Minnesota law provides for mandatory minimum sentences for certain DWI offenses. These mandatory minimum sentences become progressively more severe based on the number of prior DWIs a person has within the previous ten years. If convicted of one of these crimes it is very difficult for an unrepresented defendant to convince the court to deviate from these required minimum sentences. However, a [...]

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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA
David Lee Lasse v. 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe
The Minnesota Supreme Court rules that the “innocent owner defense” in Minn.Stat. § 169A.63, subd. 7(d) (2008), does not apply in a case of joint ownership of a vehicle if one of the joint owners is also the offender causing forfeiture of the [...]

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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA
State of Minnesota  v. Danna Back
Appellant’s second degree manslaughter conviction is reversed by the Supreme Court on grounds that the evidence used to convict was insufficient.
The case involves an apparent love triangle involving Danna Back, Nicholas Super, and the murder victim, Daniel Holliday.  Super was the gunman who murdered [...]

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Jones v. Borchardt
The Minnesota Supreme Court has reversed the Minnesota Court of Appeals and ruled that a convicted offender is not required to pay the costs of confinement that accrued before the offender was convicted.
Unable to post bail, the defendant spent eight months in an Olmsted County jail before pleading guilty to aggravated robbery. He [...]

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SUPREME COURT OF MINNESOTA
State of Minnesota  v. Pearson
Appellant Larry Demetrius Pearson challenged his conviction for first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.  In his appeal, Pearson raised the following issues:  (1) whether the trial court erred by admitting as rebuttal evidence a videotaped statement made by Pearson to a police officer; (2) whether the [...]

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