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Disorderly Persons Offense in NJ- Public Intoxication... but I wasn't intoxicated!?

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jordiaz

Junior Member
Last week, my boyfriend and I (who are both recovering addicts) were walking up to the ATM. It was pretty late and we just needed money for cigarettes.

I had taken cough medicine for a cold I was fighting a couple hours beforehand, and I also took 50mg of seroquel, which is prescribed to me for anxiety and insomnia. The seroquel always makes me drowsy/dizzy to begin with, although not high at all, but I think the mixture with the cough medicine made it worse and, admittedly, I was a bit loopy.

My boyfriend, who was detoxing from the methadone (prescribed to him), had gotten some valium from his grammom to help with the withdrawal symptoms and was also a little out of sorts. As we walked to the ATM, my boyfriend (STUPIDLY, i know, but i love him) decided to take a piss on the lawn next to the bank- which happened to be the lawn of the police station. A cop who was walking out to the parking lot saw him and arrested him. I followed him inside the police station so I could make sure he was okay.

They started asking him what he was "on" (drugs/alcohol), and he told them. THEN they turned around and started BADGERING ME about what I was "on". I told them I wasn't on anything. They asked me if I was taking any medications, and I said seroquel. They kept asking me what I was on, I kept saying "nothing" because that was the truth. Then someone gave me this weird eye test with this little tool, like what you get at the doctor's office. Apparently THAT was considered a "medical evaluation", and it was enough to "prove" that I was "intoxicated". So then they asked me what he (my boyfriend) was on, and all I said was that he had taken some valium for his withdrawal.

But now I have a summons for a disorderly persons offense, and it says that I admitted to being under the influence of VALIUM (which, by the way, I've never taken). I have a court date in 5 days, I can't afford an attorney (nor can I really afford the Public Defender Application fee), and I'm scared ****less because I already have pending drug possession and paraphernalia charges and have just recently completed an outpatient drug rehab program.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can handle this? Is it possible to make a deal with the prosecutor before court and plead guilty to a lesser charge that won't show up as a criminal offense? I wasn't doing anything wrong!!!!!!!
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
Taking of multiple psychoactive drugs can indeed make you disorderly/intoxicated. The disorderly conduct for intoxication in NJ is an oft-abused statute however. You should definitely consult a lawyer. Wrangling with a prosecutor on your own isn't likely to be fruitful.
 

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