Case Results

Stay of imposition to an amended count of 4th Degree Criminal Sexual Contact. The case centered on an accusation - to which the client confessed - in which our teenage client used his younger sister to grind on him, essentially. Awful facts and scenario overall. This occurred when he was a teenager, but the charges were raised when she came forward a decade later. Since the incident, he had served this country, become a police officer, and otherwise had committed himself to serving his community and neighbors. He was accountable and remorseful for his action. Mr. Gempeler was able to negotiate to the best possible plea deal - one that included a plea to a lesser count, the conviction will become a misdemeanor when he's done with probation, and there was little jail imposed. Even the Court commented that this was a sweetheart deal at sentencing.

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.