Well, this might not look good.
Michelle MacDonald, a candidate this November for the Minnesota Supreme Court, was convicted Wednesday on charges stemming from a traffic stop in April 2013, in which she refused to submit to a breathalyzer test — or even exit the car — after police suspected she might be driving drunk.
MacDonald will appeal her convictions on resisting arrest and refusal of the breath test, the Star Tribune reports — but she will not appeal her conviction for speeding.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
MacDonald is running against incumbent Justice David Lillehaug, who was appointed to the bench last year by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. She was endorsed by the state Republican Party at their convention in May — and then her previous arrest became public a month later. Since then, the situation has posed a series of political difficulties for the state GOP:
Republican Party members attempted to bar her entry from their Minnesota State Fair booth last month. Officials also asked her to "repudiate" her endorsement. She declined and filed a complaint earlier this month against the party and several members, alleging that they attempted to coerce her into renouncing her endorsement. The complaint was dismissed by an administrative law judge. [Star Tribune]
MacDonald's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 12 — about a week after the election. In addition, the judge in the case has ordered a psychological evaluation for her.
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
