State v. RD

R.D. was stopped for and arrested in Hennepin County for DWI. Because he had prior DWI convictions when he was younger, he was charged with First Degree Felony DWI.  The officer who stopped R.D. arrested him on the belief that his ability to drive was impaired by marijuana. R.D. admitted to the police officer that he had smoked marijuana only minutes before his vehicle was stopped.

R.D. was a regular marijuana user. Upon reviewing the evidence, including the officer’s body worn camera footage, it became apparent that R.D. was not impaired. The officer interrogated R.D. and required him to conduct a series of field sobriety tests. During the tests, the officer reported seeing several indicators that R.D. was impaired. The officer was wrong and badly trained. The officer made several mistakes in conducting the field sobriety tests. He then reported false indicia of impairment and placed R.D. under arrest. Along with R.D., we made the decision we would not accept any plea offers and instead planned to fight his case at trial.

The prosecutor wanted R.D. to serve time in prison. The only plea offer she made included R.D. serving 60 months in prison. At London Defense, we work alongside experts in many fields including DWI detection. We retained the services of an expert to review the evidence and write a report illustrating the officer’s errors. Within just a few days of providing that report to the prosecutor, I received notice that the prosecutor would be dismissing all criminal charges against R.D.