Minnesota DWI DUI Lawyer, Minneapolis Criminal Defense Attorney

Posts Tagged ‘First Degree DWI’

Minnesota Felony First Degree DWI – A Case Study

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

According to Minnesota DWI law, an individual arrested for driving while impaired who had three prior DWI violations or alcohol-related driver’s license revocations within ten years of the present offense will be given a 1st degree DWI charge. An arrested driver convicted of first felony DWI can get up to 7 years in jail and a fine of up to $14,000.

So how could a DWI offender possibly get twice that penalty? - Simple he gets charged with 2 counts of first degree felony DWI. Below is a case study of just such a case and a closer look at First Degree DWI laws in the State of Minnesota.

A Case Study

According to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County on March 31, the Woodbury police arrested a 24-year-old man from White Bear Lake on Feb. 13. He was charged with two counts of felony First Degree DWI after he allegedly drove his car into a stationary cart coral near Woodbury tire department.

When Woodbury police officers arrived at the scene, the man was found using adhesive tape to cover up the extensive damage sustained to his vehicle due to the incident. The man walked toward the officers with his hands behind his back. The officers reportedly noticed he had poor balance, glassy and watery eyes and had slurred and slow speech. He then told the police he hadn’t been drinking since 1 am on that day.

A preliminary breath test was administered at the scene which showed that the man registered a blood alcohol concentration of 0.22, nearly thrice the Minnesota’s .08 legal driving limit. His blood sample analysis registered a BAC of 0.31 after he voluntarily submitted himself for a blood test at the Woodbury Police Department, just before he was transported to Regions Hospital.

The man’s driving history showed three previous DWI convictions which occurred in December 2005, August 2006 and June 2007. He was then arrested and charged with two counts of felony First Degree DWI. The recent arrest was registered in his driving record as his fourth DWI arrest within 10 years.

The arrested man was summoned to appear in Washington County court and will face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison and up to $28,000 fine if convicted of the DWI charges.

Minnesota First Degree DWI Laws

The State of Minnesota practices stringent DWI laws. Any person arrested for driving while impaired will be given a First Degree DWI charge when the offender has:

Three prior DWI violations or alcohol-related revocations of driver’s license within 10 years of the present offense;
conviction of a prior Felony DWI;
Prior conviction of a felony charge related to criminal vehicular operation or a prior conviction related to criminal vehicular homicide;

An arrested driver convicted of 1st Felony DWI may be imprisoned for up to 7 years, and pay a fine of up to $14,000.

Frequency of DWI Offenses & Penalties

The number of DWI offenses a person has during a 10 year period will determine the degree of the DWI offense along with the penalty.

First DWI offense within 10 years - A jail term of up to 90 days, a maximum fine of $1,000, mandatory counseling classes, possible suspension of driver’s license for up to 90 days.

Second DWI offense within 10 years – A mandatory jail term of 30 days or a possible maximum jail time of up to one year, maximum fine of $3,000 and a possible driver’s license suspension for 180 days.

Third DWI offense within 10 years – A mandatory jail term of 90 days or up to 1 year, maximum fine of $3,000, and a possible driver’s license suspension for one year or cancellation of driving privileges for the reason of “inimical to public safety”.

Fourth DWI offense within 10 years - Considered as a felony DWI charge, the penalties of fourth DWI offense include a mandatory jail term of 180 days or up to 7 years, a maximum of $14,000 in fines and cancellation of all driving privileges.

Important Note: These DWI penalties may be increased in specific circumstances such as, if a passenger under the age of 16 was in the vehicle, or the blood alcohol content was above 0.20 during the incident.

Multiple Counts of DWI Related Charges

It’s possible that an arrested drunk driver be charged with multiple DWI-related violations, or multiple counts of charges following the arrest. Minnesota DWI laws allow multiple charges and view each count as an indication that an individual has possibly committed a particular violation. The charges are primarily used to determine the severity as well as the length of sentence, and to classify whether the committed crime is misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor or felony.

In a situation where you face separate, multiple or additional sentences of incarceration or some other punishment, an experienced Minnesota DWI attorney is capable of knowing if the law allows the sentences for such offenses to be served one after another or all at the same time.

The Proper Move to Make When Charged with any degree of DWI in Minnesota

If you’re charged with a DWI in Minnesota, regardless of its degree, you need to immediately contact Douglas T. Kans, an experienced criminal lawyer. He will fight for your rights and will do everything possible to protect you from the loss of your car, your license or your freedom as a result of a DWI charge. You can contact Kans Law Firm, LLC at (952) 835-6314 for a free case consultation and case review.

