The police are a crafty lot. They will go to great lengths to catch a citizen who had no intention of ever committing a crime. They will use the internet to lure their unsuspecting prey into a trap by using a bait and switch tactic. I represented a doctor in Duluth, Minnesota who was charged [...]
CONSENT SEARCHES. You may be asked by a police officer to consent to the search of your person, home, or car. What should you do? Just say no. DO NOT sign a Consent to Search form. The police will make all kinds of dire threats to gain your consent to search, such as: (1) we [...]
In Minnesota, the entrapment defense may be used in a criminal case to combat government overreaching and obtain an acquittal. In order to prevail on the defense, a defendant will need to establish by a "fair preponderance of the evidence" that the government induced him to commit the crime. Inducement occurs [...]
How do the police set you up on a typical sex sting operation in Minnesota? The police may start by placing an ad on Backpages which reads something like, "Naughty Little Play Things." The ad will list the girls ages at 18. A person who responds to this ad will soon be entrapped by the police through the use of [...]
The answer to this question depends on whether or not your confession was voluntary. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow the prosecution to use an involuntary confession against you at trial. When determining voluntariness, Minnesota courts look to see if the defendant's will was overborne at the time of the confession by the police through the use of [...]
I recently defended two clients in Anoka County who were charged with misdemeanor prostitution. The stakes were high as both clients had green cards and a conviction would jeopardize their chances of becoming U.S. citizens. The Coon Rapids Police Department designed an online ad to capture the attention of men interested in paying money for sex. The ad [...]
How Many Controlled Buys Does it Take? The informant plays a valuable role in a successful Minnesota drug bust. The informant could be a first time citizen informant with no criminal history performing his civic duty. This type of informant is presumed by the courts to be reliable. The informant could be a confidential informant known as a CI who [...]