Drinking on street ticket issues...

[psiedtsi]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Minnesota

I'll set it with a bit of background first. It was the 4th of July, in a BIG 4th of July party town in Minnesota. We were just walking around minding our own business and a cop stopped us to ask us what we were drinking. We just had pop bottles, etc. There was liquor in them. No problem I got caught(a little bitter because I could point out people actually causing problems either drinking or not while we were getting ticketed for walking quietly, being generally responsible adults with our adult beverages). Anyway, long story short, 2 of my friends with at the time were from ND, so they were promptly arrested. The rest of us MN residents just received "beer on street"(thats actually what it says on the tickets) tickets. The bail for the 2 others was set at $162, which was the price of the fine. Great bailed them out. Went on with our lives. I lost my ticket, in turn forgetting when it was due. No big deal there as they generally send you a letter if you happen to miss the court date. Ok so now to the present...


Received the letter not too long ago, sometime in August. I had another court date scheduled for I believe it was yesterday, the 25th. So basically that was the due date for my letter that basically explained that I missed the date and to plead guilty check this box, etc. Well the interesting thing was that the fine amount said I owed "$0.00" in atleast 2 spots. Being that b*stard I am, I simply made a copy of the letter for proof later, and signed the letter pleading guilty and sent it in with my $0 they said I owed.

Today, I checked my mail and there was another letter from the Court Administrator that said exactly the same thing to me(with ANOTHER rescheduled court date), but it included the fine of "$165.00", which isn't technically right either, and I have proof. Do I have any legal leg to stand on in this case, or should I just pay the fine(it's not about the money) and put it behind me?

Also, I talked to one of the others that was with me about their situation. He told me when he drove down to pay it off, they tried increasing the fine to something like $485 because it had been increased "just yesterday" as the lady put it. He obviously asked to see a higher up and they took care of it because he was holding the ticket in his hand.

I have a few weeks to get back to them on the other letter, but I'd like to get a good idea what I should do before I get in over my head or something.

Thanks,
Tony

[seniorjudge]

Pay up.

You're lucky there's not a warrant out for your arrest.

[psiedtsi]

Interesting. I guess I didn't realize it was that cut and dry.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by psiedtsi

Interesting. I guess I didn't realize it was that cut and dry.

**A: it wasn't dry as you had wet liquor in soda bottles.

[psiedtsi]

haha, touche

[outonbail]

I agree, pay the fine and be done with it.

After all, you are guilty and regardless of whether you and your friends were being rowdy, or walking peacefully down the street, you were cited for having an open container of alcohol.

Considering that you've already missed at least one scheduled court appearance and your friend told you they tried raising his fine because of a change in the penalty structure, playing anymore games will most likely cost you more money.

Also, even if the penalty is $162.00, there can be court fees and administration costs added to that amount, so I wouldn't be complaining too loud about the three dollar difference in the $165.00 the court is asking you to pay.

Playing any more games with the court over this citation will most likely only cost you more money,,,