Tags: dwi charge, dwi penalties, First Degree DWI, Minnesota DWI Laws, multiple counts DWI, Washington county
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Felony First Degree DWI – A Minnesota Case Study

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

There are four degrees of DWI in Minnesota DWI law. While the second to fourth degree DWI cases are considered either a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor, a First Degree DWI is considered by the law as a felony offense and is the most serious of all DWI cases. A felony DWI charge carries a maximum penalty of a $14,000 fine and seven years of jail time.

Example Case Study

A 29-year-old Lakeville woman was recently arrested and is now facing two felony charges of first degree DWI.

The woman’s car was spotted by a Lakeville police officer on routine patrol. The car, southbound on Holt Avenue, was seen drifting to the right and nearly hitting the curb.

The police officer reported that the woman didn’t stop her car for a stop sign at Holt and 207^th Street West intersection. When the police officer stopped her, he noticed that she wasn’t able to react to the emergency lights immediately, but eventually pulled over into a parking lot.

The woman appeared to be intoxicated and the inside of her car had an extremely strong smell of alcohol beverage. She had bloodshot, watery eyes and severely slurred speech. She admitted of consuming plenty of alcohol when she was interrogated and that she didn’t have her car insured.

The police officer conducted three standard field sobriety tests on the woman, all of which registered a fail. After checking her driver’s license, the officer learned that she had a B Card restriction, although it was valid.

Minnesota First Degree DWI Laws

According to Minnesota DWI laws, any driver with a driver’s license cancelled due to a violation of driving while impaired for the third time within the period of 10 years, or the fourth time throughout the offender’s lifetime, has the option to apply for a restricted B Card license.

This license can be granted if the driver has successfully completed a treatment program and has signed a sworn statement of abstinence from consuming alcohol beverages or any other controlled substance. However, this license can be invalidated if the driver violates the abstinence restriction or consumes alcohol even when not driving.

Case Study Continued

At the Dakota County Jail, she was then asked to take a breath test. Her blood alcohol content registered .26 which is three times the .08 legal driving limit. Her record revealed previous DWI convictions in 2004, 2007 and 2009.

A warrant of arrest was issued and the woman was arrested Thursday morning. She is now held in Dakota County Jail and has a court appearance scheduled in Dakota County District Court in Hastings for her felony First Degree DWI charge.

Who Can Be Charged With Felony First Degree DWI?

Any driver who had three previous violations of driving while impaired or had his or her driver’s license revoked due to alcohol-related offenses within ten years will be charged with First Degree DWI.

Another ground for a driver to be charged with First Degree DWI is when he or she had a previous conviction of Felony DWI in the past. Also, an individual can be charged with First Degree DWI if he or she had previous conviction for a felony charge by being involved in a criminal vehicular operation or committing criminal vehicular homicide.

What Are The Penalties for a Felony First Degree DWI?

An individual convicted of Felony First Degree DWI will face imprisonment for up to seven years and will be required to pay a fine of up to $14,000.

A DWI charge must be taken seriously even if you’re a first-time offender. If you have been charged with DWI in Minnesota, you must contact a well-trained Twin Cities DWI Lawyer to defend your rights. Respected Minnesota Criminal Lawyer, Douglas T. Kans, is always ready to provide you with comprehensive legal services for the best possible resolution of your DWI/DUI case. You can contact Kans Law Firm, LLC at (952) 835-6314 for a free case review.

Tags: Felony DWI, First Degree DWI, Minnesota DWI law, Minnesota DWI penalties
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Minnesota DWI Charges: A Brief Summary

Friday, January 15th, 2010

I’ve discussed the various levels or degrees of DWI charges in Minnesota on our website or previous blog postings in the past, but one of the most common questions we receive from prospective clients is to explain the different levels of DUI offenses. So, I figured a quick review would be helpful.

There are four degrees of DWI or DUI offense in Minnesota:

First Degree (Felony) DWI;
Second Degree (Gross Misdemeanor) DWI;
Third Degree (Gross Misdemeanor) DWI: and
Fourth Degree (Misdemeanor) DWI.

The degree or level of DWI offense an individual is charged with depends on the presence of what is called “aggravating factors’. The more aggravating factors that exist at the time of an individuals arrest, then the more serious the level of DWI charge.

