Criminal Defense

Can I Use Medical Marijuana at Work? Minnesota’s Medical Marijuana Law has been around for about a year-and-a-half now. Over 600 patients have successfully registered to receive medical marijuana. While the Minnesota Medical Marijuana Law offers protects registrants and medical marijuana users from certain civil and criminal penalties, the law doesn’t provide a blank check for registrants to use wherever, whenever, or however...

A PROBABLE CAUSE SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE IS YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A LAWFUL WARRANTLESS VEHICLE SEARCH. If the police have probable cause to believe that contraband or other evidence of a crime is hidden somewhere in a vehicle, the officer may conduct a warrantless vehicle search.   This probable cause warrant exception authorizes a search of every part of the vehicle that could...

ANOTHER EXCEPTION TO THE SEARCH WARRANT REQUIREMENT IN THE MOTOR VEHICLE CONTEXT IS KNOWN AS A WEAPONS SEARCH EXCEPTION. The weapons search exception allows a police officer to conduct a limited pat-down search of a suspect’s outer clothing without a search warrant in order to find dangerous weapons that might be used against the officer during the traffic stop. There...

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that police need a search warrant to test a driver’s blood alcohol content following a DUI arrest. Missouri v. McNeely refuted the state’s argument that the body’s natural elimination of alcohol creates an automatic exception to the warrant requirement.   Before this decision, police officers got around the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement by arguing...

WHETHER YOU NEED A ST. PAUL CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER FOLLOWING A RECENT ARREST MAY DEPEND ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE POLICE ENCOUNTER. Minnesota police officers have a limited right to approach a stopped vehicle in public. An officer does not seize a driver under the law if the officer approaches an already stopped vehicle and simply asks the driver for his...

VEHICLE SEARCHES IN PLAIN VIEW EXCEPTION Continuing the discussion on warrantless vehicle searches, the plain view exception also allows police officers to seize evidence of a crime that is in plain view or plain sight. As long as the police officer has a right to be in the position he is in when he views the contraband, the officer...

As noted in our earlier post, Minnesota police officers need reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before they can lawfully stop a motor vehicle within their jurisdiction. This is a very low standard. Police officers can stop a motor vehicle for the simplest of offenses, including driving on the shoulder and crossing the center line. But what if an officer conducts a...

WHAT EXACTLY IS A PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE? Every criminal defendant is entitled to a presumption of innocence. But what does this really mean? It sure doesn’t seem like an accused is presumed innocent if he’s sitting in jail on a massive bail.  Or sitting in front of a jury with a criminal defense lawyer listening to a judge read off the...

WHY SHOULD I HIRE AN ATTORNEY FOR MY MINNESOTA DUI CASE? This is a very common question.  Many people think a DUI is pretty straightforward and there isn’t much a DUI attorney will be able to do for their case.  This is true in some cases.  DUI attorneys aren’t magicians.  We can’t inject facts into a case that would...