Case Results

Departure granted to avoid presumptive commitment to prison. The client had a high reading on this second-time felony DWI. Compounding this is the fact that he was on probation for his prior felony DWI that had occurred just a couple years prior. Awful facts for a client trying to avoid a prison stint. Undeterred, Mr. Gempeler worked with the client to get back on track and focus on achieving and maintaining sobriety. Thankfully, the client did exactly that, checking himself back into a relapse treatment program soon after the incident. He also managed to get his probation agent in the State he lives (not Minnesota) to support his efforts to avoid prison. So, Mr. Gempeler had the probation agent appear at the sentencing hearing and make a compelling argument that the client is particularly amenable to probation. After hearing from the probation agent and Mr. Gempeler's strong argument, the Court granted a departure to a non-prison sentence. A truly remarkable outcome by the North Star team - which is our norm.

Continuance for dismissal. This is the best possible plea deal for any case. To achieve this on a domestic-related type of offense is remarkable. The client's alleged violation was highly technical in nature, but still a violation nonetheless. There were no real defenses. Mr. Gempeler leaned into the background of the relationship, getting his client right moving forward with how to avoid any future technicalities, and then leaned into his great relationship with the prosecutor to achieve such a fantastic outcome.

Creative careless driving outcome. This means the client receives a stay of adjudication to a DWI charge and pleads and is convicted of a careless driving charge at the same time. The end result is a conviction just to the careless driving, while the DWI charge is dismissed. This is a unique outcome and one that was needed for a client that does a lot of work in Canada. What makes this even more unique is that Mr. Gempeler obtained this, despite the client blowing a .15 and having no legal defenses to work with. To get a creative non-DWI outcome on a .15 is almost unheard of - yet, that's what we do at North Star Criminal Defense.

Plea to the CVO and receive a durational departure to a gross misdemeanor sentence. This is an incredible outcome due to the severity of the case - .27 BAC and the passenger suffered serious, life-long injuries. But Mr. Gempeler and the North Star team worked hard to demonstrate to the Court that the client was both amenable to probation and subjected to ongoing emotional and physical abuse by the passenger. As a result, the case was less onerous than typical CVO cases due to the domestic abuse ensuing. It is a unique argument to make, but one that carried the day and earned such a rare outcome for CVO cases.

Plea to an amended speeding violation at 99 mph and the misdemeanor careless driving charge was dismissed. This accomplished the two goals the client needed to achieve - a non-criminal record (reminder, a petty misdemeanor conviction is not a crime) and no loss of license from speeding in excess of 100 mph. For an individual that needed both of these outcomes to ensure no disruption to his job, this was a terrific result achieved by Mr. Gempeler and the North Star team.

Plea to an amended count of careless driving and the separate hit-and-run case is dismissed in its entirety. For a non-citizen client in the midst of the lengthy citizenship process, this outcome was critical to minimize any negative impact to his application. Mr. Gempeler worked hard to negotiate this global resolution, including pushing back against the traffic ticket prosecutor who initially wants a straight plea. Undeterred, Mr. Gempeler got creative, persistent, and eventually achieved exactly what the client needed.

Our client was the subject of an Order for Protection ("OFP") action. The opposing party had previously filed two Harassment Restraining Orders ("HRO"), both of which were dismissed. Mr. Kehren immediately recognized that the legal system was being used to harass our client. He filed a frivolous litigant motion and a counter Petition for Harassment Restraining Order. On the day of trial, thanks to Mr. Kehren's strategic advocacy, our client’s HRO was granted, and the OFP matter against them was dismissed in its entirety. After enduring multiple legal actions and the stress of ongoing harassment, our client can now move forward with peace of mind. Another fantastic result for North Star Criminal Defense.

Plea to domestic assault by strangulation via Norgaard (i.e. too drunk to recall the facts) and received a gross misdemeanor sentence. Not only was the agreement with the State a departure to a gross misdemeanor, but it called for no time to be served and the minimum conditions while on probation. The client knew he made mistakes on the night in question, but could not afford a felony conviction. He completed some proactive steps to take accountability and Mr. Gempeler leveraged the few favorable facts to achieve this fantastic outcome.