The aggravating factors as acknowledged by Minnesota Statute include:

A qualified prior impaired driving incident within 10 years of the current DWI charge or incident;
Having a blood alcohol concentration of .20 or more at the time of driving or as measured within two hours of the time of offense;
Having a child under the age of 16 in the motor vehicle at the time of driving or the offense if the child is more than 36 months younger than the offender.

A driver will be charged with a fourth-degree DWI, if none of the above aggravating factors are present at the time of the offense. A driver will be charged with third-degree DWI, if there is at least one aggravating factor present at the time of the offense. A driver will be charged with a second-degree DWI, if there is at least two aggravating factors present at the time of the offense. With regard to felony first-degree DWI, a driver must have at least three qualified prior impaired driving incidents within ten years immediately preceding the current offense or was previously convicted of a felony DWI in Minnesota. Therefore, other than having a prior felony DWI conviction, the only aggravating factor that is relevant to enhancing a new offense to a felony level DUI is if the individual has a prior DWI conviction or a prior DUI related license revocation within the last ten years.

Lastly, it is important to note that each and every degree or level of DWI offense in Minnesota carries with it certain complexities. Such things as mandatory jail or prison sentences, license plate impoundment, mandatory high bail amounts and motor vehicle forfeitures can exist for various degrees of DWI offenses. Therefore, I strongly advise that an individual charged with any level of DUI offense seek the assistance or advice of a highly-skilled Minnesota DWI Lawyer.

Tags: Felony DUI, Felony DWI, First Degree DUI, First Degree DWI, Fourth Degree DUI, Fourth Degree DWI, Gross Misdemeanor DUI, Gross Misdemeanor DWI, Minnesota DUI, Minnesota DWI, Misdemeanor DUI, Misdemeanor DWI, Second Degree DUI, Second Degree DWI, Third Degree DUI, Third Degree DWI
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Minnesota Court of Appeals issues Opinion on License Revocations as Aggravating Factor in DUI Cases

Friday, June 19th, 2009

The Minnesota Court of Appeals releases its newly decided opinions each week on Tuesdays at 10 am. This last Tuesday, June 16, 2009, the Appellate Court handed down a decision that could have a huge impact for individuals who have received DUI charges in the last 8 years, as well as for individuals who will receive Minnesota DUI charges until the year 2016.

In its decision in the case of Odegard v. State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Appellate Court concluded that a decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court issued in 2007 that precluded the use in DUI cases of unreviewed license revocations to enhance DUI charges is NOT retroactively applicable. The 2007 Supreme Court case was entitled State v. Wiltgen, and in it, the Minnesota Supreme Court created a new rule of constitutional criminal procedure in Minnesota, holding that any license revocation that had been challenged but not yet decided could not be used in a new Minnesota DUI charge to enhance the new DUI to a higher degree crime.

However, in Odegard, the Appellate Court decided that any convictions for DWI that were final before Wiltgen was decided in 2007 cannot be altered based on the rule pronounced in Wiltgen.

What does this mean for individuals facing DUI charges now? Here’s how the ruling in Odegard works: Lance Odegard had pled guilty in 2003 to first degree DWI. The enhancing factors that made his charge a first degree DWI were two prior DWI convictions, one from 1998 and one from 2001, and a 2002 Implied Consent Driver’s License Revocation. Therefore, with three enhancing factors in the ten year window prior to the 2003 DWI charge, Odegard was charged with first degree DWI. In 2008, after the Minnesota Supreme Court decided Wiltgen, Odegard appealed his first degree DWI, arguing that because one of the enhancing factors used to make his DWI a first degree charge was a license revocation that he had challenged and had not yet received review regarding at the time of his conviction for first degree DWI, like Wiltgen, he was entitled to have the license revocation precluded and the DWI dropped to a second degree.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals disagreed with Odegard’s argument. The Appellate Court said the point of the Supreme Court’s rule in Wiltgen was that the use of an unreviewed license revocation to enhance a subsequent DUI was unconstitutional because it denied the defendant of his due process rights, which were to have the revocation that was challenged reviewed and ruled on before it could be used to enhance another, later charge.

But the Appellate Court decided that Wiltgen should not be applied retroactively, and therefore did not apply to Odegard’s case, because his conviction for first degree DWI was final in 2003, before Wiltgen was decided in 2007.

The Appellate Court’s decision in Odegard means that everyone with a DUI charge that was enhanced due to a license revocation, if that revocation was under review at the time of conviction, cannot appeal his or her conviction on the grounds granted in Wiltgen.

