Any legal help? Underage possession.

Moses144

Moses144

CAGiversary!
Feedback
29 (100%)
I'm 20, male, and white. I will be 21 in less than two months.

I was pulled over for a broken headlight, the officer noticed two closed containers of beer in the backseat of my car. I told him I did not know it was there, and that it wasn't mine. They searched my car at my OK, took the beer, and my ID information. My passenger gave them his birth date (also 20 years old), his name, address. I blew a .01 (under the legal limit for DUI, and AFAIK a .01 can be caused by other things than alcohol). I have an underage possession, consumption, transportation of alcohol charge. I'm going to court soon.

I'm pretty sure the law states that one can not "knowingly or intentionally" transport or possess alcohol. How likely is it I will be able to say I didn't know about them and the judge will believe it?

I intend to represent myself (cannot afford a lawyer).

What should I do? I do not want to put the blame on my passenger if he will get in trouble for it, but if I claimed it was his alcohol would I be found innocent? They failed to take his Social Security Number and did not check his ID, since he did not have any.

How should I present my case to the judge? Any advice is greatly appreciated. I do not want to lose my license over this matter.

Would pleading guilty help me out? I pleaded Not Guilty on the charge that was mailed in.
 
Take an over-sized glove and write "my beer holding glove" on it. When its your turn to present your case tell the judge to look at "exhibit A, a beer holding glove that I found in the back of my car next to the beer". Then say "your honor, if the glove does not fit you must acquit". Next proceed to try on the glove and show the judge that the glove is clearly much larger than a glove you would wear. Tell the judge you rest your case and go sit back down and begin writing a book about how that night might have gone if it had been your beer.
 
Lube up your ass because they will have fun with you in prison! :lol:

Anyways, some "famous" person who is famous for being famous had the same issue last year. She got away with having coke in the car by proving the care wasn't her's and that the coke wasn't on her here, I would try that.
 
[quote name='bigdaddy']Lube up your ass because they will have fun with you in prison! :lol:

Anyways, some "famous" person who is famous for being famous had the same issue last year. She got away with having coke in the car by proving the care wasn't her's and that the coke wasn't on her here, I would try that.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, its always good to try to lie and maximize your sentence. Plead guilty and take the reduced punishment OP.
 
Why do you have to defend yourself? At the maximum, you can be fined up to $2,000, spend up to 180 days in jail, and get community service for your violations. Since you could get possible jail time, the state must provide public counsel for your defense.

You should not be taking advice from gamers looking for deals. Your court appointed attorney will advise you the best course of action.
 
[quote name='R1V3R5']Why do you have to defend yourself? At the maximum, you can be fined up to $2,000, spend up to 180 days in jail, and get community service for your violations. Since you could get possible jail time, the state must provide public counsel for your defense.

You should not be taking advice from gamers looking for deals. Your court appointed attorney will advise you the best course of action.[/QUOTE]

This.

or......


[quote name='Cracka']Take an over-sized glove and write "my beer holding glove" on it. When its your turn to present your case tell the judge to look at "exhibit A, a beer holding glove that I found in the back of my car next to the beer". Then say "your honor, if the glove does not fit you must acquit". Next proceed to try on the glove and show the judge that the glove is clearly much larger than a glove you would wear. Tell the judge you rest your case and go sit back down and begin writing a book about how that night might have gone if it had been your beer.[/QUOTE]

This.
 
I'm 20 too and my parents know that I drink and usually have beer or liquor in the car all the time.Usually it's hidden in my car. My mom said that if I ever got pulled over and a cop noticed it that I should deny knowing that it was there and she'd cover for me saying that she took my car earlier in the day to run errands or what have you and that she forgot to bring it in the house.

You should have a court appointed attorney, that's you're best bet. Failing that, you better buy some gloves that don't fit you.
 
Legal help? Get a legal councilor. I had my balls busted when I was 18 for hanging out with two of my friends that were still 17 after midnight. They searched my car (I knew they weren't allowed but I let them just to waste time) and asked to open the trunk. I knew I had a single can of Natty Light in there and told them about it but they didn't seem to care. (I think they even left it). They must have been looking for drugs and let me go when they didn't find any.

I don't care how young and defiant you are, you need to fuckin' cooperate with police because they are doing their jobs. If you got their attention for whatever reason, be polite because their job sucks most of the time. (I have three cops in my close family) They have bad days and they just don't want to deal with your shit sometimes. I've also been amazed by the stories my brother in law has told about the things he lets slide, so I know its not all ball busting when people deal with police.. it's just the smug whiners who want principality.
 
