This week the Minnesota Court of Appeals took the Borg case, allowing the use of pre-arrest, pre-Miranda, and pre-counsel silence as evidence against an accused one step further, and decided that it was ok for the government to use a defendant’s post arrest silence as evidence of guilt. The case, State v. Johnson, rests...
The Minnesota Supreme Court today issued a decision creating an odd new hole in the right to remain silent. Most Americans know through movies, TV dramas and Congressional hearings that a suspect has a right to remain silent. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that no person “shall be compelled in any...
The Minnesota Supreme Court this week issued its decision in the case of Walter Jamille Randolph, a case which arose in Rice County. John L. Fossum co-authored an Amicus Curiae brief in the case along with two other former chairs of the Criminal Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. Walter Randolph was...
The Minnesota Supreme Court today overturned the conviction of a man who was stopped in Corcoran, Minnesota for traveling 66 mph in a 55 zone and charged with driving under the influence and refusing to take a blood, breath or urine test. (DWI/DUI refusing) The court’s ruling was based on an improper jury instruction...
This week the Minnesota Supreme Court extended a $75 tax on lawyers for two more years in an effort to bolster the public defense budget. The court essentially seemed to be holding its nose, saying: we caution the Legislature and the Governor, our coordinate branches of government that are responsible together for creation of...
A recent case in Minnesota raised interesting questions about the mental illness defense in Minnesota. In a lengthy examination, former Third Judicial District Chief Public Defender, Carol Weissenborn evaluated the case of State v. Anderson in her Minnesota Supreme Court blog. This is an awkward and confusing case, I leave it Carol to unravel.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals gave officers a new reason to stop motorists today. It is unlawful to drive a motor vehicle in Minnesota without displaying proper registration, the tabs with the year the plate expires in the corner. For decades, there has been a provision in the law allowing a 10 day grace...
In a 29 page opinion issued yesterday, the Minnesota Supreme Court interpreted Minnesota’s DWI Forfeiture law to mean that if spouses jointly own a motor vehicle and one loses the vehicle through a DWI forfeiture, the other can no longer recover the vehicle as an "innocent owner." In the opinion, available here, the court...
The Minnesota Supreme Court reluctantly raised annual lawyer registration fees last week by $100 a year. $75 will go to fund the state’s public defender system, and $25 will be used to help fund civil legal services. This leads to a strange situation where the lawyers who work for these agencies are taxed directly...
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