Category: Recent Results

Never Disclose Prescription Medications to Law Enforcement During a Traffic Stop

Winterset, Madison County, Iowa.  GRL has been warning anyone who will listen NOT to disclose prescription medications to law enforcement during a traffic stop.  This most recent GRL NFG demonstrates precisely why this is.  GRL’s client provided a breath sample of .037 but disclosed that he was taking his non-controlled substance medication.  The urine test that GRL’s client consented to confirmed the presence of only the prescription medication.  A young and aggressive officer, fresh off of training for driving while drugged investigations, even with the test results, still charged GRL’s client with Operating While Intoxicated and Child Endangerment.  Thankfully, GRL […]

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NFG! First Three-Word Verdict of 2023 in Guthrie County OWI

A unanimous Guthrie County jury returned the first NFG of the year yesterday following a two-day OWI trial. It took just under 30 minutes for the jury to say GRL’s client was not guilty. Two seasoned Guthrie County Sheriff deputies testified that they believed the driver was intoxicated based on their training and experience. And the State argued the jury could consider his eventual refusal to submit to breath testing was a tacit admission that he would blow over the legal limit. As you have come to expect, GRL took another very difficult defense case and turned it on its […]

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CDL Saved After Urine Test Results Suppressed

In the process of saving a CDL from being disqualified, the impaired driving attorneys at GRL exposed a potential flaw in the implied consent advisory for commercial motor vehicles. The advisory provides that commercial driving privileges will be disqualified if the drivers tests over 0.04 for alcohol or refuses testing while operating a CMV. However, it says nothing about a DQ for a positive urine test. So, is a commercial driver’s decision to consent to urine testing reasoned and informed under the circumstances?  We think not. As a result, we were able to not only suppress the urine test, but […]

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OWI Amended Down to Public Intoxication

West Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.  What started as an Operating While Intoxicated, was resolved with an amendment down to Public Intoxication.  GRL’s client was stopped for speeding.  He politely declined to submit to field sobriety testing and further politely declined to submit to the DataMaster breath test at the station.  Lacking evidence of impairment, the prosecution agreed to amend the charge down to a simple misdemeanor, public intoxication.

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Prosecutor Rebuffs Reasonable Resolution, Loses Entire Case. Operating While Intoxicated Charge and License Suspension Beat

Corning, Adams County, Iowa.  Prior to a hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress evidence, defendant offered to plead to an amended charge of Reckless Driving with the requirement of completing the operating while intoxicated weekend class.  The prosecution would have none of it choosing instead to go forward with the hearing.  At the hearing, the Sheriff’s Deputy was caught changing his sworn testimony multiple times.  Ultimately, the court concluded that the Deputy did not have a lawful reason to pull the defendant over and excluded all evidence obtained as a result of the stop.  Prosecutor is left with no evidence […]

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Drug Charges Thrown Out After GRL Challenges Search of Commercial Motor Vehicle

In what may be the first ruling of its kind in Buchanan County, a GRL client is a free man today after the district court there suppressed the search of his semi truck and dismissed all charges. At issue was the Level II inspection criteria that many counties with weight stations impermissibly use to justify searches for “alcohol and drugs.” GRL previously covered this topic here. CDL drivers are usually at the mercy of DOT officers and state troopers who believe all closed containers in the truck cabin are subject to search.  To be sure, commercial trucking is certainly a […]

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2022 Year in Review

What. A. Year!  2022 was a whirlwind at GRL.  The year seemed like it was in non-stop fast-forward from the very beginning.  Cases backlogged by COVID were finally able to proceed.  Insurance companies that had been sitting on their reserves throughout COVID finally found themselves staring down the reality of a jury trial on civil cases and saw the writing on the wall.  When trials are available, things begin to move.  Move they certainly did. The Civil Division secured over 5 MILLION dollars in verdicts and settlements making a positive impact for GRL’s clients and the community.  Founding Partner Cory […]

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Open Door Policy

Boone County, Iowa.  Attorney Matt Lindholm recently represented a client facing multiple drug charges following an investigation for a motorist who ran off the road and through the field.  Officers responded the clients house to investigate the failure to maintain control.  When the client answered the door he asked to be able to put some shoes on and went back in the house to do so.  The investigating officer decided to follow the client into the house without his permission and observed narcotics forming the basis of the charge.  This entry was illegal and after attorney Lindholm filed a motion […]

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Involuntary Manslaughter and Operating While Intoxicated Charges DISMISSED

Johnston, Polk County, Iowa.  What started as an arrest for Operating While Intoxicated progressed to felony offense of Involuntary Manslaughter, but was ultimately resolved with a traffic citation for Failure to Yield Upon a Left-Hand Turn.  GRL’s client experienced a roller-coaster ride of emotion following a tragic car accident.  Client was initially suspected of being intoxicated but subsequent blood tests established an alcohol concentration well within the legal range.  Because the operator of the other vehicle involved in the accident died, while unable to prove operating while intoxicated, the prosecution amended to charge to Involuntary Manslaughter.  This charge requires the […]

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