You are stopped by a police officer after leaving your favorite local North Dakota watering hole. The officer tells you he smells the odor of alcohol, inquires about your alcohol consumption, and inevitably wants you to do some field sobriety tests to see if you are “okay” to drive. After those tests, his opinion is…

Lukacris (young attorney) walks into senior attorney’s [Atticus] office and following colloquy occurs: Lukacris: Why do all of your clients receive evaluations of some sort? Atticus: What do you mean? Lukacris: I have noticed that you routinely have clients evaluated for one thing or another! Atticus: Don’t you? Lukacris: No way! I am a trial…

While you may have been enjoying the last dog days of summer and missed this big ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court, you can catch up on what you need to know now. In order to understand this recent decision and its implications, we have to backtrack to a previous court case, Birchfield v. North…

August 1st, 2018, a new law came into effect in Minnesota. In January, a young child was killed when he was struck by a snowmobile driven by a man whose driver’s license had been revoked for previous DUI offenses. In response to this tragedy, legislators have enacted a new law, dubbed “Little Alan’s Law” in…

In the real world, the criminal law arena is just as interesting as it is on television-think “Law and Order”. Similarly, we live in a world where the law is a blunt instrument, and it’s incumbent upon prosecutors to wield that instrument in a judicious manner. Case law in North Dakota grants vast discretion to…

So a younger criminal defense attorney walks in my office and the following colloquy occurs: Lukacris (pseudonym: think red devil on Tim Matheson’s shoulder in Animal House): “Where do your clients come from?” Atticus (pseudonym: think Atticus Finch in To kill a Mockingbird): “They walk through the same door you just came in!” Lukacris: “How…

Many of you are aware that it is illegal to drink and drive a motor vehicle. But did you know that you can also be held criminally liable for operating (pedaling) a bicycle while you are under the influence of alcohol in North Dakota? Yes, a bicycle, as in that old Huffy you occasionally take…