Minnesota DWI Defense Blog : Roseville DUI Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Ramsay Law Firm : Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota

On July 1, 2010, the Legislature updated Minnesota’s DWI laws in one troubling aspect. Before July 1, the law stated that only specific types of individuals could perform blood draws for DWI purposes - registered nurses, medical laboratory technicians and the like. These types of people work in labs and hospitals, making it likely that any blood draw would be performed by people who were both highly qualified, and working in a sterile environment.

As of July 1, Minnesota’s DWI law now allows anyone who is considered a “qualified person” to draw blood. In a previous blog, we wondered if the State would use this new law to start performing roadside blood tests by under-qualified individuals. It didn’t take them long to make this concern a reality.

Minnesota peace officers are now being given a 40 hour course that will supposedly “qualify” them to perform blood draws. That’s 8 hours of online training, and 32 hours of “lab exercises” before they can begin sticking needles into Minnesota drivers. Forty hours of training, versus obtaining a certification that can take years . . .

We predict that we’ll soon begin to meet with clients who were arrested because an officer suspected them of driving while intoxicated, and then stuck them with a needle right there on the hood of the squad car. And we’re already planning on ways to highlight just how unconstitutionally coercive and outright shocking such behavior is.

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As we’ve reported, the Intoxilyzer 5000 breath test machine is being taken out of service in the next few months.  The breath test machine is responsible for taking hundreds of thousands of licenses and convicting almost as many of DWI. 

Joel Watne, 72, a lawyer with the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, is also being phased out.  This week, Joel retired after 37 years as a lawyer.  While Joel may not be personally responsible for as many revocations and convictions, he has an impressive resume. 

Joel wrote and lobbied for many of Minnesota’s DWI laws. He has logged over 11,700 court appearances, handled over 300 appeals in Minnesota Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and some in federal court, including the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court according to his Linked-In page.

Last week I appeared in a civil implied consent hearing in Dakota County.  Joel was my opponent. That battle was Joel’s last court appearance.   

As a criminal defense attorney, I won’t miss Joel.  He was always a pain the neck and always gave it his best.  Because Joel handled primarily civil implied consent cases, he was not subject to the higher ethical standards of criminal prosecutors– his duty was not to “do justice” but, like a defense attorney, to zealously pursue his case and do whatever it took to win.  He was passionate about keeping our roads safe and used every weapon in his arsenal to win – whether I thought it was fair or not.

He was passionate about his work and always brought his A-game.  He was a resource for not only the other lawyers in the Attorney General’s office, but for peace officers and prosecutors around the state.  As a husband and father of two young children, my family is safer because of his efforts.  As a tax payer, I recognize the state got its money’s worth out of Joel and thank him for his 37 years of service.

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