A Dakota County jury acquitted Eric Nelson’s client after one and a half hours of deliberation. Eric’s client was accused of Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree. The facts alleged that our client possessed a “toot straw” containing a trace amount of cocaine in Burnsville, Dakota County. No other evidence of cocaine was found in our client’s car or on his person. It was established that he did not know that the straw was in his possession.
A Wabasha County Jury acquitted Brent Schafer’s client of Theft of Services. The complaint alleged that Mr. Schafer’s client, a landlord, had unlawfully obtained access to the local water service to rental property he owned. Mr. Schafer proved that the renter had contractually agreed to be liable for the water services and that it was the renter’s obligation to arrange for payment.
A Hennepin County Judge found Eric Nelson’s client Not Guilty of being in physical control while impaired (DWI). Eric’s client was a passenger in his own vehicle when he passed out due to intoxication. The friend, who was driving the car, left Eric’s client sitting in the car to sleep it off. After waiving a jury, the court found that Eric’s client had not driven, nor were there any indications that he “has or is about to make the motor vehicle a source of danger to others.”
After waiving a jury, a Dakota County Judge found Brent Schafer’s client Not Guilty of being in physical control of a motor vehicle while impaired (DWI). Mr. Schafer demonstrated that the client had intentionally locked his keys in his own car knowing that he would be intoxicated. The Court also found that Brent’s client Not Guilty of Refusing to submit to chemical testing.
We represented a man being prosecuted for Burglary in the First Degree, Terroristic Threats, and Domestic Assault. A conviction on the First Degree Burglary meant a presumptive 48 month commit to prison. The Terroristic Threats and Assault exposed him to a year in jail, and 90 days in jail (respectively) along with numerous other consequences such as not being able to own a firearm, years of probation, anger management therapy etc. He asserted self-defense. The alleged victim was his estranged wife. Tina Appleby took the case to a jury, who acquitted her client on each count.
Tina Appleby challenged the constitutionality of her client's arrest. The judge agreed with her argument. He ruled that the police officers had insufficient probable cause to do what they did. Therefore, all evidence flowing from the arrest was suppressed and the State was compelled to dismiss the charges. Moreover, as a result of this victory, the Attorney General's Office realized that it could not sustain its burden of proof for the driver's license revocation part of the case (i.e. the "implied consent"). Thus there will never be any driver's license consequences or "alcohol notations" on our client's record as a result of ths incident.
Doug Hazelton successfully challenged the revocation of his client’s driving privileges for a controlled substance related offense. After his arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance in Apple Valley, Dakota County, Doug’s client consented to a blood test. The arresting officer immediately notified the Department of Public Safety that his blood test revealed the presence of a controlled substance. In actuality, no scientific testing was performed on the blood sample until several weeks after his arrest. Accordingly, the District Court ruled that our client’s driving privileges were unlawfully revoked.
Our client, “J.D.” is a middle aged man with no prior record. A confidential informant told the police J.D. was dealing drugs. Based on that allegation, the Hennepin County Drug Task Force obtained a warrant to search J.D.’s Minneapolis home where drugs were found. Our client was adamant the drugs had been planted by the informant. Our client’s previous attorney was unsuccessful in obtaining the name of the informant. When we were retained, Marsh Halberg reargued the issue to the Court. The judge was persuaded to change her mind and the Judge ordered the police to disclose the informant’s name. The police refused to disclose the informant’s name forcing all charges to be dismissed.
One of the news stories that was highlighted with the tragedy of the Highway 35W bridge collapse was the charging of five individuals for trespass. Law enforcement held a press conference claiming these men were” scam artists” who were improperly at the site with the motive to promote the sale of sonar equipment.
Marsh Halberg of our office represented these five men. To quote Mr. Halberg:
"These men were clearly innocent and had all traveled to Minnesota to donate their money, skills and time to provide technical sonar support. Most of these men did not even work for the manufacturer and had no financial motive. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding that arose in the chaos of the bridge collapse... All charges have now been dismissed against our clients."
Our client is an avid hunter. A conviction on either charge would have rendered him unable to possess a firearm and ineligible to continue in his chosen career. The State would not accept a resolution that would have spared these consequences, even if he agreed to serve some jail time and pay a big fine. Ms. Appleby took the case to trial. The jury determined that our client was not guilty of either charge.
Brent S. Schafer recently successfully challenged the revocation of his client’s driver’s license for an alcohol-related offense in Coates, MN. Mr. Schafer argued that the State did not and was unable to prove that the police had probable cause to arrest his client for DWI. Mr. Schafer’s client was arrested while standing outside of his locked vehicle. As a result of the court order, the client’s Minnesota Driving Privileges were fully reinstated and the previous revocation removed from his driving record.
