Long Delay In MN

[countrymanl67]

What is the name of your state? Minnesota

Back on October 7th, 2006 I went to a car meet and had 5 beers around 9:30pm. By around midnight I no longer felt any affects of alcohol so I drove home. I was leaving Mankato and took the short cut back to the Twin Cities cutting mileage down to under 60 miles. I was going through a small town going 30 ( the speed limit ) and saw the 55 sighn and started to speed up. all of a sudden I was light up and pulled over for 35 in a 30. To make a long story short, he gave me the breathalizer and said I was over the legal limit. He refused to tell me the number. I did the field tests but told him I could not do the strait line test because I have cerebral paulsy and can't balence to begin with. He brought me back to the Mankato station and then to the hospitol for a blood test. He said I did not seem drunk so he was going to bring me to a motel to stay. They were all full so I ended up in jail. No ticket was issued or anything. One month later I recieved the DMV letter with a 90 suspension. Now in almost February I finally recieved a court date in the mail. It took almost four months for this to happen. My blood test was .08 on the dot. What are my best defences here? The DMV actually said I should pleed not guilty and ask for the lesser charge of careless driving because of how low my BAC was. Needless to say i'm not going to drink a drop of alcohol when going out again. I only make 15K a year and live in an expensive state.

 

[seniorjudge]

Standard answer

Here are some hints on appearing in court:

Dress professionally in clean clothes.

Do not wear message shirts.

Don't chew gum, smoke, or eat. (Smokers...pot or tobacco...literally stink. Remember that before you head for court.)

Bathe and wash your hair.

Do not bring small children or your friends.

Go to court beforehand some day before you actually have to go to watch how things go.

Speak politely and deferentially. If you argue or dispute something, do it professionally and without emotion.

Ask the court clerk who you talk to about a diversion (meaning you want to plead to a different, lesser charge), if applicable in your situation. Ask about traffic school and that the ticket not go on your record, if applicable. Ask also about getting a hardship driving permit, if applicable. Ask about drug court, if applicable.

From marbol:

“Judge...

You forgot the one thing that I've seen that seems to frizz up most judges these days:

If you have a cell phone, make DAMN SURE that it doesn't make ANY noise in the courtroom. This means when you are talking to the judge AND when you are simply sitting in the court room.

If you have a ‘vibrate’ position on your cell phone, MAKE sure the judge DOESN'T EVEN HEAR IT VIBRATE!

Turn it off or put it in silent mode where it flashes a LED if it rings. AND DON'T even DREAM about answering it if it rings.”

(Better yet, don’t carry your cell phone into the courtroom.)”


Here are six stories that criminal court judges hear the most (and I suggest you do not use them or variations of them):

1. I’ve been saved! (This is not religion specific; folks from all kinds of religious backgrounds use this one.)

2. My girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter/wife/ex-wife/niece/grandma/grand-daughter is pregnant/sick/dying/dead/crippled/crazy and needs my help.

3. I’ve got a job/military posting in [name a place five hundred miles away].

4. This is the first time I ever did this. (This conflicts with number 5 below, but that hasn’t stopped some defendants from using both.)

5. You’ve got the wrong guy. (A variation of this one is the phantom defendant story: “It wasn’t me driving, it was a hitchhiker I picked up. He wrecked the car, drug me behind the wheel then took off.” Or, another variation: “I was forced into it by a bad guy!”)

6. I was influenced by a bad crowd.

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?p=854687#post854687

Public defender’s advice

http://newyork.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/70300494.html


Other people may give you other advice; stand by.

 

[BigMistakeFl]

BigMistakeFl

If you want to fight the charge, you'll need a lawyer to do so. You need the lawyer for your first appearance. Public defender may be an option, if you can prove financial need. You admitted having consumed alcohol and you did something that made the cop think you were impaired, and your BAC showed the same.

 

[SillyPuddy]

You're lucky you live in a state where you can plea bargain DUI's. Where I live the law prevents any plea bargaining.

I'd suggest you try what the DMV recommended.

However, there's a twist to your case. You have Cerebral Palsy and you were a .08 BAC. That's a double whammy. Maybe they'll cut you some slack because you're handicapped or they could think that you're potential impairment from a combination of palsy and alchohol enhances your case to a higher level of seriousness.

 

[Bretagne]

Plea bargaining could be a mistake for you in this case. The time may have already lapsed when you could have challenged the implied consent revocation of your license. As soon as the BCA got the blood work done, the criminal charges followed and the DMV has "Implied Consent Revocation--.08 or more" on your driving record. Any future offense can be aggravated b/c of that, regardless of what you plead to. You only have 30 days from the date you received a Notice and Order of Revocation to bring a Petition for Judicial Review.

Depending on the county your case is in, most MN counties have a "standard first-time offender sentence" which is generally a fine of $400 or so, payment of court costs, stayed jail time, one year probation, and alcohol awareness class or MADD panel.

If you plead as charged, and this is your first impaired driving offense, you will qualify for the 30-day administrative turn-around. That means you can get your DL reinstated in 30 days instead of 90. You still have to pay the $680 reinstatement fee and take the written test again.

If you plead to the amended charge of careless driving, which most prosecutors will do for you on your first offense, the risk is that your insurer will see "careless driving" on your record as a seperate offense. Your insurance company will see the original IC Revocation .08 or more that came on your record earlier, and your careless driving which will come on after you plea, and will have a hard time believing those two events are from the same incident. Your premium might get bumped more b/c the insurer will see two negative things that happened in a short period of time.

If you plead guilty as charged, your insurance company can figure out that the two notations on your record are from the same event. So, I would check with your insurance agent. The only benefit to pleading to the careless would be a slightly lighter fine, maybe no stayed jail time. Both offenses are misdemeanors, both have the same collateral consequences to your record. You will be ordered to do the alcohol awareness training regardless. Both have the same maximum sentences under the law.

 

[countrymanl67]

Thanks for the advise. As far as jail time, I thought there usually was no jail time for the first offence? Judicial review is long gone for my case. As a matter of fact I will already have my licence back by the court date of Feb 8th. My licence was revoked on Nov 5th and will be reinstated by Feb 5th. I have to plea bargen because I want a career with the railroad and don't think that they would like a DWI on my record.