the 2,600 arrests that were made in 2011 due to the statewide crackdown on DWI’s in Minnesota.…