State v. C.J.

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.