Because there is a ten year window in Minnesota for enhancing DUI charges with prior DUI charges and license revocations, the ruling in Odegard means that individuals who received enhanced charges due to challenged license revocations in the last 8 years cannot take advantage of the due process protections in Wiltgen, because their convictions were final at the time Wiltgen was decided, just like Odegard’s was.

Looking to the future, because it takes 10 years for a DUI charge or license revocation to no longer fall in the window of prior convictions which can be used to enhance new charges, individuals facing Minnesota DUI charges will be feeling the effects of the Odegard decision until the year 2016!

You can check out the Appellate decision at: http://www.courts.state.mn.us/opinions/coa/current/OPa082012-0616.pdf

It is important for the Minnesota Driver to understand the significance of prior DWI convictions. If you are charged with a DUI, you should contact a skilled Minnesota/Minneapolis DWI Lawyer. Prior convictions for a DWI can be used against you at sentencing for potentially lengthy jail sentences. If you’ve been arrested or charged with a Minnesota DUI or DWI, call Kans Law Firm, LLC at (952) 835-6314 for a Free Consultation.

Tags: First Degree DWI, implied consent, Minneapolis DWI Lawyer, Minnesota DUI, prior license revovation
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Minnesota DWI Laws: The Four Degrees

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

As an experienced Minnesota Criminal Lawyer that has represented driver’s charged with Minnesota DUI related charges for over the last 15 years, I have been asked hundreds of questions over the years relating to MN DWI Laws or MN DUI Laws by clients, prospective clients, other lawyers, and simply curious people from many other professions. With the invention of our new blog, I thought it would be useful to answer, in a several part series, the most common questions I’ve been asked about Minnesota DWI Laws.

Two of the most common questions I receive are:

1. What are the different degrees of Minnesota DWI offenses; and

2. What are the differences between the various degrees of DWI offenses.

First, in Minnesota, we have four different degrees of DWI offenses:

1. First Degree DWI (Felony)

2. Second Degree DWI (Gross Misdemeanor)

3. Third Degree DWI (Gross Misdemeanor)

4. Fourth Degree DWI (Misdemeanor)

There are many differences with regard to each of these offenses, including, but not limited to, mandatory minimum jail sentences, mandatory bail and conditions of release, and the greater potential civil consequences with certain degrees (i.e. vehicle forfeitures, license plate impoundment ). I’ll will address these other issues in the later parts to our Minnesota DWI Law series, but for now, I want to focus on how a driver can go from a Fourth Degree DWI (misdemeanor) to a First Degree DWI (felony). The key is the presence of what is defined by Minnesota DWI Law as “aggravating factors”.

These “aggravating factors” include:

1. a qualified prior impaired driving incident within the ten years immediately preceding the current offense;

2. having an alcohol concentration of 0.20 or more as measured at the time, or within two hours of the time of the offense; or

3. having a child under the age of 16 in the motor vehicle at the time of the offense if the child is more than 36 months younger than the offender.

It’s the presence of any of the above factors that would cause a Minnesota Driver to go from a Misdemeanor Fourth Degree DWI, to a more serious DWI offense. The more “aggravating factors” that are present, the more serious is the Minnesota DUI offense.

It should be noted that Refusal to submit to chemical testing of the person’s blood, breath, or urine, although not defined as an “aggravating factor”, functions in the same manner. For example, a first time Minnesota DWI, in which the driver refused chemical testing , would be charged as a Third Degree Refusal/DWI (Gross Misdemeanor). If this same driver had a prior DWI within ten years, or a child under the age of 16 in the motor vehicle at the time, he or she could be charged as a Second Degree Refusal/DWI (Gross Misdemeanor).

Lastly, unless a person has a prior Felony DWI conviction or Felony Criminal vehicular homicide and injury conviction, for a Minnesota driver to be charged with Felony First Degree DWI in Minnesota, he or she must either have three prior convictions for DWI, or three prior DWI related alcohol license revocations within the ten years of the new DWI charge.

Tags: Felony DWI, First Degree DWI, Fourth Degree DWI, Gross Misdemeanor DWI, Minnesota Criminal Lawyer, Minnesota DWI, Minnesota DWI Laws, Misdemeanor DWI, MN DUI, MN DWI, Second Degree DWI, Second Degree Refusal, Third Degree DWI, Third Degree Refusal
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