Tag: traffic enforcement

Due Process Rights in Property Seized for Forfeiture

If you have cash seized for forfeiture by the Iowa State Patrol or another law enforcement agency during a traffic stop, then due process entitles you to certain rights. Normally, the trooper will provide you with a Notice of Seizure for Forfeiture.  This will list the date, time and location along with a description of the seized property. You are probably thinking that the Notice tells the owner what to do to reclaim the money, right? Not exactly. The forfeiture attorneys at GRL Law have yet to see a notice that provides any description of an owner’s rights. Iowa law […]

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NOT GUILTY VERDICT IN UNLAWFUL PASSING TRIAL

Washington, Polk County, Iowa.  On February 26, 2021 a magistrate judge found our client not guilty following a bench trial for unsafe passing of a snow plow on a two-lane highway. We established that the snow plow does not yield at a stop sign, but rather slowly pulls out onto the highway at 10 mph.  Our client is 100 feet from the intersection traveling 45 mph.  There is no choice but to pass the snow plow on the left to avoid a rear-end collision.  The pass is nearly complete when the snow plow attempts a left-hand turn 200 feet ahead.  […]

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GRL Saves CDL with DOT WIN

The drug defense attorneys at GRL Law prove once again that preparation is everything when it comes to implied consent testing and DOT administrative hearings.  This is especially true when it involves professional CDL drivers and forensic drug testing. In this case, a DOT officer assigned to an I-35 weigh station in North Iowa believed he had reasonable grounds to invoke implied consent and request a urine sample under Iowa Code section 321J.6 based on the discovery of a small amount of marijuana and an admission to smoking the previous evening.  When the sample came back positive for non-impairing metabolites […]

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Problems with Traffic Stop Lead to Dismissal of Marijuana Charges

West Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.  The drug defense attorneys at GRL Law successfully negotiated the dismissal of drug charges after challenging the traffic stop.  The arresting officer claimed in his report that “the light was red” when “[the car] traversed the intersection.”  His dash camera showed instead that our client’s car was nearly through the intersection when the signal changed from yellow to red.  There was no evidence the car entered the intersection on a yellow light.  The officer later searched the car and discovered nearly 50 grams of processed marijuana flower.  No tax stamps were affixed to the […]

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