Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund – by Pete Kennedy
At a hearing for Gibbon dairy farmer Mike Hartmann, Sibley County District Court Judge Erica H. McDonald dismissed five of six criminal charges brought by the state against Hartmann for violations of the Minnesota food and dairy code. Two of the charges arose from evidence seized during a December 4, 2012 stop of Hartmann’s vehicle by a state trooper; the other three came from the execution of a search warrant by Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) officials on January 9, 2013 at Hartmann’s farm.
The key to the dismissal of the charges was Judge McDonald granting a motion to suppress any evidence obtained during the vehicle stop by state trooper Joseph Heyman who testified that he initially stopped Hartmann’s truck because he did not see a rear license plate on the truck and the truck appeared to the state trooper to be a commercial motor vehicle that did not have the required Department of Transportation markings or number. Continue reading “Judge Dismisses Criminal Charges Against Hartmann in Minnesota”

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