[quote name='Cracka']Take an over-sized glove and write "my beer holding glove" on it. When its your turn to present your case tell the judge to look at "exhibit A, a beer holding glove that I found in the back of my car next to the beer". Then say "your honor, if the glove does not fit you must acquit". Next proceed to try on the glove and show the judge that the glove is clearly much larger than a glove you would wear. Tell the judge you rest your case and go sit back down and begin writing a book about how that night might have gone if it had been your beer.[/QUOTE]

:rofl:
 
[quote name='maddog1419']I'm 20 too and my parents know that I drink and usually have beer or liquor in the car all the time.Usually it's hidden in my car. My mom said that if I ever got pulled over and a cop noticed it that I should deny knowing that it was there and she'd cover for me saying that she took my car earlier in the day to run errands or what have you and that she forgot to bring it in the house.

You should have a court appointed attorney, that's you're best bet. Failing that, you better buy some gloves that don't fit you.[/quote]
You and your parents sound like really responsible people.
 
Who does the car belong to? Who does the beer belong to?

If say, they both belonged to your parents or a friend who was over 21, then you could try getting to them to come forward and say it was their car, and their beer that they had left in there on accident. However, I doubt that would do much.

I also somewhat doubt that you really didn't know the beer was there.
 
Get a lawyer, even if its the public defender. Seriously, if these things were simple enough to get through without help, the public defender system (and by extension must criminal defense work) wouldn't exist.

And be aware that the defender is going to tell you to plea out. If you don't have a record and the judge isn't too much of a hard ass, you probably won't get too harsh of a penalty.
 
I would go ahead and just plead Guilty or no contest. If you plead not guilty the Judge is going to be pissed and find you guilty anyway because like you said you blew a .01. which means you were drinking and your a underage person that can't have even a .01 and drive. Then you will get even more punishment because you wasted his time and the tax payers money.

I had a Marijuana poss. charge when I was 18 and went to court and plead guilty and only got a small fine. Just tell the Judge you messed up and since you going to be 21 soon I think he will have mercy on you.
 
Isn't one of the first things they teach you in driver's ed that you are responsible for anything in the car that you are driving?
 
the only way you could get out of this and it's a slim maybe is if you also had cold medicine in your car too at least then you'd have an excuse for the breathalizer.

it's not worth lieing over take your punnishment like a man instead of a painsy.
 
It doesn't matter that you blew .01. If you are under 21, there is a zero tolerance law (no amount of alcohol in the blood is permissible). Take the punishment and learn from your mistake.
 
[quote name='auralia']the only way you could get out of this and it's a slim maybe is if you also had cold medicine in your car too at least then you'd have an excuse for the breathalizer.

[/quote]


That, or a bottle of mouthwash. I've heard that will sometimes give false positives.

I'm not a lawyer. I honestly don't see a consumption charge sticking, but you did have unopened beer so that doesn't look good.

What should I do? I do not want to put the blame on my passenger if he will get in trouble for it, but if I claimed it was his alcohol would I be found innocent? They failed to take his Social Security Number and did not check his ID, since he did not have any.
Click to expand...

Was the beer yours or his? If you were telling the truth about not knowing it was there, and if it was his, then you shouldn't be concerned about getting him in trouble. Just tell the truth. Worrying about being a snitch is grade school stuff.
 
When mouthwash gives false positives, they read near fatal levels like .8+. :lol:

Jr is just going to have to bite the bullet for being stupid.


[quote name='GuilewasNK']That, or a bottle of mouthwash. I've heard that will sometimes give false positives. [/quote]
 
In all seriousness, see if you state / county / city has a first offenders program. If they do, you can likely get in a program where you pay a fine, attend classes on alcoholism and maybe do some community service in exchange for the charges not showing up on your record. If possible you want to avoid a record that will follow you around for the rest of your life.
 
[quote name='QiG']I don't care how young and defiant you are, you need to fuckin' cooperate with police because they are doing their jobs. If you got their attention for whatever reason, be polite because their job sucks most of the time. (I have three cops in my close family) They have bad days and they just don't want to deal with your shit sometimes. I've also been amazed by the stories my brother in law has told about the things he lets slide, so I know its not all ball busting when people deal with police.. it's just the smug whiners who want principality.[/QUOTE]It's hard to say because I tried cooperating with the police when they thought I did/knew something about a stabbing that happened at Kohl's. It happened when I was 18 years old (one reason I'm kind of scared to go out these days), where the officers were smoking a cigarette in my face, searching all my pockets and everything in my wallet, and so on.
 
There's probably just a fine you can pay.

I got an underage consumption ticket in college when the cops burst into a bar that always served people underage. I just paid the ticket (think it was $150--but that was over 10 years ago) and that was the end of it--never went before a judge or anything. And having it in the car could make it a more serious charge I suppose.
 
[quote name='FloodsAreUponUS']To my knowledge unopened containers of beer in Virginia are completely legal.[/QUOTE]

In most states, you can have unopened containers IF you're 21. In this case, it's going to come down to who was in possession of the beer since both occupants were underage. If both deny possessing it, the driver is at fault in nearly all cases since they are responsible for the contents of their car.

