Effective January 1, 2015, all non-felony Minnesota DWI offenses are subject to expungement. The Minnesota Expungement Statute waiting periods before the DWI conviction is eligible are as follows: 1.  If the individual was convicted of a misdemeanor DWI, expungement may be granted 2 years after the completion of the sentence; 2.  If the individual was… Read more »

In my previous article, I discussed the 2015 statutory changes to the Minnesota Expungement Law and explained the eligibility requirements to get your criminal records sealed.  In this article, I will discuss the factors the court must consider once a petition for expungement has been filed. Pursuant to Minnesota Expungement Statute § 609A.03, the Court… Read more »

According to today’s Star Tribune, the preliminary numbers from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety show that 84 more drivers were arrested for DWI this year than last year.  In 2013, 2,453 people were arrested for DWI over the Holidays but 2014 saw an increase to 2,537 DWI arrests for the same time period.  The… Read more »

According to today’s Minnesota Star Tribune, Minnesota has emerged as a leader in reducing traffic fatalities.  In fact, Minnesota now only ranks behind Massachusetts for having the lowest fatality rate in the nation. In an 18-year period starting in 1994, Minnesota cut its traffic fatality rate by more than half. Traffic fatalities in Minnesota decreased… Read more »

Do you want to erase your criminal conviction? As of January 1, 2015, it became much easier to expunge or “seal” criminal arrest or conviction records.  Previously, judges in most cases could only seal the court records pertaining to a crime as they had no inherent authority to expunge the records held by the various police… Read more »

On November 26th, law enforcement officers started a “DWI Enforcement and Awareness Campaign”.  The campaign was timed to start the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving as the State Patrol claims it is one of the “biggest drunk driving days” of the year. The campaign is a state-wide multi-agency effort and it will run every weekend through December 27, 2014…. Read more »

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported today that Michael Vanwager pled guilty on Monday, in Hennepin County District, to criminal vehicular homicide.  On July 22, 2014, Vanwager hit another vehicle and stopped at the scene.  But instead of exchanging information with the woman whose vehicle he hit, Vanwager took off and sped away at a high… Read more »

According to an article published today in the New York Times, most people who drink to excess are not alcoholics.  A government survey of 138,100 adults showed that 90% of people who drink to much are not addicts and “can change their behavior with a little–or perhaps a lot of–prompting”. Twenty-Nine percent of the population… Read more »

Minnesota has DWI speciality courts in 16 of its 87 counties and in a two year study, funded with a $500,000 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it was found that the re-arrest rates for those individuals completing the Minnesota DWI Court program was dramatically less than for those individuals who went through the… Read more »