Get Your DWI Advice from an Attorney, Not the Local Paper

The most popular (e-mailed) article in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune is yet another in a breathless series on Minnesota’s DWI laws.  Star Tribune reporter, Richard Meryhew writes, “In Minnesota, there are no additional criminal sanctions for driving drunk with a child in the car, though it can be used as a factor in sentencing.”

This is wrong.

A simple DWI (4^th degree, blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08) becomes a 3^rd degree DWI if a child under 16 is in the car.  This is the same crime as a second conviction within 10 years or driving with a BAC of 0.2 or higher.  4^th degree DWI and 3^rd degree DWI are different crimes, not the same crime with different factors to consider at sentencing.  While 4^th degree DWI is a misdemeanor, 3^rd degree is a gross misdemeanor.

I spoke with Mr. Meryhew and his editor, Jeffrey Meitrodt, both of whom defended the sentence I quoted above.  Mr. Meitrodt went so far as to say that he would trust his team of reporters who write on Minnesota statutes regularly over what I thought, no matter how much experience I had as a criminal defense attorney, or whom I had talked to.

I contacted an Assistant Hennepin County Attorney in the Criminal Division (i.e., a prosecutor) who stated, unambiguously, that 3^rd degree DWI and 4^th degree are different crimes.  I followed up with a sitting Hennepin County District Court judge, who commented, upon reading that sentence in the paper, the immediate impression was that it was indeed incorrect.  When I asked the judge if these were different crimes, one for a BAC of 0.08 and no child in the car and one with a BAC of 0.08 with a child in the car, the judge replied “there is no dispute about that.”

As the most e-mailed column in today’s Star Tribune, I’m afraid Mr. Meryhew’s incorrect statement of the law will get a wider viewing than my blog.  However, be forewarned: do not go in front of a Minnesota judge having been charged of driving drunk with a child in the car and expect that your charge is the same as “simple” DWI but with different factors to consider at sentencing.  And don’t hire a reporter as an attorney.