Category: Criminal Law
Expungement Law Update
March 17, 2014 | Jon P. EricksonA bill to reform a number of aspects of the existing expungement laws has been drafted and filed with both the Minnesota House and Senate. On March 5th I sat in on a hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the House on the bill. What’s in the Bill? A summary of the bill describes the bill as “expanding judicial expungement authority over juvenile expungements; requires business screening records to keep their criminal records current; allows for eviction records to be expunged at the time of judgment; expands the scope of statutory expungement in chapters 609A; creates a path to expungement without petitioning the court; amends the factors for a court to consider in granting a statutory expungement ; amends the law governing access to expunged records; and creates additional notice requirements for expungement orders.” A couple of amendments were offered on the floor which were not opposed by the bill’s author, and the law as amended was passed out of the committee and sent to the House civil law committee. It is not expected to have much if any opposition in that committee. This is all good news. The bill is moving forward at a fast pace. No one who testified at Wednesday’s hearing testified in opposition to the bill. The current bill…
Read MoreAnoka County Holds Community Forums on Dangers of Heroin
January 28, 2014 | Jon P. EricksonAs a criminal lawyer, I have seen first hand the use of drugs and the affects on people’s lives. In the last year, our team of lawyers has noticed an increase in incidents related to the use of drugs. I read with interest a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune entitled; “Twin Cities heroin, painkiller deaths surged in the first half of 2013.” The article states that the pace of fatal prescription painkiller overdoses has increased as well as an uptick in LSD and meth use. The Criminal Defense Lawyers at BGS have seen a rise in heroin and prescription drug cases that we are hired to defend. Over the years we have seen the rise and fall of the use of certain drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines. Heroin use is now the big problem. There is street heroin, and then the sale and use of prescribed synthetic heroin. Getting Help I believe there is more that family members can do to slow down the use of synthetic/prescribed medications, and the illegal sale of such. The best way is simply to know what medications you have in your cabinet, and to keep a close eye on them. If you are done using them, we recommend that you discard them appropriately (check with…
Read MoreThe Police Have Confiscated My Property. What Can I Do?
January 6, 2014 | Adriel B. VillarrealIf the police have taken your property they have typically done so under Minnesota’s asset forfeiture laws. They can only do this in one of two cases. The first is that they believe your property is “instrumental” to the crime you are accused of committing. So, for example, if you were pulled over and charged with a DWI or DUI, then the police could take your car, arguing that the car was instrumental to your ability to commit that crime. Note that this doesn’t happen after you are convicted of the crime. This means that a good attorney may be able to help you get our property back. The second case is when the asset is believed to have come from “criminal proceeds.” That is, someone sells $100,000 worth of drugs and uses that money to purchase a house. This is less common because it’s very difficult to prove. What About Asset Forfeiture? There are also cases of judicial asset forfeiture, but a judge can only take your assets after a notice and a hearing. All the same, this can be done without convicting you of any crime. If this has happened to you or happens to you in the future, know that you must move very fast if you want your property…
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