gross misdemeanor dui

John Thomas Arechigo

I am assuming your vehicle has been seized by the State and the State has also served you with a Notice of Intent to Forfeit your vehicle, correct? If so, there are certain procedures that you can take in attempting to regain possession of your vehicle. The most common procedure is filing a Petition for Judicial Review of the State's seizure and forfeiture of your vehicle. This is a fairly intricate legal procedure, and is also a separate civil proceeding, somewhat unrelated to your underlying criminal case. If your criminal case has not yet been resolved, generally the hearing on the forfeiture of your vehicle will be postponed until your criminal case is resolved.

There are certain defenses available in forfeiture proceedings, and depending on the facts and circumstances of your case, one or more may apply. However, keep in mind that you only have 30 days from the date you received Notice of the State's intent to forfeit your vehicle to file your Petition for Judicial Review. This is a strict time limit; if you miss it, there's not much you can do.

Thomas C Gallagher

Assuming you are concerned with a DWI vehicle forfeiture attempt by the police and prosecutor in Minnesota, you might or might not be able to "buy back" your own vehicle. Some prosecutors will negotiate deals like this, other will not. Often they won't discuss it unless you file a legal challenge to the forfeiture within tyhe time limit, usually 30 days. Though it may be possible to do this without a lawyer's help, it seems unlikely a normal person would be able to do it correctly. DWI defense lawyers like me typically handle these car forfeiture cases along with the other cases (criminal, drivers license, plate) stemming from the same DWI arrest (unless the client comes to me after it is too late).