Minnesota Criminal Defense Lawyer

Last year, an 18-member Minneapolis SWAT team stormed an apartment searching for a drug dealer, narcotics, and a gun. They found none of the above, but did severely injure one of the residents and are now paying for their mistake. The Minneapolis City Council approved a $1 million settlement for the woman injured in the raid, though this wasn’t the first nor the costliest settlement paid out after a grenade thrown by police. read more

A law created to fight organized crime and racketeering is now being used to prosecute people for robbery in the federal courts. So, while robbing a McDonald’s might not pay off big financially, your offense could pay off in a horrible way if you are confronted with what’s known as the Hobbs Act. read more

Police in Maplewood are deploying new automatic license plate scanner technology to find scofflaws, stolen cars, and anyone else on the roads who might be sought by police. And in doing so, they are logging your location whenever you drive by a police vehicle with these systems on-board.

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A Minnesota Public Radio report this week provides a unique look at crime in the city of Rochester. Despite falling crime rates over the last several years, the perception of the city as a dangerous place has grown. In a scene that could be nearly any city in this country, people are frightened of the potential criminality of others even when that criminality doesn’t materialize. read more

A judge is now facing allegations of misconduct after making his displeasure of an advocacy group known in the middle of a sentencing hearing. Judge Jack Nordby is reportedly on record calling out the WATCH group’s volunteers, saying their mere presence is intimidating and distracting. He now faces an investigation by the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards. read more

Handling twice the number of cases recommended by the American Bar Association, Minnesotan public defenders are asking the State Judicial Council to lend them some assistance, namely by removing some cases from the courtroom altogether. Non violent cases, they say, are taking up too much time and using valuable resources. read more

In a great piece this week in the Post Bulletin, staff writer Christine Beech takes some time to reflect on crime rates, what’s needed to reduce them, and the broken system in general. While she acknowledges punishment for criminal behavior is necessary, she makes a good argument for everyone to get involved in helping reintegrate the members of society who may have gone astray of the law. read more

In light of a gun death rate already exceeding the number of gun deaths in all of 2009, officials in the city of Minneapolis are letting people know, they won’t be relaxing weapons laws or penalties against violators any time soon. According to the Star Tribune, a news conference this week was the scene for officials to make their tough stance known. read more

It’s not often you see DNA evidence used to solve a crime. Really. Television shows like CSI are more likely to use it than actual police departments. It’s even rarer to use it on a theft case. However, that’s just what happened with a case out of Farmington. read more

In more and more criminal cases, Minnesota judges are banning defendants from using the Internet while they await trial or even as a condition of their probation. While it’s typically used in cases involving crimes over the Internet, defense attorneys and others are wondering if the sanction goes too far. read more