Underage Possession of Alcohol

[Cherubael]

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

Several months ago I was driving to my 21-year old college roommate's house outside of town, and we stopped at a grocery store, so he could buy himself beer and myself some cigarettes. There were 5 people total in his car including myself, and another friend driving another car. When my roommate brought the beer out, apparently an undercover ALE team parked behind the car and waited for him to place the beer in his trunk, and unfortunately, in the trunk of the guy driving the other car, due to the simple fact that the 21 year old's trunk was full of instruments/amps. At this point, ALE came out and questioned him and what not. All the while the other 4 people in his vehicle had no idea what was going on, as I had bought my smokes and left the store, not thinking at all about the alcohol since it wasn't in fact for us. In any case the officer opened the rear car door and asked for IDs, even went so far as to say "do you know what ID is?" when we all did not immediately hand him IDs within 2 seconds (we all were working to get them out of wallets/purses). Some time later the officer opened the same door again and asked 3 of us (those who had IDs on us) to come outside. He then handed us citations, claiming that my roommate (the 21 year old) had said we had all planned to drink this beer out at his house party. We said little to this, as he continued right away to say that he smelled alcohol in the car, which was completely untrue, as none of us had been drinking. One of my friends asked him if we could take breathilizers, and he sort of brushed it off saying he didn't want to do that, as it did not matter, we were still getting citations. When it all ended my roommate got a pretty severe aiding and abetting charge since he Did put the alcohol in a minor's vehicle, and we all had possession of alcohol charges.

3 of my friends with possession tickets recently went to court for this and pleaded guilty out of monetary concerns, since we are poor college students and it was just an alcohol ticket, but my father decided to fund getting a lawyer for me since it truly was bogus (I had called him as soon as I had received my citation). Only one other person with the possession ticket got a lawyer, and from her, I have recently discovered that the officer lied on his police report, saying that he had taken each of us aside and gotten us to admit that we planned on drinking the alcohol that night, which again, never happened. I guess I am just looking for advice, my lawyer claims he is going to try to talk to the DA and get the charges dismissed in exchange for some community service hours, but he does not seem to have made much progress. At this point I am considering simply pleading guilty since this is far from worth it, especially as school gets out, and I will be spending the summer four hours away from the court I must attend in a month. But if there is much chance of getting this thrown out before trial, or even in a trial, I guess I might stick with pleading not guilty. Thanks for your time...

[FlyingRon]

Welcome to the real world.

Yep, you either have to go to court, or deal with the consequences. It looks like your dad did you a good favor. I would confer with the lawyer and follow his advice. Frankly, I'd not plead guilty. I think you are not in this case. The alcohol was never in your possession, and unless you did something to incriminate yourself that you omitted in your story, there's no compelling case. But you are an adult, it is your decision.

[dworrill]

That's why when you swear in you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you in fact believe that to be the truth, speak to an attorney about a trial; only fools represent themselves.

I like the bit about your attorney attempting to try and speak to the DA about a deferred prosecution. It's practically automatic practice. He is fluffing you to make it appear he is working for the money he is being paid. The Deferred Prosecution negotiation takes about as long as it takes to read this paragraph.

If you plan on pleaing responsible ask the ADA for a deferred prosecution(community service for dismissal-usually always given for these offenses whether you have an attorney or not) or plea responsible and ask the Judge for a Prayer for Judgment Continued, in NC you pay costs and your case is continued into eternity with no judgment. Worst case you have a class 3 misdemeanor (lowest) on your record and a fine of probably $50 + costs which you can get expunged later.