State v. Carter, Minn.Ct.App., 8/31/10. On November 5, 2006, a deputy sheriff stopped Mr. Carter’s car for expired registration. Now, this was not a case where Mr. Carter had bought the tabs but just hadn’t got around to cleaning all the gunk off his plates so that he could figure that the tabs would adhere to the plates. No, the tabs were expired. Mr. Carter complained, nonetheless, that his failure to display current tabs was not a violation of law because the fifth day of the month was within the ten day statutory grace period in Minn.Stat. 168.09, subd. 4. If that’s true, then the deputy didn’t have probable cause to have stopped him. Here’s what this statute says:
[A registered vehicle must display the] “insignia issued within ten days of the first day of the month which commences the registration period.”
There’s another statue (there’s always another statue), Minn.Stat. 168.017, subd. 2, which says that passenger cars have to be registered “according to the monthly series system of registration prescribed by this section.” The trial court concluded that operating a car with expired tabs is a crime, even within the ten day grace period allowed to displaying said tabs. The appellate court adopts this interpretation of these statutes:
A vehicle must be validly registered to be operated, and registration is only valid for 12 months. The legislature granted vehicle owners ten additional days to place the new registration tabs on their license plates; but the legislature did not provide for an additional ten days for vehicle registration. And we decline to read such a provision into the statute.
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