The police will remove and destroy the license plates of any vehicle involved in a Minnesota DWI if the driver has one or more of the following "aggravating factors":
1. Has a prior DWI conviction or implied consent license revocation within 10 years of the current offense, or;
2. Has an alcohol concentration level of .20 or more, or;
3. Has a "B" card which prohibits the driver from consuming any alcohol at any time, or;
4. Has a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle at the time of the violation or;
5. Is driving the vehicle after the violator's license has been canceled as "inimical to public safety".
The plate impoundment applies not only to the vehicle involved in the current offense but to all vehicles owned, leased, or registered to the violator. If the vehicle is jointly registered to the violator and another person, the plate impoundment order applies to require that the plates of the jointly held vehicle be surrendered or destroyed.
The plate impoundment order will be issued by the police on the night of the violator's arrest even if the police do not have a test result indicating the violator was over the legal limit. For example, if the violator submits to a blood or urine test, the police will not receive the results of said test for several weeks or months. Under the Minnesota Plate Impoundment Law, (Minn.Stat. §169A.60), however, the police are only required to have "probable case "to believe that a violation of the dwi law has occurred and the violator has one of the aggravating factors listed above.
Since no license revocation will occur (for non "B" card violators) until the test results are known, this can lead to the absurd situation where the violator is perfectly legal to drive but has lost all the plates on his vehicles simply because he was arrested for a DWI with an aggravating factor.
The minimum plate impoundment term is for a period of one year. This can lead to additional absurd results as the license revocation period for a 2nd offense DWI or a first time over .20 or a first time DWI with underage child (factors 1, 2,and 4 above) in the vehicle is only 6 months!! A violator can be perfectly valid to drive after six months but still be subject to the vagaries of the plate impoundment law.
Specially coded license plates (i.e. "Whiskey Plates") may be obtained for the vehicle during the plate impoundment period if:
1. A member of the violator's household has a valid driver's license, or;
2. The violator has a valid license or has been relicensed or;
3. The owner of the vehicle is not the violator and has a valid license. or;
4. The violator is the owner but has a substitute driver with a valid license to operate the vehicle.
In State v. Henning, 666 N.W.2d 379 (Minn. 2003) the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the Minnesota statute which authorized stops of motorists based solely on the presence of these specially coded plates was unconstitutional. The Court held that the statute illegally eliminated the constitutional safeguard requiring police officers to have a reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity before stopping a motorist.
So if the police under Henning are no longer allowed to make a stop of a vehicle simply because it is wearing "Whiskey Plates", then what purpose does the plate impoundment law serve other than to brand the occupants of the vehicle with the scarlet letters of DWI?
F.T. Sessoms, Minnesota DWI Lawyer
The plate impoundment order will be issued by the police on the night of the violator's arrest even if the police do not have a test result indicating the violator was over the legal limit. For example, if the violator submits to a blood or urine test, the police will not receive the results of said test for several weeks or months. Under the Minnesota Plate Impoundment Law, (Minn.Stat. §169A.60), however, the police are only required to have "probable case "to believe that a violation of the dwi law has occurred and the violator has one of the aggravating factors listed above.
Since no license revocation will occur (for non "B" card violators) until the test results are known, this can lead to the absurd situation where the violator is perfectly legal to drive but has lost all the plates on his vehicles simply because he was arrested for a DWI with an aggravating factor.
The minimum plate impoundment term is for a period of one year. This can lead to additional absurd results as the license revocation period for a 2nd offense DWI or a first time over .20 or a first time DWI with underage child (factors 1, 2,and 4 above) in the vehicle is only 6 months!! A violator can be perfectly valid to drive after six months but still be subject to the vagaries of the plate impoundment law.
Specially coded license plates (i.e. "Whiskey Plates") may be obtained for the vehicle during the plate impoundment period if:
1. A member of the violator's household has a valid driver's license, or;
2. The violator has a valid license or has been relicensed or;
3. The owner of the vehicle is not the violator and has a valid license. or;
4. The violator is the owner but has a substitute driver with a valid license to operate the vehicle.
In State v. Henning, 666 N.W.2d 379 (Minn. 2003) the Minnesota Supreme Court held that the Minnesota statute which authorized stops of motorists based solely on the presence of these specially coded plates was unconstitutional. The Court held that the statute illegally eliminated the constitutional safeguard requiring police officers to have a reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity before stopping a motorist.
So if the police under Henning are no longer allowed to make a stop of a vehicle simply because it is wearing "Whiskey Plates", then what purpose does the plate impoundment law serve other than to brand the occupants of the vehicle with the scarlet letters of DWI?
F.T. Sessoms, Minnesota DWI Lawyer
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