Minnesota overall has the strictest D-W-I laws in the country, finds a new national study. Attorney Resh Jefferies with Siegfried and Jensen says Minnesota is somewhat ahead of its closest competition — Utah and Georgia — based on a point system that considers penalties, fines, license suspension, D-W-I fatalities and other factors. Jefferies says, “90 days on a first offense for a minimum jail time is one of the higher ones we’ve seen, and then 365 days for a second offense and 365 days for a third offense.”
One area where Minnesota lags is legal blood alcohol level. It’s .08 here, versus .05 in Utah. Another area for improvement: D-W-I’s don’t become a felony until the fourth offense in Minnesota. Jefferies says, “That is actually a bit of a bad mark towards Minnesota, where Utah and some other states do a felony after three. So that might be one area where it seemed like Minnesota was lacking.”
But Jefferies adds in most other areas, Minnesota is more strict than other states.