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Minnetonka DWI Lawyers

1. Beckman & Steen: Family Law, Personal Injury, Probate, Wills and Estates, and Criminal Law
2. David Kelly: Blood Alcohol Information Page
: Drunk Driving defense lawyer/attorney, DWI/DUI law, handling charges filed in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Golden Valley, Plymouth, Minnetonka, MN. Get license back, limited license for work. Your rights concerning plates and vehicles. Taking and passing the "DWI Test." LIMITED LICENSE WAITING PERIODS Click here or on the following link to see the chart showing waiting periods which are required before a DWI defendant is allowed to get a limited license - sometimes called a hardship license. This has to be one of the most useful items on my entire site. As far as I know, it's not available anywhere else on line. Nothing else I've ever seen summarizes the rules about temporary driver licenses as well. It is a fax which I obtained from one of the driver evaluators at the Department of Public Safety. It's actually the second one I have received, since the first one became outdated after a recent change of the law. I wondered for years how the driver evaluators could keep such good track of the rules, and I finally asked an evaluator one day if he had some sort of handout he was using. The guy not only had it, but offered to fax me a copy. You'd think they would post this somewhere on the state web site, but so far I have not found it. A limited license can be used to drive to and from work or to and from school. It can also be used for school-related or work-related driving. For example, if you have to bring a child to day care so you can work, dropping and picking up from day care can be included. If you are in need of regular medical treatment or therapy, medical-related driving should beincluded as well. To get this license you have to: 1. Pay a reinstatement fee, which is currently $680. 2. Take and pass the written DWI test. 3. Speak with a person called a Driver Evaluator about the times and places you need to drive. The license will specify where and when you can drive, and you would be well advised to stay within those limits. w
3. Paul Ahern: A DWI in the State of Minnesota is a serious crime that requires an aggressive and knowledgeable defense. Many judges will place even a first-time offender in jail. There are mandatory jail sentences for repeat offenders and even first-time offenders who test .20 or more. There are additional penalties to ones drivers license, automobile forfeiture and higher insurance rates, and in many cases forfeiture of your automobile.
FRACTURED HISTORY OFÊ MINNESOTA DWI LAW Sometimes when I ask a potential client if the charge is a "DWI," the potential client responds, "No, itÕs a DUI" (like itÕs something different). Then I am often asked, "And what is this Drive and Test .08 in 2 Hours stuff mean?" Here is my entertaining explanation (rather than the boring legal explanation): Way back in the era of the cave man, the wheel was invented. Then people learned how to have an animal pull a wagon. Around that same time, people learned that certain sugary beverages could be fermented. While this made the sugary juices taste funny, consuming them produced a euphoric effect that those primitive people found pleasing. Soon, people found that they could combine drinking these funny tasting beverages with riding on wagons pulled by animals. Several thousand years later, the internal combustion engine was invented. Soon thereafter, one of these engines was placed on one of those wagons, and the horseless carriage was invented. Not long after that, people learned that they could drink alcoholic beverages before driving these automobiles. After a while, the government started to notice that drunk drivers were causing more accidents than sober drivers. So the government made it illegal to "Drive While Intoxicated" or "DWI." However, when these cases went to trial, jurors often could not agree on how much was too drunk. So the government started obtaining blood tests and passed a law which stated someone was "presumed intoxicated at an alcohol concentration of .15." However, some lawyers successfully argued to juries that the presumption did not apply to their clients because they could "really hold their liquor." So the government changed the laws to say that a person only had to be "Driving While Under the Influence of Alcohol" and started calling it "DUI." I still call it "DWI," because the last time I checked the spelling of the word "while," it still started with the letter "W." Moreover, the government passed a "per se" law that made it illegal to drive with a "Blood Alcohol Concentration of .10 or More," regardless as to whether one could "hold his or her liquor." The per se level has since been reduced even further to .08. Some lawyers in the past successfully argued that a breath test does not necessarily reflect an accurate blood alcohol concentration, since the breath test presumes that everyone has the average breath-blood partition ratio of 2100 to 1. In fact, persons generally will vary significantly on either side of the average. A successful DWI defense lawyer once said, "If