I would always advise against representing yourself in any criminal case. If you are convicted of a shoplifting offense, you will have a misdemeanor conviction on your record open to public view. The conviction will adversely affect your ability to obtain housing and employment. Please hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to protect your future. [...]

Police are required to read you your Miranda rights prior to interrogation when you are in police custody. The failure to read you your Miranda rights could help your case. An experienced criminal defense attorney will file a motion to prevent the use of your confession against you at trial. If the defense motion is [...]

An assault charge is taken more seriously then most crimes by both prosecutors and judges since it is a crime against a person. The goal of the defense in any criminal case is to avoid a conviction and stay out of jail. The best defense, first of all, is to hire an experienced criminal defense [...]

Police are not required to read the Miranda warning to you at the time of arrest. The failure of police to read the warning does not make the arrest illegal. An arrest is valid as long as police have probable cause to believe you committed a crime. Police are required to read the Miranda warning [...]

The search of your car without consent by the police is illegal. In order for the car search to be legal, the police would need to have either consent to search the car or probable cause to believe the car contained evidence of a crime. If either one of these grounds for a legal car [...]

The police are not required to provide you with a reason for stopping your car. The police only need to have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in order to justify the stop. This is not a very high standard. Police stops have been upheld as legal for reasons such as weaving between the lanes, [...]

Effective July 1, 2011, it is illegal to possess or sell synthetic pot in Minnesota. Synthetic pot is often sold under the street names of herbal incense, K2 or Spice. Certain chemicals in these drugs have a similar effect on the brain receptors as THC, the ingredient found in marijuana. The new syntheic pot law [...]

Possession of alcohol by a person under the age of 21 is a misdemeanor offense in Minnesota. The penalty is 0 to 90 days jail and/or $0 to a $1,000,00 fine. The prosecution will need to prove that you possessed the alcohol with an intent to consume it. Possession exists where a bottle of alcohol [...]

Yes, you can still be charged with theft even though you fulfilled your agreement with the employer by resigning. Since the prosecution was not a party to the agreement, they cannot be bound by the agreement and are free to charge out the criminal offense. But as long as the employer upholds the agreement and [...]

Yes, you are free to travel anywhere in the State of Minnesota with a pending misdemeanor charge. You are also free to leave the State of Minnesota and travel to any state in the country. The only restriction would be where a judge imposed the specific condition on your release from jail that you remain [...]