Dakota County District Court Judge Michael Vann Sovis did not have a great Christmas Eve.
He was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving after police found his car stuck on a snow bank in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood of St. Paul. Witnesses reported Vann Sovis hit several parked cars on a local street. A woman was in the car with the judge. Neither needed medical attention, but the judge was taken in to custody on suspicion of third-degree drunken driving. He was released from bail on Christmas morning after posting a $12,000 bond.
He was charged with two counts of misdemeanor drunken driving. A breath test recorded a 0.28 BAC at about 8:50 p.m. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08 BAC.
The city attorney’s office charged Sovis with two counts of third-degree driving while impaired, both gross misdemeanors, Thursday.
Sovis, a 1975 graduate of Hamline University School of Law, has been on the bench since 1988. He’s been elected four times since then, most recently in 2008. His current term expires in 2015.
He was reprimanded in 2008 by the Board on Judicial Standards. Sovis allegedly personally ordered the arrest of a man involved in a dispute with a family friend.
The Pioneer Press has more on the arrest.
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I feel terriable for the damage caused to these saint paul citizens.
Its just another high profile figure that lives by their own rules for a long time until caught. (judge Murphy , speaker metzen and so on.
I would like to know what sentences were handed out by Mr sovis since 1988 for hit and run dwi criminal property damage.
The way our officials are elected and their extremly long terms need to be re evaluated. They control so much of our lives and we elect and vote so carelessly about who they are and what there true contributions will be to our communities. Its time for us to take back our state and local communties from these so called role models and people we elect to govern our communities. if you think this is not serious think abput Mr Sovis wifes comment ( “we did nothing wrong”). We need term limits in every part of our goverment and juicial systems.
Thanks
Chris