If you ever watch COPS, drivers get arrested a lot when their passengers won't admit to owning the crack pipe. It's the same thing here, you can't be transporting or possessing alcohol if you're not the legal age to do so.

In MA:

If you are under 21, it is illegal to...
• Buy alcohol or have someone buy it for you
• Possess, carry, or transport alcohol unless accompanied by a parent or guardian
Violating either of these laws requires a 90-day to one-year license suspension and possible
fines and other penalties. The suspension for buying or attempting to buy alcoholic
beverages by a person under 21 is 180 days.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='Kayden']When mouthwash gives false positives, they read near fatal levels like .8+. :lol:

Jr is just going to have to bite the bullet for being stupid.[/quote]


I meant for a breathalyzer, not a blood test. I don't know anyhting about either though since I don't drink.
 
If you had one (just blew the .01 or just had the beer) you probably could have gotten away with it. Blowing a .01 and having the beer in the back seat probably won't pass by a judge. Tell them what you did and they will probably be lenient as long as you don't try to make up some complicated lie.
 
OK here goes (from someone I know who works as a prosecutor):

The court will probably have a public defender there. It's possible that they won't since it's just a traffic ticket. If there is a public defender, USE THE PUBLIC DEFENDER.

From that fact pattern, it sounds like he is screwed. He WAS drinking underage, he WAS transporting beer, and he WAS in possession of the beer. It's not a tough case. The police have the following as evidence: his ID, his beer, and his breathalyzer test. This is the type of case I love (as a prosecutor).

Now, the best way to do it may be to agree to plead guilty to the underage consumption charge IN EXCHANGE FOR dismissal of the remaining two tickets. Always get something back when you plead guilty (if you can). The leverage is this: if the State is not willing to take the deal, he can go to trial. And nobody wants to go to trial. Ever.

Profiling probably won't help if he HAD a broken headlight. If that's a legitimate reason for the stop, he had no basis for profiling.

DISCLAIMER: The above constitutes friendly advice and may not be construed as legal advice.
Click to expand...

I'm also adding the disclaimer - THE ABOVE MAY NOT BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL ADVICE.
 
I love talking to lawyers, getting "friendly advice". Just like talking to doctors, they have to cover themselves. I always respect a lawyer willing to give that friendly advice. The problem is that they can open themselves up a a lawsuit if they don't couch it that way, and many will simply refuse to give it for that very reason. Kudos to javeryh and his prosecutor friend for lending that helping hand.

Nothing against lawyers, it's a mostly honorable profession, perhaps a higher percentage of jerks than most professions, but they've got an undeserved bad rep.
 
I'm mainly curious if the OP was drinking before (he doesn't deny it, he just says that it's possible to blow BAC other ways), and if he knew the beer was there (which again, he says he told the cop he didn't but didn't say whether or not he really did).
 
I love when after getting caught for doing something mind boggling stupid and easily avoidable people always try to look for some magically way out.

Also, what the hell does being white have to do with anything?

You took roughly 5 completely idiotic things and put them together....you are fucked take your punishment and try to think before you do things in the future.

Seriously...you are 2 months away from being 21 you couldnt wait? Or at least think drinking and driving (zero tolerance rule anyone?) in a car that is more likely to be pulled over because of a broken tail light all the while having cases of beer in full view in your back seat wasnt a good idea? The thought of you not being of legal age didnt prompt you from putting it in the truck?

Pfft.
 
My brother went to jury duty and it was a trail of a DWI where the driver refused the breathalyzer test. They found him not guilty so maybe you should of refused, although the person in the case was over 21.

I just recalled something that happened to me when I was about 15 or 16. My friends were picking up some beer from someone. And on the way back when they were going to drop me off a cop pulled us over for a missing brake light. The person with the case of beer started stuffing it under the seat. When the cop talked to the driver he just gave us a warning and didn't suspect anything. To bad you didn't try hiding the beer but I guess this is all hindsight 20/20.
 
Plan A- .01 Tell them you had a cold and took some friggin Nyquil or some crap. You had been very sick right? Hell you don't know where the beer came from. Someone who was in the car earlier left it. Play dumb it works for most Americans.

Plan B- Call Avon and have him get Leavey on the case.

Plan C- Bend over and get ready to pay out the ass. Thats all these people want out of you is $$$$.
 
First, I think anything above .01 if you are a minor is considered illegal, so you should be clear on that one. As for the possession, you are pretty screwed. Under 21 and having beer on you is illegal. Hell, if someone gets pulled over and their passenger has drugs on them, they can legally charge the driver too. Get the court appointed representation and do your best to fight it. I'm sure he could even get the trial delayed for you, but that doesn't mean it will help your case.

