State v. Vasko

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Defendant was convicted of a petty misdemeanor for violating Lester Prairie Municipal Code section 5.5.1.2, which prohibits certain blight conditions on residents’ property, including the open storage of unregistered or inoperative motor vehicles. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the ordinance was ambiguous and resolving the ambiguity in favor of Defendant. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the unambiguous language of the ordinance prohibits a person from keeping a junked or abandoned vehicle or other scrap metal on her property for longer than thirty days without a special use permit; and (2) there was sufficient evidence to prove that Defendant violated the ordinance by keeping an abandoned vehicle on her property for longer than thirty days without a special use permit. View "State v. Vasko" on Justia Law