Tuesday, September 14, 2021

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

The Minnesota DW Case Of The Week is Amed v. Commissioner of Public Safety (Decided September 13, 2021, Minnesota Court of Appeals, Unpublished) which stands for the proposition that it is a refusal to submit to testing if you don't pee in time.

In Amed, the Petitioner was arrested for DWI by the Minnesota State Patrol. The trooper obtained a search warrant for the Petitioner's blood or urine. The trooper asked the Petitioner if he would submit to a blood test and the Petitioner replied that he did not like blood tests and would give a urine sample instead.

The Petitioner drank several glasses of water over an hour and a half but was unable to provide a urine sample.  The trooper told the Petitioner that he would be considered to have refused testing. The Petitioner then asked for a blood test but the trooper rejected his request.

The Petitioner challenged his license revocation arguing that his license can't be revoked unless he refused both a urine and a blood test.  The District Court sustained the revocation and on appeal, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court, stating:

"Here, the officer offered appellant a blood test but appellant declined it. Appellant asked to take a urine test, which the officer provided. Appellant then refused the urine test by failing to produce a sample, even after having an hour and a half to do so, during which appellant drank several glasses of water. Section 171.177, subdivision 2, requires only that appellant be offered both tests, not that he must refuse both tests. On these particular facts, we conclude that the officer offered appellant both tests and appellant refused the urine test, which is sufficient to revoke his driving privileges."

Moral Of The Story: If your kidneys are shy, take a blood test!

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


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