Fighting Disorderly Conduct Charge
If you have been accused of disorderly conduct in the state of Minnesota, you need to know exactly what that means and what your punishment could be, if you get convicted. You also should contact a lawyer so that you can come up with the best defense possible.
So, What Is Considered Disorderly Conduct in Minnesota?
In Minnesota, there are several things that are considered disorderly conduct. They include:
- Fighting
- Disturbing the peace by disturbing a meeting of people
- Being offensive or obscene. If you are being loud, obnoxious, and upsetting others, you may be accused of disorderly conduct.
What Punishments Are You Looking at for Disorderly Conduct?
In Minnesota, disorderly conduct is considered a misdemeanor. This means that you are looking at fines up to one thousand dollars. You could also be looking at spending six months in jail. If you are a caregiver convicted of disorderly conduct, you may end up paying up to three thousand dollars in fines. You could end up spending a year in jail.
You may also be facing charges for unlawful assembly and refusing to disperse. These are also misdemeanors. However, if you had a weapon no you, you could be looking at a felony. If you are convicted, you could spend up to five years in jail. Your fines could reach up to ten thousand dollars. If someone dies, you are looking at twenty years behind bars. Your fines could reach up to thirty-five thousand dollars.
Possible Disorderly Conduct Defenses
Because the crime is serious and still has serious consequences, you need to hire a lawyer to help you through this difficult time. He or she will help you go through your possible defenses to figure out the best course of action for your case.
Here are some possible defenses that you may consider.
Self-defense: If you were provoked or threatened, you may have been acting accordingly. You may have also been preventing a defenseless person who was being attacked.
Reasonable doubt: The other side has to prove that you were displaying disorderly conduct, without any doubt. You can fight for the trustworthiness of the eyewitnesses. There may be no evidence or witnesses.
You may even fight that, what you were doing, wasn’t really disorderly conduct. A group of people acting up in the street isn’t necessarily disorderly conduct. Maybe you were being a little loud, but is that necessarily a crime? You can join a meeting and not disturb it. If one person didn’t like your opinion, he or she may try to put disorderly conduct on you, but it really isn’t a crime to disagree.
Violation of Constitutional Rights: If you were charged while protesting or at a gathering, you may be able to talk about your right to free speech or the right to assemble lawfully and peacefully. You may also fight the freedom to practice religion freely.
Simple misunderstanding: There are times when a disorderly conduct charge is brought up over a misunderstanding. If the person who reported you doesn’t want to press charges, they may be dropped.
Involuntary Actions: You may be able to argue that you had no control over yourself and shouldn’t be punished for your crime. However, you need to find a way to prove that you have a medical condition that would cause you to act out the way that you did.
If you were charged with disorderly conduct, you need to contact us today. We will do our best to get your charges dropped. If that is not possible, we will work hard to make sure that you only face the least amount of punishment possible.