Minnesota DWI Attorney F. T. Sessoms Blogs on Minnesota DWI: This Week's Featured Minnesota DWI Case

The Minnesota DWI Case Of The Week is State v. Voss (Decided May 8, 2017, Minnesota Court of Appeals, Unpublished) which stands for the proposition that if you assault someone and then drive away drunk, the two crimes are not a part of the "same behavioral incident".

In Voss, Maple Grove Police Officer J.R. Ohnstad received a report of an assault in the City of Maple Grove. When Officer Ohnstad arrived at the address to investigate the report, he saw that the victim's lip had started to swell and change color. The victim stated that he was driving home when he noticed a driver tailgating him. The victim reported that the tailgating driver displayed his middle finger while continuing to follow him. The victim described the driver as a white male, with a crewcut, and reported that the man was driving a white Chevy Silverado with military plates.  As the victim turned onto a side street to reach his home, the tailgating driver did not follow him, and instead drove past him. The tailgating driver then did a U-turn and drove in the direction of the victim's neighborhood. As the victim parked his car in his driveway and stepped out of his vehicle, the other driver parked the Chevy Silverado behind the victim's car and stepped out of the truck. The driver punched the victim in the face, knocking him to the ground. The driver then raised his fist and approached the victim's mother—who had emerged from the victim's house—as if he intended to hit her, but instead returned to his vehicle and drove away.

Sergeant Steve Sarazin of the Rogers Police Department heard the dispatch report over the police radio. Within four miles of the assault and several minutes after the report, Sergeant Sarazin saw a white male with a crewcut driving a white pickup truck with military plates. Sergeant Sarazin noted the similarities to the dispatch description and stopped the white pickup truck to question the driver, who police later identified as Voss. Sergeant Sarazin noticed several indicia of intoxication, including a strong odor of alcohol, slurred and deliberate speech, and glassy eyes. As he continued to speak to the driver, a Maple Grove police officer arrived on the scene with the victim, and the victim positively identified the driver as the individual who punched him.

The City of Rogers charged Voss with two counts of driving while impaired. In a separate complaint, the City of Maple Grove charged Voss with three counts of misdemeanor assault (counts I-III), one count of disorderly conduct (count IV), and one count of careless driving (count V). Voss pleaded guilty to the City of Rogers' fourth-degree driving-while-impaired charge and sought dismissal of the City of Maple Grove's remaining charges.   At the omnibus hearing, Voss argued that allowing the City of Maple Grove to charge counts I-V would result in serialized prosecution, in violation of Minn. Stat. § 609.035.

The district court dismissed the remaining charges because the court found that they arose from the same behavioral incident.

On appeal by the State, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the District Court, noting:

"Minnesota Statutes section 609.035 bars multiple punishments for offenses that arise from the same behavioral incident. Minn. Stat. § 609.035, subd. 1 ("[I]f 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."). When a person is charged with multiple offenses, a district court must examine the offenses charged to determine whether they "resulted from a single behavioral incident." State v. Johnson, 273 Minn. 394, 404, 141 N.W.2d 517, 524 (1966). In these instances, multiple prosecutions are strictly prohibited to 'protect a defendant convicted of multiple offenses against unfair exaggeration of the criminality of his conduct.' State v. Norregaard, 384 N.W.2d 449, 449 (Minn. 1986)."

"Minnesota law provides two separate tests for determining whether multiple offenses arose from the same behavioral incident. State v. Bauer, 792 N.W.2d 825, 827-28 (Minn. 2011) {Bauer II). The first test applies only if the offenses at issue are multiple intentional crimes; the second test applies when the challenged offenses include both intentional and nonintentional crimes. Bauer I, 776 N.W.2d at 478. We agree with both parties that the second test applies. Under the second test, Minnesota courts consider whether the offenses "(1) occurred at substantially the same time and place and (2) arose from a continuing and uninterrupted course of conduct, manifesting an indivisible state of mind or coincident errors of judgment." Id. (quotation and citation omitted)."

"With regard to the first part of this test, the district court correctly found that the two offenses 'occurred at substantially the same time and place.'...With regard to the second portion of the test, the driving-while-impaired offenses and the assault-related offenses did not arise from "a continuing and uninterrupted course of conduct, manifesting an indivisible state of mind or coincident errors of judgment." Bauer I, 776 N.W.2d at 478 (quotation and citation omitted). In this case, Voss engaged in at least two entirely separate offenses. Voss committed the first offense, assault, when he parked his vehicle in the victim's driveway, exited his truck, approached the victim, and punched the victim in the face, knocking the victim to the ground. Voss then stepped back into his truck and drove away. When Sergeant Sarazin stopped Voss to investigate the assault report, he noticed several indicia of intoxication and, after Voss failed the sobriety testing, the City of Rogers charged Voss with driving while impaired, the second offense. The record conclusively shows that Voss engaged in two separate and distinct offenses— driving while impaired and assault. "

"Because the remaining counts did not arise from a single behavioral incident, and because the City of Rogers and the City of Maple Grove were entitled to bring subsequent prosecutions in separate jurisdictions due to the nature of the offenses, we reverse."

Moral Of The Story: There is nothing worse than a mean drunk!

If you or a loved one have been arrested for a Minnesota DWI, feel free to contact Minnesota DWI Attorney, F. T. Sessoms at (612) 344-1505 for answers to all of your Minnesota DWI questions.