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open container question....help!!

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ana636

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Kansas

I have been ticketed for open container. However, a passenger in the car I was driving admitted it was his open container. I was given a sobriety test and passed. Their was an open 12 pack container in the back seat of my car which was the officers probable cause to search. He found the open container under the passenger seat and that person claimed it!! However the officer chose to ticket me also because he said "It is your car and you should be responsible for what goes on in your car" Is this right????? I have 4 children and a minimum wage job, a large fine and/or jail time is absolutely not an option. Someone please help me to know if I can get out of this!! Thank you soooo much!!!!!!! Anna
 


Crazed98

Member
ana636 said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Kansas

I have been ticketed for open container. However, a passenger in the car I was driving admitted it was his open container. I was given a sobriety test and passed. Their was an open 12 pack container in the back seat of my car which was the officers probable cause to search. He found the open container under the passenger seat and that person claimed it!! However the officer chose to ticket me also because he said "It is your car and you should be responsible for what goes on in your car" Is this right????? I have 4 children and a minimum wage job, a large fine and/or jail time is absolutely not an option. Someone please help me to know if I can get out of this!! Thank you soooo much!!!!!!! Anna

The police officer is right it is your car therefore it is your responsibility for what is in your car. I see no reason why you would get the max sentence and go to jail but the maximum penalty for your crime is:

Up to $200 Fine &/or Up to 6 Months in Jail
 

reamann

Junior Member
It doesn't matter whose open container it is as long as it is in your car. You've broken the law and will pay for it with a fine, increased insurance costs, points on your license, and possibly some jail time. I know you have four children and a low-paying job, but you have to think about how you are endangering everyone else's families with your reckless behavior. The only way to "get out of this" is to take your punishment like a big girl and move on. Hopefully you'll learn your lesson and be more careful in the future.
 

Crazed98

Member
reamann said:
It doesn't matter whose open container it is as long as it is in your car. You've broken the law and will pay for it with a fine, increased insurance costs, points on your license, and possibly some jail time. I know you have four children and a low-paying job, but you have to think about how you are endangering everyone else's families with your reckless behavior. The only way to "get out of this" is to take your punishment like a big girl and move on. Hopefully you'll learn your lesson and be more careful in the future.


HAHAHA! you make her sound like a stone cold murder. She didn't endanger anyone's lives and she was not reckless as long as she wasn't drinking while in the proccess of driving. But she did break the law so she will pay a fine.
 

marbol

Member
reamann said:
It doesn't matter whose open container it is as long as it is in your car. [...] endangering everyone else's families with your reckless behavior. The only way to "get out of this" is to take your punishment like a big girl and move on. Hopefully you'll learn your lesson and be more careful in the future.
What? Endangered who's lives? She wasn't drinking. Personally, I hate open container laws. They presume guilt by simple possesion. That's prior restraint and it's wrong. Someone in the passenger seat could be drinking a little and suddenly the driver is endangering people's lives? How stupid.

That's like saying the passengers drinking in the back of the airplane on a flight (as long as it's not the pilot) are endangering the lives of the people on the ground.

Same as in a chartered bus full of drinking vacationers on their way to or from a casino. The passengers can be full-fledged falling down drunk and it's okay to transport them, but if they are completely sober, yet have a small drink they just started to sip they are reckless? I just don't get it.

Make laws for real problems. Prosecute people for truly bad and reckless behavior and society will start to imporove. Zero tolerance is just zero common sense. It doesn't help and only serves to make criminals out of law-abiding people.
 

Veronica1228

Senior Member
marbol said:
What? Endangered who's lives? She wasn't drinking. Personally, I hate open container laws. They presume guilt by simple possesion. That's prior restraint and it's wrong. Someone in the passenger seat could be drinking a little and suddenly the driver is endangering people's lives? How stupid.

That's like saying the passengers drinking in the back of the airplane on a flight (as long as it's not the pilot) are endangering the lives of the people on the ground.

Same as in a chartered bus full of drinking vacationers on their way to or from a casino. The passengers can be full-fledged falling down drunk and it's okay to transport them, but if they are completely sober, yet have a small drink they just started to sip they are reckless? I just don't get it.

Make laws for real problems. Prosecute people for truly bad and reckless behavior and society will start to imporove. Zero tolerance is just zero common sense. It doesn't help and only serves to make criminals out of law-abiding people.
Thank you for that very special and pointless diatribe.

No one said the OP was drinking. The open container laws are in place for a reason. Who's to say that just because the passenger is holding the bottle/can/cup doesn't mean that it wasn't being passed back and forth (theoretically). That endangers lives. (Just one example)

If you don't like or agree with the laws then do something to change them. Stop whining!
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
That was the correct charge, if you don't have the money for the fine you can always go to jail instead. As the judge when you go to court if you can go to jail on weekends if you can't pay the fine. Or have you thought to ask the person who did have the open container to pay your fine?
 

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