A decision released today by the Minnesota Court of Appeals might put a lot of commercial vehicle equipment tickets in doubt.  The Court held that the commercial vehicle inspector, a civilian employee of the Minnesota State Patrol, had no authority to stop a truck.  Therefore, everything discovered as a result of the stop (namely, that the driver didn’t have a valid license) couldn’t be used in court, and the conviction was reversed.

The case, State of Minnesota v. Kevin Ervin Stall, is discussed in more detail on my website.