Underage Citation

[heartwire]

Hello I am a college student and living in PA, and I was out with my friends at a party one night. I had previously consumed alcohol but I had not consumed it after I left my home. While at a party, one of my friends hit her head and recieved a large bump on her head. We decided to take her back to her dorm while one of our sober friends drove. We took her into her dorm where her resident assistant caught her and called the police on her. We talked to the police officer and he told us we would not get in any trouble. he checked out my friend and ended up calling the ambulence to take her to a local hospital and cited her. he then decided he would breathalyze us because we were with her. i blew a .079, under the legal limit but i am not 21. he gave me a citation for underage drinking and i chose to plead not guilty and have a court date soon, what do you think my chances are of getting it dropped to a disorderly conduct? the police officer told us we would not get in trouble and that we were very cooperative. should i hire a lawyer?
please help!

 

[Bird79]

In all reality, go to court, this charge isn't that big of a deal. I wouldn't hire a lawyer ( keep in mind I am not a lawyer) and I would talk to the DA or assistant DA when you reappear after your intial plea of not guilty. Considering you didn't cause any harm and cooperated with the police, ask them for an ACOD (adjournment on contemplation of dismissal), basicaly this means if you don't get arrested again in what ever time limit they give you the charges go away and are never put on record. If they don't go for that deal, ask to get a public attorney and go back to court on a later date.