Stay of adjudication to one DWI count. This outcome means the client will never be convicted and the case will be dismissed after she successfully abides by minimal terms of probation for one-year. A dismissal of a DWI count via plea negotiations is an incredibly rare outcome - but, as you can see in our case results, we've had our fair share of them. In this case, the North Star team dug deep into the personnel record of the arresting officer to discover a troubling history in administering the field sobriety tests. And in the case involving our client, there were outright and provable lies and oversights, too. The combination meant that the officer would have suffered from serious credibility issues during any testimony. The North Star team then leveraged all of this to get this incredible outcome for a deserving client. She is thrilled with the extra effort and diligence that we provided and in getting a dismissal of her DWI.

Client pled guilty to a gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation and received a stay of adjudication on the drug crime. As a result, the client will never be convicted of a felony. Additionally, the sentence did not call for time to serve in custody and only requires him to stay sober - which he has proven for the last year. This is a remarkable outcome because the facts are not pretty. He was both drunk and had a controlled substance in his system - plus pills found in his vehicle. He ended up rolling the vehicle, causing his passenger to be thrown from it. Luckily, the passenger did not suffer serious injuries. And, due to some aggressive discovery requested by the North Star team, we got the records to verify that the injuries sustained were not nearly as serious as initially feared, resulting in the opportunity to plead to a non-felony CVO. The client is ecstatic that he will avoid a felony conviction and jail time. Even the judge commented that he normally sends defendants to jail on these type of allegations, but the plea agreement took that decision out of his hands.

Plea to a 3rd Degree DWI-Refusal. The client exhibited horrible driving conduct and registered a PBT significantly above .20. Needless to say, no defenses existed and he was clearly at an elevated alcohol concentration. Compounding all of that, he refused the formal breath test at the station, which prosecutors despise as it shows noncooperation. Despite all of these facts stacked against him, the North Star team negotiated an outcome in which the client faces no jail time, a minimal fine, and credit for having completed a chemical dependency assessment, a MADD panel, and a DWI class. As a result, the client will receive the benefit of being on unsupervised probation. Given the challenging facts, no jail and unsupervised probation is a great outcome and one the client is very pleased with.

Plea to an amended count of misdemeanor 4th Degree DWI. The client had an elevated alcohol concentration on a first-time offense. Not only did the North Star team negotiate a plea to a misdemeanor level offense, we also obtained unsupervised probation for the client, meaning she will never meet with probation and has nothing to do for the next year but stay good. Now, the client can put this behind her without having to worry about ongoing obligations. This was an incredibly deserving outcome for a wonderful client.

Plea to an amended count of Careless Driving. The client had zero defenses - it was a straight-forward case from the State's perspective. And, making this case more challenging is that the client blew a .14 - an alcohol concentration level that almost never results in a plea to an amended count because it's closer to double the legal limit than the actual legal limit. On top of that, a DWI plea could have led to serious consequences for the client's military career. Despite this, the North Star team worked with the client to get him to a much better position for negotiations. He completed proactive steps and demonstrated with good conduct that this is more of an one-time incident than the start of a bad run. Through strenuous and smart negotiations, the client obtained this truly rare result and it saved his military career.

This client, facing a nasty DUI with a high test, multiple priors and a bleak outlook, receives no jail time, no further programming than that she'd already completed, and an utterly feathery landing, due to speedy steps in remediation and her talented lawyers. DUI cases confound even seasoned defenders, with relentlessly repetitive fact patterns and a thin list of available defenses--but North Star doesn't quit, and does not take the traditional approach to these matters. We got thinking caps, here, and we use them.

Stay of adjudication to the drug charges in BOTH cases and a single conviction to a misdemeanor DWI as a stay of imposition. The client quite literally committed the same offense twice within a years time frame. He drove drunk, was found slumped over in his car on a county highway, and had drugs in the center console. If this wasn't bad enough, the second offense was committed just shy of his sentencing on the first case, where the North Star team was going to argue that he learned his lesson. Still, despite the two separate cases and problems that causes, the North Star team counseled the client on the correct proactive steps to take - treatment, aftercare, and continued alcohol monitoring to prove sobriety. And by the time of the sentencing for both cases nearly a year and a half later, the client was able to convince the probation department and ultimately the Court - with our help, of course - to receive a stay of adjudication on BOTH cases. The result is that the client will NOT be a convicted felon and only have one DWI conviction on his record. Avoiding the felony drug possession conviction was critical for the client, too, because he received federal aid as a farmer, which would have been in jeopardy with such a conviction. The client is incredibly thankful he chose the North Star team to help him on his two cases. An early Christmas present for a deserving client!

Plea to an amended count of Failing to Drive with Due Care. This is a huge result that we achieved for a great client. She and her daughter have been contemplating moving out of the Country - possibly Canada - and own a cabin up by the Canadian border. Any DWI conviction - and possibly even a Careless Driving conviction - would have precluded her from entering/moving to Canada. The plea to the Failing to Drive with Due Care means she will have no issues in doing so. What makes this plea even more remarkable is that we had no legal defense. Despite that, the North Star team knew how to put our client in a great position to negotiate this incredible result.