Just before Thanksgiving, this blog reported that law enforcement in Minnesota planned to ramp up enforcement of Minnesota’s tough laws against driving while impaired. Not surprisingly, increased enforcement of Minnesota DWI laws is planned throughout the holiday season. Local police and state troopers across the state are participating in the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign throughout Minnesota during the entire month of December.
One tally indicates that local and state agencies will add 8,500 extra hours of DWI patrols during December on Minnesota’s roads. Each year, roughly 30,000 drivers are pulled into the legal system on DWI allegations. Complicating matters even further are the civil proceedings that can arise after a DUI or DWI arrest in Minnesota.
Cars can be seized for forfeiture in some cases. Driver’s licenses are put in jeopardy after a DWI arrest and any challenge to the license revocation is a separate matter from the criminal DWI charge. The timeline to challenge a DWI license revocation is short. As this blog has reported, a charge of driving after cancellation only makes matters worse.
It is important to note that Minnesota DWI laws have been made stricter. Most Minnesotans know that the legal limit for blood alcohol is 0.08 percent. However, Minnesota law now requires that a driver install an ignition interlock device after a DWI conviction for an offense involving evidence of an alcohol concentration of 0.16 percent or more, even on a first-time DWI offense.
People charged with a DWI in Minnesota have a right to challenge the state’s case in court. Drivers charged with DWI also can challenge the associated license revocation or vehicle forfeiture, but those civil matters operate outside of the criminal case. It is important to speak with a seasoned Minneapolis and St. Paul DUI/DWI defense lawyer as soon as possible after a DWI arrest for an assessment of a case and to learn what implications, both in the criminal case and associated civil cases, may be involved.
Source: Hometown Source, “Added DWI enforcement rolls out in December,” Dec. 1, 2011
