Posted: December 3, 2015 You are in pain, confused, and in shock. One moment you are driving to wrap up some holiday shopping, then the next you are surrounded by law enforcement and medical personnel. Accidents happen. That is why the state legislature created a...
We are quickly approaching the end of 2015. Where did time go? Like it or not, we are headed into busier schedules and colder weather. These finals months are filled with holiday cheer, shopping trips, and holiday plans with friends and family. Most people will get to...
Posted: October 18, 2015 Welcome to the first installment of the Sieben Edmunds PLLC Personal Injury (PI) Blog Series! I’ll begin this series by explaining the basics about personal injury. Subsequent posts will focus on specific personal injury issues in...
Posted: October 13, 2015 Just moments ago, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued its decision in State v. Trahan. The court determined that prosecuting a driver for test refusal violates the constitutional right to due process of law when a blood test was refused. The...
Posted: August 25, 2015 The Sieben Edmunds DWI Blog Series is back at it again! In our third installment, we’ll talk about the DWI necessity defense. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, necessity is “a justification defense for a person who acts in an emergency that...
Posted: August 6, 2015 Welcome to the first installment of the Sieben Edmunds DWI Blog Series! We'll explore various aspects of DWI law in Minnesota in a series of weekly posts. Think twice before drinking and getting behind the wheel after August 1, 2015. The...
The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) has announced that Samuel J. Edmunds has been named a MSBA Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist. This certification program is administered by the MSBA and approved by the State Board of Legal Certification. To become a...
People think of personal injury lawyers as if they are a type of anti-superhero (think of a mix between “The Flash” and “Spiderman” except morally corrupt). Every time there is a car accident, the story goes that a lawyer’s nose begins to twitch, he smells something...
Dog attacks are brutal. They can often result in muscle damage, permanent scarring or disfigurement, and emotional damage that never goes away. But, there are more to dog attacks than just bites and Minnesota law recognizes that. Minnesota law authorizes civil suits...
NFL running back Adrian Peterson was recently indicted on child abuse charges in the state of Texas. Much of the surrounding conversation has centered on the morality of corporal punishment and the amount of discretion parents should or should not have in disciplining...
After the recent release of a video showing former NFL running back Ray Rice hitting Janay Palmer, his then fiancé, I feel it is an important time to have some real dialogue about domestic violence. The Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women reports that at least 38...
A fundamental tenant of our judicial system is that a person is presumed innocent until the State proves otherwise. For our legal system to remain just and rational, we must adhere to this basic principle no matter how overwhelming we may think the evidence is. Ty...
In 2012, the Minnesota Legislature increased the length of license revocations that accompany DWI charges. A few different factors can lead to an increased revocation period. They include: prior offenses, testing .16 or higher, child in the car, and refusal. A first...
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Lawyers for Byron Smith, the Little Falls man accused of killing two teenagers in his home on Thanksgiving 2012, have now asked for a mistrial twice. On Tuesday, the attorneys argued statements made by the prosecutor before the trial began were...
Even those we would least expect can pick up a DWI charge. Here, a local police chief faces DWI charges after recently undergoing a domestic violence prosecution. Apparently he planned to stay on the job after being convicted of a disorderly conduct, but now the DWI...
Minnesota statutes allow the government to forfeit, or take title to, your vehicle if you commit particular types of DWI offenses. Minnesota Statutes Chapter 169A.63 sets out the types of offenses that qualify for vehicle forfeiture. Contrary to popular belief, your...
With the holiday season approaching quickly, we wanted to remind everyone to be safe and find a sober ride home. DWI patrols increase during the holiday season, and so do DWI arrests. With all the holiday parties over the next several weeks, you may well find yourself...
Minnesota Statute mandates immediate driver’s license revocation in many DWI cases. When a person submits to and fails a Datamaster breath test, or refuses testing, the license revocation is virtually immediate. (a) Upon certification by the peace officer that...