The police may obtain and execute a no-knock search warrant in Minnesota when they have reason to believe that the evidence inside a home or business may be destroyed if advance warning of the police entry was given to the occupants. A no-knock warrant may also be justified in a situation where the circumstances present [...]
Officers who conduct a lawful arrest may freeze a suspected drug house while obtaining a search warrant. Officers must have probable cause to believe that evidence of criminal activity may be found on the premises. When officers freeze a drug house, all occupants will be required to stay and will be detained while other officers engage in the process [...]
It's Saturday night and you are in downtown Minneapolis with your friends having a good time. Before leaving your apartment, you smoke some marijuana and leave behind about 45 grams in a plastic bag on the kitchen table. While you are gone, a pipe bursts in your apartment and water leaks down through the ceiling of the apartment below [...]
The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects our homes against unreasonable searches and seizures by the police. A home may be search with a valid warrant but this will requires a showing before a judge of probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and the home contains evidence of the crime. Any [...]
A licensed peace officer may arrest a person in Minnesota without a warrant under the following circumstances: (1) A person who commits a public offense observed by the police officer may be arrested without a warrant. If the offense is a misdemeanor, the law requires that the person be released on a citation unless it [...]
The police have a valuable tool to find out whether or not you have controlled substances in your home. It's called the garbage search. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that whoever deposits their trash for collection in an area open to public inspection gives up their right to privacy with respect to all [...]
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 [...]
Just when you thought your express mail package was safe from government intrusion, think again. Police at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport are now free to remove any package from a conveyor belt and subject it to a sniff by a narcotics detection dog. This seeming violation of the Fourth Amendment is no longer considered an unreasonable search and seizure in [...]
Are you charged with a controlled substance crime in Minnesota that calls for a prison commit? Are there no defenses in your case and you are about to give up all hope? Help is on the way. You just need to prove to an open-minded judge at the time of sentencing that you are "particularly [...]
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 [...]
