State Rep. Matt Grossell agrees to plead guilty to drunken driving

State Rep. Matt Grossell has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor drunken driving about five months after being cited.

The Republican was cited by the State Patrol on Feb. 11 just before 2:40 a.m. west of Clearbrook, while driving his pickup truck a few miles from his northern Minnesota home. His blood alcohol level was measured at 0.15%, above the 0.08% limit to drive, according to court documents.

The plea agreement between the defense and the prosecution reached last week calls for Grossell to admit to fourth-degree driving while impaired in exchange for him receiving a 90-day suspended jail sentence and two years' unsupervised probation.

Grossell, 57, has already completed other terms of the plea deal, including a chemical dependency evaluation and attending a victim impact panel arranged by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The plea filing also noted that Grossell is currently "following the recommendations of inpatient treatment" at a Hazelden Betty Ford treatment facility.

Court records do not show a date for his sentencing in Clearwater County District Court.

Grossell, who represents parts of Beltrami, Clearwater and Lake of the Woods counties, was charged in May 2019 with disorderly conduct and trespassing after he repeatedly shoved and grappled with a security guard at a hotel bar near the State Capitol during that year's legislative session. When police found him intoxicated, he was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul but then refused to leave and was taken to jail.

According to police reports, Grossell walked into St. Paul police headquarters after he got out of jail and told an officer working the front desk that he is a state representative and former sheriff (he was a sheriff's deputy). He stated that he did not know why he was arrested, but there "will be hell to pay."

He later reached an agreement allowing him to avoid any convictions by completing a six-month court diversion program.

House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, removed Grossell from the House's Public Safety and Judiciary committees in response to the incident. He has since been re-elected twice, in 2020 and 2022.