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In late June the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a traffic stop following a fake “fire drill” at a Mankato intersection was reasonable under the law. In general, the Fourth Amendment does not allow officers to conduct an investigatory stop without a sufficient level of reasonable suspicion that some kind of unlawful conduct is happening. That is a simple hunch that something is awry is not a proper basis for police to stop a vehicle.
We have discussed the issue of warrants in drunk driving investigations—an issue that was highlighted recently when the United States Supreme Court ruled that in a routine DWI investigation law enforcement acted improperly in seeking a blood sample without a warrant. The high court ruled the defendant’s constitutional rights were violated.
A woman who had been accused of driving while impaired by drugs, felony drug charges and other offenses reportedly agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor DWI and felony drug possession charges in exchange for a probationary sentence that may allow her to avoid having the felony conviction entered onto her permanent criminal record.
The idea of cellphone use in a motor vehicle has garnered a great deal of attention in recent years across the country. Some commentators and highway safety officials say that distracted driving is an epidemic. Yet, law enforcement often receives reports via cellphone from motorists reporting pother drivers.
A wildlife official in the desert Southwest says that he noticed a woman having difficulty mooring a boat on Lake Mead over the weekend. Officials say that the woman was alone on the boat Friday as she tried to moor the boat. The woman turned out to be Erin Brockovich, an environmental activist who became well-known after she was portrayed by Julia Roberts in a movie named after Brockovich.
Earlier this week, we opened a discussion of a recent recommendation from the national Transportation Safety Board suggesting that states lower the driving while impaired threshold from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent blood alcohol concentration.
When someone is charged with a crime in St. Paul, there must be sufficient evidence that supports the charge. While the evidentiary requirement is far lower than what is needed to convict someone, a grand jury cannot indict someone on a crime unless there is some form of credible evidence. If someone is charged with no evidence, however, a judge can dismiss the charges for lack of evidence, which is what a judge did after actor Jeffrey Wright’s breath test indicated he had no alcohol in his system following an arrest for drunk driving.
It’s the time of year when the Supreme Court of the United States issues its decisions and nearly every year a few of them have some serious ramifications on criminal defense. Anyone in Minneapolis who read about the ruling in Salinas v. Texas knows that this will have a negative effect on criminal law and defendants’ rights.
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