Search and Seizure - Archive - Ambrose Law Firm, PLLC

17 12 '15

Bernard v. Minnesota: Why Did SCOTUS Grant Review?

Last week, we blogged here about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) granting review of Bernard v. Minnesota. Two main questions are emerging from SCOTUS’s order last week: (1) the Court reviews about 10,000 petitions each year, why did It grant review of Bernard – a state court case reviewing the constitutionality of…

12 12 '15

US Supreme Court Grants Review of Bernard v. Minnesota – Addressing the Constitutionality of Minnesota’s DWI Refusal Law

Major DWI news broke yesterday: the United States Supreme Court granted review of Bernard v. Minnesota. Out of the roughly ten thousand petitions SCOTUS receives each year, it only grants review of about eighty. This week, the Court was considering thirteen DWI cases. Making the final cut was Bernard; Birchfield v. North Dakota; and Beylund…

06 12 '15

Onus on the Driver: Your Right to an Independent Chemical Test in a Minnesota DWI Case

Do you trust the accuracy of a cop’s breath test machine? Do you have faith the state’s crime lab will properly handle and analyze your blood or urine sample? In the age of second guessing police procedures around the clock, Minnesota already provides the right to second guess your alcohol concentration level determined by the…

24 10 '15

Minnesota Court of Appeals Declares DWI Refusal Law Unconstitutional: State v. Trahan: Part II – The Impact

“[I]t was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had…

16 10 '15

DWI Refusal Law Declared Unconstitutional by Minnesota Court of Appeals: State v. Trahan: Part I – The Decision

In the upset of the week, and potentially year, the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently declared Minnesota’s DWI Test-Refusal Statute unconstitutional. Commonly, Minnesota appellate courts are incredibly conservative in DWI cases, especially in recent constitutional challenges,[1] which makes the decision in State v. Trahan surprising. In a 2-1 decision, Judge Halbrooks wrote that requesting a…

15 09 '15

How Long Can the Police Detain Me Without Probable Cause? State v. Hager

This one time, at band camp, the cops came and arrested everyone for underage drinking and drugs. Before the arrests, we were detained for at least an hour, even though only 52% of the people were drinking the sketchy pineapple vodka and 4.7% were ingesting pot cubes in unforeseen places. You may have encountered a…