public intoxication without proof

[zneel123]

i live in denton texas and last night i got arrested for public intoxication. i am a minor, however, the officer did not give me a breathalyzer or a field sobriety test. i told him i hadnt been drinking but apparently that doesnt matter. he would probably say he smelt it on my breath, but i can probably explain that. i mean maybe i kissed a girl who had been drinking. either way im wanting to contest it on the grounds that they cant prove i was intoxicated in any way. all i was doing was walking down the sidewalk. any advice on this would help

[Some Random Guy]

In court it will be your word against that of a police officer trained in recognizing and dealing with intoxicated individuals. His testimony will be regarded as much more reliable than yours since he is considered as adisinterested thid party, whereas you have an incentive to lie.

i mean maybe i kissed a girl who had been drinking

Now that's a funny defense! Not believable in the least, but funny! The best part is where you appear to be unsure whether you kissed a girl. Perhaps the fuzziness of your mempry comes from the fact that you were drinking.

[outonbail]

Originally Posted by zneel123

i live in denton texas and last night i got arrested for public intoxication. i am a minor, however, the officer did not give me a breathalyzer or a field sobriety test. i told him i hadnt been drinking but apparently that doesnt matter. he would probably say he smelt it on my breath, but i can probably explain that. i mean maybe i kissed a girl who had been drinking.

Well, I agree that they can be much more willing to kiss you when they are drinking. But to pass the amount of alcohol over that would then have you smelling like a brewery,,,,, well that would have to be one hell of a kiss!

either way im wanting to contest it on the grounds that they cant prove i was intoxicated in any way. all i was doing was walking down the sidewalk. any advice on this would help

My advice is to "maybe" stop kissing girls who have been drinking!

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by zneel123

...
i mean maybe i kissed a girl who had been drinking.
...

Oh.





Brother.

[zneel123]

i agree. those girls can get you into trouble every time. and i understand that the officers word is going to be believed more than my own, but my only question is how can they convict if there is no legal proof other than the word of the officer. without either the breathalyzer or the field sobriety test it seems like they cant prove it

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by zneel123

i agree. those girls can get you into trouble every time. and i understand that the officers word is going to be believed more than my own, but my only question is how can they convict if there is no legal proof other than the word of the officer. without either the breathalyzer or the field sobriety test it seems like they cant prove it

The word of the officer IS LEGAL PROOF!

[zneel123]

well im not paying the fine - one, because i dont have a lot of money right now. and two, because if i did have money i wouldnt want to give it to them. all i was doing was walking home. so if i choose to sit this out in jail, about how long do you think it will be

[outonbail]

Originally Posted by zneel123

i agree. those girls can get you into trouble every time. and i understand that the officers word is going to be believed more than my own, but my only question is how can they convict if there is no legal proof other than the word of the officer. without either the breathalyzer or the field sobriety test it seems like they cant prove it

Well, why do you suppose the officer stopped you while you were just walking down the sidewalk?
Could it be that someone called the police to report your activity?
If you were arrested, were you taken to jail or juvy? Could someone there have also smelled alcohol on your breath?
Could the officer have video of you slurring words and doing the moon walk down the sidewalk?
Do you have a video of this drunk girl you were kissing on?

We certainly don't know all the details or what the officer saw/smelled or was informed. However, it sounds like you were drinking an alcoholic beverage and had the odor of this activity on your breath or clothes. You are a minor and therefore shouldn't be drinking any alcoholic beverages at all, let alone drinking enough to get yourself drunk. But there are a lot more ways of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, you had in fact been drinking.

But if you believe that you can lie about the situation when you're facing the judge and throw together a believable story that will convince the judge that this officer was just picking on you and arrested you for no reason at all, then go to court and have a crack at it. But I would put a little more thought into your defense than the kissing thing. Although I'll bet the court gets a kick out of hearing that excuse,,,, just before finding you guilty as charged.

[outonbail]

Originally Posted by zneel123

well im not paying the fine - one, because i dont have a lot of money right now. and two, because if i did have money i wouldnt want to give it to them.

I hear you, how do they expect you to pay for your alcohol if you have to give them your cash? Damn courts, never think about your needs, always thinking of themselves.....

all i was doing was walking home. so if i choose to sit this out in jail, about how long do you think it will be

Judging from the tone of your post, not long enough to have you avoid a future arrest(s) But they will probably require community service if this is your first arrest for kissing a drunk girl. Possibly thirty days worth of weekends.

Unless you go in to court drunk and with the attitude you're displaying here, then the sky's the limit.

[zneel123]

i mean yeah i was drunk. but all i was doing was walking home. and im pretty sure he probably has a video of me stumbling down the sidewalk. and yeah im sure there was alcohol on my breath. basically the way i see it is if i plead guilty then i have to serve the full sentence no matter what, if i defend myself in court then i get a chance to either convince them to give me a lesser sentence or (knock on wood) throw the case out. theres also the off chance that if i plead not guilty that the officer wont show up for trial, which means the case gets thrown out. and then you know if it doesnt work out ill get the full sentence. but at least ill have tried. do you have any idea how much the fine is

[outonbail]

Originally Posted by zneel123

i mean yeah i was drunk.

What? You mean the kissing a drunk girl thing was all made up? Wow, you sure had me going

but all i was doing was walking home. and im pretty sure he probably has a video of me stumbling down the sidewalk. and yeah im sure there was alcohol on my breath. basically the way i see it is if i plead guilty then i have to serve the full sentence no matter what, if i defend myself in court then i get a chance to either convince them to give me a lesser sentence or (knock on wood) throw the case out. theres also the off chance that if i plead not guilty that the officer wont show up for trial, which means the case gets thrown out. and then you know if it doesnt work out ill get the full sentence. but at least ill have tried. do you have any idea how much the fine is

Contrary to what you may believe, most Judges don't look favorably on defendants who are not willing to take responsibility for their actions. They can get upset with people lying to them after swearing to tell the truth.
Hence, they will often want you to pay a greater price for entering their court room, thinking they are stupid.
You should understand that you will certainly be wasting much more of the courts time by pleading not guilty and fighting these charges by lying to the judge about being drunk. The officer will have to take the time to appear in court when he could be out protecting the public and so on.
The courts are already filled with more cases than they have the manpower to hear.
For this reason, you will probably be offered a deal by the prosecution before you even stand before the judge. This deal will be far better than whatever the maximum penalties can amount to.

If you decide not to take whatever deal the DA offers, you will need an attorney to represent you. Again, more time and money out of your pocket.

To believe you are going to have any chance of winning this case, by representing yourself is ridiculous.
You see how easy it was to get to the truth here? When you're standing before the bench I can assure you it will be much more difficult for you to convince a judge you're innocent than it has been on this site and you didn't convince anyone here.

Take responsibility, take your lumps and stop drinking!

[zneel123]

sorry if i have a disrespectful tone towards the people who continue to try and mess up peoples lives. sure im a minor, but im about 6 months from being 21 and i wasnt driving, so im just a little frustrated that they not only made me sit 12 hours in jail - in addition to that they expect me to pay them what little money i make as a young adult. from talking to others and from the advice on here i guess im going to just plead no contest, but i still refuse to pay my hard earned money to a government thats done nothing to earn it. so my question now is, how much do you think this fine will be? because it looks like im goin back to the pokey for a couple more days at least.