A Domestic Abuse No Contact Order, commonly referred to as a DANCO, is a specific order that limits the contact one person can have with another. DANCOs are commonly issued in assault-related cases. DANCOs typically state that person X is not allowed to have any contact with person Y, either directly or indirectly. This means…
A continuance for dismissal, or agreement to suspend prosecution, is the next best thing to an outright dismissal or acquittal of criminal charges in Minnesota. A continuance for dismissal is self-defining, the prosecution agrees to continue (or suspend) your case for a period of time. At the conclusion of that time, the charges against you…
A stay of adjudication in Minnesota is an excellent outcome in many cases. A stay of adjudication means there will be no conviction for the offense and the charge will ultimately be dismissed if the terms of the stay are met. This type of outcome still requires you to admit fault in the case by…
A common question we get is: how can you get a DWI if you were not even driving your vehicle? These scenarios often arise when someone is sleeping in their vehicle, they are walking somewhere near the vicinity of their car, or they are stuck on the side of the road. For some of those…
Law enforcement officers across the country are trained on how to spot drivers who may be under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. Overwhelmingly, the first observations by those officers are when they see someone driving. We recently covered the 24 driving cues of DUI detection published by the National Highway Traffic Safety…
Law enforcement personnel across the county receive training on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published material. The NHTSA develops training manuals focused specifically on how to detect whether a driver may be drunk. In one such guide, it lists twenty-four driving cues of DWI detection. The NHTSA breaks down the cues into categories of…
If you lose your criminal case, an incredibly popular issue on appeal is ineffective assistance of counsel. That is, defendants believe their lawyer did such a poor job that it negatively affected the outcome of their case. To determine whether an attorney was ineffective, appellate courts use a two-part test. First, the defendant must prove…
From start to finish, the duration of a DWI case varies broadly depending on particular factors. These include: the severity of your DWI charge, the specific facts of your case, the jurisdiction, and how quickly the charges are filed in your case. There are four levels of DWI. Generally, the least severe cases will take…
A common misunderstanding is that if you get released from jail without charges, then you will never be charged at a later time. While it is certainly possible that you may never face charges later, the more likely answer is that the prosecution did not get charges filed against you in time. Either that, or…
“Don’t talk to the police without a lawyer.” Generally, the best piece of advice a person can follow when interacting with law enforcement. After all, the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel and you have the right to not incriminate yourself under the Fifth Amendment. But when do these rights attach during a DWI…