Minnesota DWI Lawyer Blogs on Minnesota DWI: This Week's Featured Minnesota DWI Case

The Minnesota Case of the week is State v. Bacigalupo, an unpublished decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals (issued January 19, 2010). In Bacigalupo, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that an individual may be convicted and sentenced for both a Felony DWI and the offense of Driving After Cancellation.

Minnesota Statute § 609.035 provides that an individual can be convicted of only one offense arising out of the same transaction or occurrence.  So for example, if you are stopped for speeding, running a stop sign or some other traffic offense and are subsequently arrested for DWI as the result of the traffic stop, you can only be convicted of one offense arising out of your driving conduct.

There is, however, an exception for a "license status" offense.  So if your license is suspended, revoked or cancelled, at the time you commit the DWI, you can be convicted and sentenced for both the DWI and the "license status" crime.  The theory is the license status crime is an ongoing offense and is not dependent upon, or otherwise related to, the decision to commit a DWI.

F.T. Sessoms, Minnesota DWI Lawyer

Minnesota DWI Lawyer Blogs on Minnesota DWI: This Week's Featured Minnesota Case

The Minnesota DWI Case of the Week is: State v. James Peters, (Unpublished Minn.App. 9/1/2009). The case is interesting because it stands for the proposition that if you are going to get arrested for DWI you may as well lie to the cops because you can't get in any more trouble!

In Peters, the Defendant was stopped for erratic driving and when the officer approached Defendant's vehicle, Mr. Peters told the deputy, "Don't worry about this, the Department of Justice will be here shortly and this will all be taken care of." [so whenever ever you get pulled over, be sure to contact the Attorney General for the United States, Eric Holder!!!]

The deputy asked for identification and the Defendant replied that he didn't have any but he orally identified himself as "Daniel John Peters, born May 19, 1979" . (i.e. his brother). After failing field sobriety tests, the Defendant was placed under arrest for DWI. A subsequent search of his vehicle revealed the presence of the Defendant's Wisconsin license establishing his true identity as "James Christian Peters."

The Defendant had one outstanding warrant at the time of his arrest.

The Defendant was subsequently convicted of DWI and providing False Information to a Police Officer. On appeal, the Minnesota Court of Appeals threw out the False Information conviction, reasoning:

"Minnesota law 'allows multiple convictions for different incidents (counts) arising out of a single behavioral incident, but prohibits multiple sentences for conduct that is part of a single behavioral incident.' (citations omitted). When a single behavioral incident results in the violation of multiple criminal statutes, the offender may be punished only for the most severe offense. (citations omitted). This rule avoids exaggerating the criminality of the defendant's conduct and makes both punishment and prosecution commensurate with culpability."

"The determination of whether multiple offense are part of a single behavioral act ... involves an examination of all the facts and circumstances. (citation omitted). In making this determination, a court 'must consider whether the offense (1) arose from a continuous and uninterrupted course of conduct, (2) occurred at substantially the same time and place, and (3) manifested an indivisible state of mind, or were motivated by a single criminal objective'." (citation omitted).

The defendant argues that he gave the false information to law enforcement to avoid apprehension for DWI and that the state has not met its burden to prove otherwise. The State argues that the defendant gave false information not to avoid apprehension for DWI, but to avoid being arrested on an outstanding warrant.

The Court of Appeals noted that while there is "ample and contradictory case law addressing the problem of ascertaining a defendant's motivation," the Minnesota Supreme Court case of State v. Gibson, 478 N.W.2d 496, (Minn. 1991) appears to settle the issue.

In Gibson, the defendant was convicted of criminal vehicular operation resulting in injury and leaving the scene of an accident. The Supreme Court vacated the lesser of the two sentences, concluding that the defendant, "committed the felonious act of leaving the scene of an accident in part to avoid being apprehended for any crime committed in connection with the accident". Id at 497.

The Court of Appeals in Peters then held that while, "this is a close case" ... "we conclude that [defendant's] offenses constituted a single behavioral incident". Defendant's "provision of a false name and date of birth to avoid being arrested for DWI may have been misguided and futile, but the state has not met its burden to show that his desire did not serve, in part, as motivation for" defendant.

The Court of Appeals, therefore, vacated the conviction for False Information to a Police Officer.

Moral of the Story: IF YOU ARE IN FOR A PENNY, YOU MAY AS WELL BE IN FOR A POUND!

F.T. Sessoms, Minnesota DWI Attorney, Minnesota DUI Lawyer, Minneapolis DWI Attorney, Minneapolis DUI Lawyer

F.T. Sessoms, Minnesota DWI Lawyer

Minnesota DWI Lawyer Blogs on Minnesota DWI: Why I Did Not Receive a Ticket for the Underlying Offense Leading to My DWI Arrest

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I am often asked by clients arrested for DWI, "Well if the police stopped me for speeding (or running a stop sign, failure to yield,etc.), why didn't he give me a ticket for speeding (etc.)"

The short answer is the officer can't because the client could then pay the speeding ticket and the DWI would have to be dismissed.

