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The attorney general recently told federal prosecutors to stop focusing on casual marijuana users in Minnesota and throughout the U.S. Instead, the attorney general told prosecutors to focus their efforts on charging individuals involved in drug cartels and other groups that sell illegal drugs to minors.
The role of a Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer is not always to clear someone’s name; sometimes the evidence of guilt is overwhelming and there is little a criminal defense lawyer can do to free his or her client. That does not mean, however, that a lawyer is useless, but rather the lawyer’s job is to ensure the trial is fair and the punishment is appropriate. For many criminal offenses, including sex crimes, a sentence may depend heavily on the evaluation of a mental health professional. In these cases, part of the lawyer’s job is to make sure that the evaluation is unbiased, because if it is not, the defendant could find him- or herself facing a long sentence in prison.
The cornerstone of the criminal justice system is a fair trial. Everyone in Minnesota who is facing criminal charges should only be convicted on evidence presented at trial, not because the charges are disturbing or because a member of the jury has a “feeling” about the defendant. There are numerous rules and regulations about how members of the jury and other parties must act while a case is going on, and if someone doesn’t follow those rules, there is a risk that the trial will no longer be fair.
Two Excelsior-based homebuilders have recently become the focus of an investigation after several clients of theirs have accused them of taking money and not paying their subcontractors. The pair are being investigated by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, as well as the Minnetonka Police Department, but no fraud charges have been filed by Hennepin County prosecutors. If prosecutors do choose to file criminal charges, the men could be in serious trouble if convicted.
Last month we discussed allegations surrounding a boat accident and the boating while impaired charges that a man is facing
With the State Fair knocking on the door, most Twin Cities residents must know that Labor Day is just around the corner. Holiday weekends generally bring out extra patrols throughout the state as police promote a crackdown on drunk driving offenses.
In a recent story coming out of Anoka County, a 59-year-old man from Plymouth has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $100,000 from a Blaine car dealership. He faces one charge of theft by swindle and could spend up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He may also be ordered to pay $100,000 in fines, too.
For a long time many people in Minneapolis-St. Paul who were arrested and charged with federal drug crimes feared the lengthy, draconian prison sentences that accompanied those charges. The country’s war on drugs has been severe, sending people who were never violent and had very little criminal background away for decades in prison. There has been some pushback over lengthy mandatory prison sentences, however, and now Attorney General Eric Holder, on behalf of the Obama Administration, is announcing a new plan to combat these punishments.