we were all average, we would all be dead, female and Chinese." Heaven forbid that any DWI defendant was ever acquitted because of scientific truth. So the government made it illegal to drive with a concentration of .10 grams per 210 liters of BREATH (this has since been reduced to .08 grams per 210 liters of BREATH). In the past, some lawyers successfully argued that their clients consumed a significant amount of liquor immediately before they left the bar. It was argued that the last alcohol was not yet in the driverÕs system at the time of driving. These drivers were not yet under the influence or at the level of .10 (which is now.08). In fact, this type of defense is scientifically true, but heaven forbid that the truth should prevail in a DWI case. So the government made it illegal to drive and then test ".10 or More Within Two Hours of Driving."Ê Now the government only has to prove ".08 or More Within 2 Hours of Driving." Then the following was argued: "But I wasnÕt even driving;" so the government made the law apply to just "operating a motor vehicle." "But I wasnÕt even operating a motor vehicle." So the government made the law apply to "being in physical control," which is just about anything if one is in the driverÕs seat with the keys nearby. "But I work around hazardous chemicals which can be misidentified as alcohol by that breath testing machine." So the government passed a law which made it illegal to "Drive Under the Influence of a Hazardous Chemical." In the original list of prohibited hazardous chemicals, "sawdust" was included. BOTTOM LINE: In the evolution of man, we have evolved from happy, drunken cavemen riding in their wagons with no government interference to a society where the government has at one time tried to stop us from "Driving, Operating, or Being in Physical Control of a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence of Sawdust." Although sawdust has since been deleted from the list, the DWI laws just keep getting tougher. However, police officers are still human and make mistakes which can help you win your DWI case, often regardless of whether you were driving badly or were drunk. Their breath testing machines and blood and urine tests are not perfect and are often maintained with the level of proficiency that one would expect from our undermanned government with its often unmotivated workforce. Criminal defense attorneys must continue to be creative in asserting their clientÕs innocence, the StateÕs problems in proving cases, and in identifying police misconduct.
4. Dennis Dalen: The crime of drunk driving is generally defined in two ways: (1) having a blood alcohol content above the limit set by law, or (2) driving under the influence of alcohol. To find a person guilty under the first definition, a jury (or judge) must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the person's blood alcohol content (BAC) exceeded a certain amount. In most states the legal limit is .08 percent. Therefore, if it is proved that the person's BAC at the time of the incident was .08 percent or greater, he or she can be convicted of drunk driving, regardless of how much alcohol was actually consumed. As a practical matter, one drink would almost certainly not lead to a BAC of .08 percent or greater; generally, a person needs to have five drinks in an hour to develop a BAC of .08 percent. However, if there was something unique about the person or the drink, or other circumstance, one drink could raise the BAC above the legal limit. In contrast, the second definition does not refer to any particular BAC. It focuses on the driving behavior of the person; if it is impaired by the person's consumption of alcohol, he or she can be found guilty of drunk driving. Instead of presenting evidence of the BAC to a jury, the prosecution seeking a conviction under this definition generally presents testimony about the person's driving and consumption of alcohol. A police officer will often describe the impaired driving that lead him to pull the person over and the person's ability (or lack thereof) to perform field sobriety tests, such as walking a straight line. Evidence is also usually presented concerning the person's consumption of alcohol and if the jury then concludes that the prosecution has met its burden of proof, it will convict the person of drunk driving. A susceptible person may exhibit impaired driving after one drink and therefore be convicted of drunk driving.
5. Brennan Law Office: Misdemeanors are on the low end of the spectrum of crimes, each punishable in Minnesota by a $700 fine or 90 days in jail, or both. The typical first time DUI offender is charged with up to five misdemeanors and is facing jail time. Repeat DUI offenders face vehicle forfeiture and impoundment of license plates. Drivers' license problems are in addition to and separate from the criminal charges. The role of a good lawyer in these cases is to guide the client through the legal maze and lessen the penalties through negotiation or litigation. Gross misdemeanors are offenses punishable in Minnesota by a $3,000 fine or up to 1 year in jail, or both. Felonies involve sentences of over one year in jail and result in loss of your civil rights.