Steven Mark Loge (Appellant) was cited for a violation of Minn. Stat. § 169.122, subd. 3 (1998), which makes it unlawful for the driver of a motor vehicle, when the owner is not present, “to keep or allow to be kept in a motor vehicle when such vehicle is upon the public highway any bottle or receptacle containing intoxicating liquors or 3.2 percent malt liquors which has been opened.” Violation of the statute is a misdemeanor. Loge was convicted in the District Court, Freeborn County, and he appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, and Loge appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Supreme Court affirmed.

Facts

On September 2, 1997, Steven Loge borrowed his father’s pickup truck to go to his evening job. Driving alone on his way home from work, he was stopped by two Albert Lea City police officers on County Road 18 at approximately 8:15 p.m. because he appeared to be speeding. Loge got out of his truck and stood by the driver’s side door. While one officer was talking with Loge, the second officer, who was standing by the passenger side of the truck, observed a bottle, which he believed to be a beer bottle, sticking partially out of a brown paper bag underneath the passenger’s side of the seat. He retrieved that bottle, which was open and had foam on the inside. He searched the rest of the truck and found one full, unopened can of beer and one empty beer can. After the second officer found the beer bottle, the first officer asked Loge if he had been drinking....

1. What words, if any, in the statute indicate a mens rea requirement?

2. What mens rea, if any, do the words in the statute require?

3. Summarize the arguments that the majority of the court give to support this as a strict liability offense.

4. What arguments did the dissent give in response to the majority’s arguments?

5. Do you agree with the majority or the dissent? Defend your answer.