Prostitution and sex trafficking are a set of crimes that largely go under the radar in our society and occur much more frequently than most would expect. 60,000-85,000 prostitution related arrests occur each year in the United States. Law enforcemen…

Continuing our theme of covering less common crimes in our blog posts, we will be covering the crime of receiving stolen property. Receiving stolen property is defined as any person who receives, possesses, transfers, buys or conceals any stolen prop…

Bribery is a unique crime in it’s variety and scope. There are three different acts that constitute bribery in Minnesota. They are: general bribery, which typically applies to government officials; commercial bribery for private industries; and…

The outcome in many criminal cases can hinge on a skilled and artful argument by a sentencing attorney. A successful one can take a case destined for a commitment to prison and convince the judge a probationary sentence, with no prison time, is appro…

Burden of Proof Analyzed We briefly discuss Burden of Proof on our expungements analysis page, but we wanted to expand this further. We also discuss the burden of proof in the video below: When it comes to expungement law the state or the petioner ma…

Let’s be honest – cell phones have become a necessity to our everyday lives. Many would be lost without a cell phone as it houses almost endless amounts of our personal information, from phone numbers, to thousands of photos/videos, and e…

One of the ambiguities that surrounded the new law after its change in 2015 was how the expungement waiting period applied. The law provides that a petitioner must be crime free for a period of 1-, 2-, 4-, or 5-years “since discharge” of…

Our team at North Star Criminal Defense has recently represented a number of clients accused of shoplifting, a form of theft under Minnesota law. A shoplifting attorney is critical for defendants to avoid long-lasting consequences from a poor decisio…