The criminal case
DUI penalties in Minnesota
The offense, qualifying priors and statutory conditions matter—not just an arrest count.
DUI penalties in Minnesota depend on the charged offense and its statutory conditions. Prior convictions, their dates, and aggravating factors may change the applicable rule. An arrest count alone does not establish the offense tier, and a minimum sentence is not the complete sentencing range. The cited rules below are not predictions of a particular case’s outcome.
The lookback period
- How far back priors count
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.This varies widely between states — from a few years to a lifetime — so it is not safe to assume a national figure.
Penalty rules by offense number
- First offense
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
- Second offense
- For a nonfelony DWI within 10 years of a qualified prior incident, the base rule is at least 30 days incarceration, including 48 hours in a local facility, or eight hours of community work for each day below 30 not served.
- This is a minimum-sentence rule, not the full penalty range. The statute permits specified mitigating-factor departures, intensive probation and an ignition-interlock probation exception.
- Third offense
- For a nonfelony DWI within 10 years of the first of two qualified prior incidents: at least 90 days incarceration, including 30 consecutive days locally, or the statutory intensive-supervision alternative with at least six consecutive days locally.
- Home detention or intensive probation may cover part of the 90-day route. The ignition-interlock probation exception can displace these minimum-sentence rules.
Driving privileges, ignition interlock and insurance requirements need separate review under their own rules. A commercial-driving restriction may have different triggers from a restriction on an ordinary licence. No consequence is assumed merely because it appears in this list.
- Ignition interlock, first offense
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
The two legal questions
The criminal charge and driving privileges can involve different proceedings. The notice, order and cited rule identify the applicable process.
Driving privileges
The licence case
- Forum
- The agency or court identified by the applicable licence proceeding
- Clock
- Check the applicable notice or order for the deadline and its starting event
- Deadline to request a hearing
- For court review of a Minnesota test-failure or test-refusal license revocation under §169A.52, the petition must be filed within 60 days following receipt of the notice and order. Written administrative review by the commissioner is a separate route available during the revocation period.
- The court-petition clock runs from receipt of the notice and order, not the arrest date. Administrative review does not replace the separate court-petition deadline.
- The commissioner’s 15-day period is for reporting the administrative-review result after receiving a request, not the driver’s filing deadline. The separate 60-day period after filing concerns the judicial hearing.
- Filing the court petition does not itself stay the revocation. If the hearing has not occurred within 60 days after filing, the reviewing court may order a stay of the remaining revocation on terms it considers proper.
- Suspension under the cited rule
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
Criminal charge
The criminal case
- Forum
- A criminal court
- Clock
- Check court notices and orders; no case duration is predicted here
- Alcohol-concentration threshold
- 0.08% or more at the time of driving, or as measured within two hours.
- Impairment-based offenses can apply independently of this alcohol-concentration threshold.
- First-offense penalty rule
- Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.The cited rule may describe a range or a minimum with conditions, not a predicted sentence.