It’s 1:43 am and your phone is ringing. Your stomach drops. This can’t be good news, and it’s not. A loved one is calling from the police department saying they have just been arrested for DWI, and they want to get out ASAP. What can you do?
Unfortunately, as in many areas of life, it depends. Whether someone will be released pre-trial is determined by a number of conditions. If it’s their very first DWI and certain aggravating factors are not present they will likely be booked, receive a “tab charge” for misdemeanor 4th-degree DWI, a court date, and be released without bail being required. This treatment may also occur for certain gross misdemeanor 3rd-degree DWI’s.
In other instances, he or she may not be released until bail is set. Bail is set at a first appearance and on some occasions, an attorney can try to get bail set sooner. Some situations have statutorily-required pre-trial release conditions. If a person is arrested for violating Minnesota Statutes section 169A.20 they must be detained until their first court appearance if the violation (1) is a first- or second-degree DWI, (2) is a third-degree DWI committed by a person under the age of 19 years, (3) involves certain aggravating factors, or (4) is committed by a person whose driving privileges are canceled as inimical to public safety.