The law yields a more nuanced answer. A witness has the right to legal counsel, and can retain an attorney to help assert the witness's rights. Minnesota recognizes a two-part spousal privilege. Minn. Stat. § 595.02, subd. 1(a); State v. Gianakos, 644 N.W.2d 409, 415 (Minn. 2002)... View More

The most important thing one can do if facing a criminal charge, is to get help from a defense attorney. The Minnesota Court's Rules of Evidence contain a "Rule Against Hearsay." Hearsay is an "out of court statement, offered for the truth of the matter asserted." The... View More

That would depend upon things not stated in the question. For example, if the judge's Pretrial Release Order provides for Conditional Release, and one of the conditions is "no use of alcohol or non-prescribed drugs" or similar, then smoking cannabis would violate that condition.... View More

Public Defenders are really on the defendant's side. Loyalty to the client is the first rule of Professional Responsibility. Lawyers are not required to report on clients with a warrant. Rather than focus too much on how an old warrant was executed and cleared by arrest, I'd shift... View More

Police are required to have "reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity" or an observed violation of law to justify a traffic stop. If police are "profiling" in a way that lacks that justification, then the stop could be ruled illegal by a judge. If a defendant... View More

In criminal cases, the prosecutor must file a charging document (Complaint, Indictment, etc.) before the applicable Statute of Limitations period expires. The date the defendant learned of the criminal charge is not relevant to a Statute of Limitations issue. There may sometimes be, however,... View More

Normally forever. Exception: expungement possibility. But if the defendant instead sets up a court date and gets a prosecutor to agree to an outcome that will eventually avoid a conviction (Continuance for Dismissal, or Stay of Adjudication), then upon successful completion of the period of the... View More

Some Minnesota misdemeanors are treated as "payable offenses" by Minnesota courts, meaning the defendant can be convicted by paying a fine without a court appearance. But taka a look at Minnesota Statutes Section 171.173, saying that such a conviction would trigger a suspension of... View More

Theoretically when the prosecution dismisses a codefendant's criminal charges it could have no effect on other codefendants' cases. But in practice there can be some effects. For example, it could have impacts on whether the dismissed codefendant can be forced to testify at the... View More

If you get a copy of your Minnesota Driver's License record from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety - Driver and Vehicle Services Division, it should indicate that the date of the conviction relates back to the incident-arrest date. A "disposition date" should refer to the... View More

If police have no speed measurement evidence, such as RADAR or LIDAR, the prosecution will have less evidence to present at a trial. So that is more favorable for the defendant. But, all the many considerations for defending a speeding ticket would still apply, including how to persuade a... View More

Who will do the considering, after hearing & seeing the evidence? Likely would be a judge. If the person being served could reasonably understand that they were being personally delivered papers, a judge would likely view that as effective personal service (even if the person never looked at... View More

Can a defendant move (ask the judge) to withdraw their guilty plea at a sentencing hearing? Yes. Is that a good idea? Maybe not. Minnesota has a relatively recent law reducing some "Controlled Substance 5th Degree Possession" cases from a felony to a Gross Misdemeanor if the amount is... View More

A defendant can make a motion (ask the judge) to withdraw their prior guilty plea. The judge could grant or deny that motion. Note that under the Minnesota Rule of Criminal Procedure, the legal standard for a judge allowing plea withdrawal is higher (more difficult) after sentencing than before.... View More

The defense can file a motion to suppress evidence based upon an illegal traffic stop. If the judge grants it, all evidence police obtained as a result of the illegal traffic stop would be suppressed by the judge. Almost always, this results in the criminal and traffic charges being dismissed.... View More

In Minnesota police must justify a traffic stop with "reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity" or an observed traffic law violation. These are based on facts that the officer can articulate, later to a judge. A driver must have a valid driver's license to lawfully... View More

Police can lawfully stop a driver if they observe a violation, or facts amounting to "reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity." Since Minnesota laws requires a working plate light, lack of one can be a lawful basis for a stop. If working, but police claim the contrary, a... View More

"Say I was forced to use lethal force to defend myself and children from say a carjacking?" There is too much to fit into an answer here. But I'll try to get you started in your research. First, in Minnesota such a person carrying a firearm without a permit would be charged with that... View More

Context provides meaning. A prudent driver would stop for a red light, even when the cross streets at the intersection are blocked off. But a drivers defending a citation for failure to obey a red light might defend the case arguing that the signal should be treated as a stop sign, given the... View More

We have statutes and judicial caselaw on self-defense law in Minnesota. Without attempting to cover it all now, suffice it to say that whether a jury or judge accept a defense of self-defense to a charge where applicable, will depend upon all the circumstances. But if we were to assume a... View More