In Marshall, MN our client and his friend were accused of numerous felony counts which carried sentences of presumptive commits to prison for 144 months. Ms. Appleby successfully argued that our client's constitutional rights to due process and speedy trial had been violated. All counts against both defendants were then dismissed. More...
This Fall Marsh Halberg completed a grueling 3-week trial in Pine County. Our client was accused by his step-daughter of criminal sexual conduct with a presumptive sentence of 144 months in prison on each count. The case required testimony from 18 witnesses and 155 exhibits.
Mr. Halberg argued that the young woman had lied and planted evidence to frame her step-father.
The jury informed Mr. Halberg after the verdict that all 12 jurors had determined our client was not guilty on 11 counts within ˝ hour of deliberation. There was only one juror needing just two additional hours to come to the same not guilty decision on the one remaining count.
Ms. Appleby’s client became too intoxicated to drive his car from the bar so he allowed someone else to drive him home in his (the client's) vehicle --- i.e. he was a passenger in his own car. Police stopped the vehicle and determined that the acquaintance/driver was also under the influence. The car was seized for forfeiture because, unbeknownst to our client, the driver had prior DUI offenses on record. Our client's record was spotless. Nevertheless, the police and the prosecutor assumed that our client knew of the driver's criminal history, and also that he knew the driver to be "over the limit" on this particular evening. Thus, the City refused to return the car to its owner and claimed that the car was now theirs. Ms. Appleby took the case to trial. At the conclusion of the testimony, before the Court even issued its ruling, the City conceded that the forfeiture of the vehicle was not appropriate and immediately returned the car to its rightful owner, our client.
After five hours of deliberation, a Dakota County jury acquitted Eric Nelson’s client of two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. The charges alleged that Nelson’s client had engaged in sexual penetration of his 16 year old daughter over a period of eight years. The charges had been pending for over 15 months.
Halberg Criminal Defense is pleased to announce that we have expanded our Wisconsin practice. Eric Nelson was admitted to the Wisconsin State Bar on June 19, 2007.
Tom Rothstein has recently won two driver’s license challenges stemming from DWI charges. In a matter arising out of the city of Plymouth, the Department of Public Safety erroneously revoked Tom’s Client’s driving privileges based upon the belief that a schedule II controlled substance was found in her system. After investigation, Tom established that the substance was actually a schedule III substance prohibiting the commissioner from revoking her driving privileges. In another matter, Tom’s client’s driving privileges were revoked for refusal to submit to testing. In this case, the Wayzata police officer requested a urine test, however, he failed to offer alternative testing methods after the client’s silence was deemed to be a refusal. Due to the officer’s error, our client’s “refusal” was legally justified.
Hennepin County DWI charges against one of Eric Nelson’s clients were dismissed. The charges arose in the City of Plymouth and involved a 16 year old allegedly intoxicated driver. The district court ruled that the arresting officer illegally stopped Eric’s client and dismissed all charges against him.
After a hard fought seven day trial, a Dakota County jury acquitted our client on all counts. The charges against our client included First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, False Imprisonment and First Degree Burglary. “I have always truly believed in my client’s innocence,” said Mr. Schafer, “The system worked.” During the trial the jury heard from over twenty witnesses and reviewed more than 50 exhibits.
Brent Schafer successfully challenged a four count first degree murder indictment in Dakota County. The District Court found that the grand jury was improperly instructed and that the errors warranted a dismissal of the entire indictment. Additionally, Brent obtained dismissal of charges against our client charged with violation of a domestic abuse order for protection. The District Court found that the Order for Protection did not sufficiently notify our client of prohibited conduct involving contact with his minor child.
Dale Blue was arrested and charged with assisting his son Michael Benson and three other inmates in their escape from a high security Minnesota State hospital. An international manhunt to capture Mr. Blue’s son ensued including a feature about Mr. Blue on America’s Most Wanted and other national news coverage. Mr. Blue was held on one million dollars bail in St Peter and retained Marsh Halberg to successfully defend him.
Click here to read the October CityPages cover story.
Tina Appleby recently obtained a “Not Guilty” from a jury in a case where our client had been charged with Malicious Punishment of a Child. She raised the defense that a parent has the right to discipline their child with reasonable force. The jury agreed, acquitting our client in less than an hour. Tina has obtained dismissals in other cases this month, and has also prevailed at the Court of Appeals in an important case which has helped develop the law. Click here to read the opinion.
For seven years running, our attorneys Tom Rothstein and Marsh Halberg have been named "Super Lawyers" - a small group of lawyers selected as Minnesota's best by a poll of over 18,000 Minnesota attorneys. In addition Marsh had the distinction in August of being named by Mpls/St. Paul Magazine to an elite list of the six highest rated criminal defense attorneys in the entire state. Eric Nelson has been named a Rising Star Super Lawyer for the third year in a row.
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