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Officials at the University of Minnesota revealed last week that senior forward Trevor Mbakwe with the Gopher basketball team was arrested in July by Minnetonka Police on charges of driving while impaired. Ultimately, he was convicted of the misdemeanor drunk driving charge and sentenced to 30 days in the workhouse, but the judge stayed 28 days of that sentence. The basketball player was given credit for two days in jail, and he was placed on probation, and given several terms to meet while on probation.
Minnesota drivers may be aware that the legal limit alcohol level to drive a motor vehicle in the state is generally set at 0.08 percent BAC. Minnesota law also allows prosecutors to pursue charges for driving while impaired based upon the testimony of officers concerning driving conduct, observations in field sobriety tests and other testimony regarding so-called “indicia of impairment.”
Most people are aware of Minnesota’s law prohibiting driving while impaired. This blog has discussed many news reports concerning DWI charges. Recently, an entry discussed a University of Minnesota survey of students regarding bicycling. While a non-motorized bike is not considered a motorized vehicle, some people may not understand how broadly Minnesota prosecutors seek to apply Minnesota’s harsh DWI laws.
The school year has obviously begun. Around college campuses, law enforcement agencies around the country typically keep a close eye near a campus-looking for evidence of alcohol-related offenses. This year, TCF stadium began selling alcohol during Gopher football games. When the stadium first opened, police received grants to step up alcohol enforcement laws near the stadium.
Many people in Minnesota may talk of “country club prisons” in which those convicted of white-collar crimes go for a few years, waiting for the end of their sentences. The idea that rich people convicted o fembezzlement in Minneapolis would somehow end up in anything short of the prisons used for everyone else, however, is preposterous. Though individuals who were convicted of white-collar charges may be in lower-security prisons, they are still in prison.
It was after a class action lawsuit filed by inmates of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program argued that their indefinite civil commitment was a violation of their constitutional rights that a federal judge ordered the state to change the program. It was after a foreign court refused to extradite a man accused of a sex crime to Minnesota, however, that it truly became obvious how horrible the Minnesota civil commitment program truly is. Calling it a “flagrant denial” of the suspect’s human rights, the court would not send the man to Minnesota even though there was only a chance that he would be civilly committed.
A University of Minnesota basketball star was relieved last week to learn that he will not be put in jail for violating his parole when he was charged with drinking and driving in July. The decision was made by a Miami-Dade judge, who concluded that the basketball player still has “the ability to turn around.”
It may be true that the purest of plans often go awry, as it seems to have been the case for a Minnesota bank president whose efforts to save a failing bank has led to a conviction for white-collar crimes. Ultimately, however, a federal district court judge gave the man a light sentence, noting he has led an “exemplary life” and is known for community service and philanthropy. He will not have to pay any fines nor make restitution.
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