Legal Question in DUI Law in Minnesota

Re: What happens next after 1st DUI

You will pay a fine. You will not have to go to jail. You will lose your DL for at least 30 days, maybe 90. You will be eligible for a work permit fifteen days after the 7 day waiting period ends.

A Third Degree is a gross misdemeanor. Jail is likely.. up to 30 days, depending on the county. You will lose your license plates. The revocation period is longer for your DL.

My advice: Don't drink and drive EVER again.

Herbert C. Kroon

Attorney at Law

Chesley, Kroon, Harvey & Carpenter

[email protected]

Re: What happens next after 1st DUI

Certain things are the same no matter what county or city this happened in. For example, you are going to lose your license for a while. Reinstatement involves paying a fee which comes to over $700 and taking a test.

Other things vary quite a bit from place to place, and also depend on what the reading was on your breath test. Some jurisdictions will reduce a charge to careless provided that your reading was .10 or lower. Others will not.

If your reading was over .20 they will have seized your license plates. I have the impression this has not happened to you since you are not asking how to get your plates back.

Fines vary all over the place, but tend to cluster down around $400. Most seem to not be giving jail time, but some will do that too. A couple of days of Sentence to Serve, a kind of county work squad, would be more common.

The primary thing I would like you to know that you can expect is this: you can expect to be treated better if you show up with a lawyer than if you do not. Shop a bit and find a lawyer you are comfortable with. Your lawyer can help with this in many ways that you might not expect.