[quote name='maddog1419']I'm 20 too and my parents know that I drink and usually have beer or liquor in the car all the time.Usually it's hidden in my car. My mom said that if I ever got pulled over and a cop noticed it that I should deny knowing that it was there and she'd cover for me saying that she took my car earlier in the day to run errands or what have you and that she forgot to bring it in the house.

You should have a court appointed attorney, that's you're best bet. Failing that, you better buy some gloves that don't fit you.[/QUOTE]

That's pretty dumb, but I can't say I've never done it.
 
My son has class on Saturday for an illegal consumption charge.

$450 Class and it is removed from his record. If he'd have fought it, he'd have lost his license for 3 months, even tho he was standing in his yard when busted. (Long Story, aren't they all ;) )

With so many charges, you need to get representation.
 
[quote name='maddog1419']I'm 20 too and my parents know that I drink and usually have beer or liquor in the car all the time.Usually it's hidden in my car. My mom said that if I ever got pulled over and a cop noticed it that I should deny knowing that it was there and she'd cover for me saying that she took my car earlier in the day to run errands or what have you and that she forgot to bring it in the house.

You should have a court appointed attorney, that's you're best bet. Failing that, you better buy some gloves that don't fit you.[/quote]

Fuggin hell. I don't know why I'm constantly shocked at the stupidity that goes on.
 
Were you a dick to the cop? That goes a long way, if people aren't straight with me ill cite them for everything.

Now

Did you agree to the breathalyzer? If you are defending your self or get a public defender grill the cop of his training of the instrument make sure he is licensed to operate it, and in Texas hand held breathalyzers are not allowed in court.

Again I know Texas law, and if your under age a blow and they detect any alcohol its an automatic minor in consumption, and poss depending on the cop a DWI . This will most likely land you a probation period on your license, and some stupid class.

The minor in possession and transportation could be easily beat if the the vehicle is registered in your parents name, but it does look bad. And technically you were not in possession of the beer unless it was with in arms reach, and did the passenger get cited for mip.

If its in JP or municipal court you could request a trial by a jury if you don't wanna put all your hopes on one single judge.

If you really want to beat it get an attorney or public defender, the DA may offer you a plea deal if they see you have an attorney. Either was get ready to take some really boring classes about how drinking is bad.
 
I thought all states had some type of free legal aid program. Why not google whatever state you live in + free legal aid and call whoever it directs you to? Legal aid is free and lawyers can help in these type of situations. Also, breathalyzer tests are optional; you should have declined.
 
[quote name='Soodmeg']The thought of you not being of legal age didnt prompt you from putting it in the truck?[/quote]

You're right, I should've put it in the truck.


I went to court today, actually, dressed up real fancy-like, clothes for judgment. They offered me a plea bargain, told 'em that I don't negotiate with terrorists.

Then I made quick with "where's the other officer? I've some questions for him." They informed me that he was unavailable, and I proceeded to testify the truth (note: you can't handle the truth).

I told them that I did not know the alcohol was there, that it wasn't me, noting that I'd only seen it for a moment when I handed to the officer, and that I was unsure whether or not it was even an alcoholic beverage. "Could I see the evidence, please, sir?"

Fortunately, evidence was disposed. "Innocent until proven guilty, sir?"

They let me go free.

Thank you all for your advice on learning my lesson and being responsible, taking it in the ass from the government; it's been a real eye-opener. You're all very wise, gentleman and scholars, fascists too.

(Javeryh and some others, you were actually helpful- thanks for going out of your way)!

Note: what really bothered me, and why I mentioned profiling, is that the officer asked whether or not I had "any dope." I don't believe they would have asked an older gentleman or gentlewoman, or others this.
 
Is this a joke?

[quote name='Moses144']You're right, I should've put it in the truck.


I went to court today, actually, dressed up real fancy-like, clothes for judgment. They offered me a plea bargain, told 'em that I don't negotiate with terrorists.

Then I made quick with "where's the other officer? I've some questions for him." They informed me that he was unavailable, and I proceeded to testify the truth (note: you can't handle the truth).

I told them that I did not know the alcohol was there, that it wasn't me, noting that I'd only seen it for a moment when I handed to the officer, and that I was unsure whether or not it was even an alcoholic beverage. "Could I see the evidence, please, sir?"

Fortunately, evidence was disposed. "Innocent until proven guilty, sir?"

They let me go free.

Thank you all for your advice on learning my lesson and being responsible, taking it in the ass from the government; it's been a real eye-opener. You're all very wise, gentleman and scholars, fascists too.

(Javeryh and some others, you were actually helpful- thanks for going out of your way)!

Note: what really bothered me, and why I mentioned profiling, is that the officer asked whether or not I had "any dope." I don't believe they would have asked an older gentleman or gentlewoman, or others this.[/quote]
 
Then stop breaking the law. You got lucky this time. Don't let there be a next time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top