When many of us think about our right to remain silent, we think of the things we could say during or after arrest. But there are many people who should exercise their right to silence a little bit more. In State v.

This week we looked for a case that related to the recent pages we have been adding to the website lately. We ended up coming across a case where the Court of Appeals of Minnesota had to decide whether the district court was wrong in declaring that a particular juvenile should be prosecuted as an adult. Typically, the court system in our country treats juveniles differently than adults because of the idea that juveniles simply aren’t as mature as adults and because of that, shouldn’t be held to ...

This week the Minnesota Supreme Court decided a pretty interesting case concerning the intent to sell drugs. The key word in that phrase is “intent”, but maybe a better word is “impression”. The court decided that if a person’s paraphernalia gives the impression that one may be selling or sharing drugs, that is enough for a conviction for “intent” to sell.

When most people hear that a convicted defendant is sentenced to 189 months in jail, they assume the defendant has to serve the entire 189 months. A recent Minnesota Supreme Court decision has shown otherwise. We picked this case for this week’s blog because it dispels a lot of notions many may understandably have – the notion that, when convicted, you serve the entire term you’re given.