This recently happened in one of my cases where the client was stopped for "failure to signal a turn" and was subsequently arrested for DWI. The client received a separate ticket for the failure to signal his turn. The client promptly paid the ticket and I then moved to dismiss his DWI case pursuant to Minnesota Statute Section 609.035.

Minnesota Statute Section 609.035, subdivision 1, states:

“Conduct; multiple crimes; chargeable for one offense. Except as provided in subdivisions 2, 3, 4, and 5, and in sections 609.251, 609.585, 609.21, subdivisions 3 and 4, 609.2691, 609.486, 609.494, and 609.856, if a person's conduct constitutes more than one offense under the laws of this state, the person may be punished for only one of the offenses and a conviction or acquittal of any one of them is a bar to prosecution for any other of them. All the offenses, if prosecuted, shall be included in one prosecution which shall be stated in separate counts.”

In State v. Johnson, 141 N.W.2d 517 (Minn. 1966), the Defendant was stopped for crossing the centerline and was subsequently arrested for driving while intoxicated. The Defendant was allowed to plead guilty to crossing the centerline.

The Defendant in Johnson then moved to dismiss the DWI charge upon the ground that following his conviction for driving over the centerline, any further prosecution for conduct constituting more than one offense was barred by Minn.Stat. § 609.035. The Supreme Court agreed in Johnson that the crossing the centerline and the DWI arose from the same behavioral incident for purposes of Minn.Stat. § 609.035 stating:

“Although the statute is commonly referred to as one prohibiting double punishment, a reading of it compels a recognition that it contains two prohibitions, one against double punishment and the other against serialized prosecutions for separate offenses similar to that afforded by our constitutional provision prohibiting placing an accused twice in jeopardy for the same offense. Conceivably, double punishment can arise where a person is convicted of two or more offenses following either one prosecution where the charges are stated as separate counts or two or more prosecutions where the charges are brought separately. The double-jeopardy prohibition can become applicable when a second prosecution is attempted following a conviction or acquittal upon a previous charge. In either case, the application of the prohibitions turns on the same determination-whether the ‘person's conduct constitutes more than one offense.’ Stated another way, a defendant can neither be punished nor prosecuted more than once where his ‘conduct constitutes more than one offense”.

In State v. Corning, 184 N.W.2d 603 (Minn. 1971), the defendant stopped at the scene of an accident but left without informing the other motorist of his name, address or vehicle registration number. The defendant was subsequently stopped by the police and charged with DWI.

In Corning, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that his acquittal of the separate charge of failure to leave his name, address and vehicle information at the scene of the accident barred his subsequent prosecution for driving under the influence under the statute prohibiting serialized prosecutions, Minn. Stat. § 609.035. See also, State v. Gibson, 478 N.W.2d 496 (Minn. 1991-Criminal vehicular operation and felony failure to notify police of personal injury accident arose from the same behavioral incident, thereby precluding imposition of separate sentences); State v. Krech, 252 N.W.2d 269 (Minn. 1977-Felony charges of Aggravated Assault must be dismissed where defendant plead guilty to petty misdemeanor traffic offenses arising out of the same behavioral incident); State v. Holcomb, _ N.W.2d _ (Unpublished Minn.App. 2004-“Because the DWI and Failure to Yield offenses arose from the same behavioral incident, subsequent prosecution on the DWI offense after appellant was convicted of failing to yield was barred by Minn. Stat. § 609.035)(A copy of the opinion is attached). As noted by the Court in Holcomb:

“An individual's conduct may constitute one offense when the “offenses occur at substantially the same time and place, arise from a continuous and uninterrupted course of conduct, and manifest an indivisible state of mind or coincident errors of judgment.” State v. Finn, 295 Minn. 520, 521, 203 N.W.2d 114, 115 (1972); see also State v. Johnson, 273 Minn. 394, 397-98, 141 N.W.2d 517, 520-21 (1966). In general, cases involving DWI and another driving or traffic offense have been held to constitute a single course of conduct. See, e.g., State v. Corning, 289 Minn. 382, 386, 184 N.W.2d 603, 606 (1971) (DWI and leaving scene of accident); State v. Gladden, 274 Minn. 533, 534, 144 N.W.2d 779, 780 (1966) (DWI and careless driving); Johnson, 273 Minn. at 397, 141 N.W.2d at 520 (DWI and driving over centerline). Cases holding that offenses were separate behavioral incidents generally include at least one licensing or regulatory offense. See, e.g., State v. Reiland, 274 Minn. 121, 124, 142 N.W.2d 635, 638 (1966) (driving after license revocation and criminal negligence); State v. Reimer, 625 N.W.2d 175, 177-78 (Minn.App.2001) (discussing cases).”

In the present case the failure to signal the turn offense and the DWI were a part of the same behavioral incident. See, Johnson, supra. The DWI charges had to be dismissed as further prosecution was barred by Minn. Stat. § 609.035.

The Judge agreed and the case was dismissed!

F.T. Sessoms, Minnesota DWI Attorney, Minnesota DUI Lawyer, Minneapolis DWI Attorney, Minneapolis DUI Lawyer