Another underage drinking question... sorry!

What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

My daughter was recently visiting a friend who had a small party. There were about 15 people there and a neighbor called in a noise complaint. My daughter went outside with the host to tell the neighbors if they were being too loud they would turn it down and as she opened the door the police began questioning her. A female officer had told her so long as she was honest and didn't have any previous offenses, nothing would happen and she would walk away free. However, after my daughter gave the police officer all of her information, the police officer called it in and realized that the host had some previous offenses for having a drinking party and gave her the ticket anyways. The officer interrogating the host said that none of his guests would get tickets so long as he complied, and he did. None of the guests inside got underage tickets, although they were all underage. My daughter is 19 and I was wondering if there is a possibility of her charges being dropped and instead her being sentenced to community service or some drinking classes. However, she did breathalyze and did have alcohol in her system so I think that maybe she should just pay the ticket but it would be an awful shame for this to be on her permanent record when applying for jobs and graduate schools. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time!

Get her a lawyer and plea bargain with the prosecutor.




Standard answer

Here are some hints on appearing in court:

Dress professionally in clean clothes.

Do not wear message shirts or caps.

Don't chew gum, smoke, or eat. (Smokers...pot or tobacco...literally stink. Remember that before you head for court.)

Bathe and wash your hair.

Do not bring small children or your friends.

Go to court beforehand some day before you actually have to go to watch how things go.

Speak politely and deferentially. If you argue or dispute something, do it professionally and without emotion.

Ask the court clerk who you talk to about a diversion (meaning you want to plead to a different, lesser charge), if applicable in your situation. Ask about traffic school and that the ticket not go on your record, if applicable. Ask also about getting a hardship driving permit, if applicable. Ask about drug court, if applicable.

From marbol:

“Judge...

You forgot the one thing that I've seen that seems to frizz up most judges these days:

If you have a cell phone, make DAMN SURE that it doesn't make ANY noise in the courtroom. This means when you are talking to the judge AND when you are simply sitting in the court room.

If you have a ‘vibrate’ position on your cell phone, MAKE sure the judge DOESN'T EVEN HEAR IT VIBRATE!

Turn it off or put it in silent mode where it flashes a LED if it rings. AND DON'T even DREAM about answering it if it rings.”

(Better yet, don’t carry your cell phone into the courtroom.)”


Here are seven stories that criminal court judges hear the most (and I suggest you do not use them or variations of them):

1. I’ve been saved! (This is not religion specific; folks from all kinds of religious backgrounds use this one.)

2. My girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter/wife/ex-wife/niece/grandma/grand-daughter is pregnant/sick/dying/dead/crippled/crazy and needs my help.

3. I’ve got a job/military posting in [name a place five hundred miles away].

4. This is the first time I ever did this. (This conflicts with number 5 below, but that hasn’t stopped some defendants from using both.)

5. You’ve got the wrong guy. (A variation of this one is the phantom defendant story: “It wasn’t me driving, it was a hitchhiker I picked up. He wrecked the car, drug me behind the wheel then took off.” Or, another variation: “I was forced into it by a bad guy!”)

6. I was influenced by a bad crowd.

7. I/my kid/my whatever has surgery scheduled.


https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?p=854687#post854687

Public defender’s advice

http://newyork.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/70300494.html


Other people may give you other advice; stand by.

The charges won't get dropped. The "fine" might be community service. Yes, it would be a shame, but your daughter knew when she took that first drop that she was committing a crime - and continued to drink.

moburkes said:

The charges won't get dropped. The "fine" might be community service. Yes, it would be a shame, but your daughter knew when she took that first drop that she was committing a crime - and continued to drink.

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I disagree with this statement. It would NOT be a shame.

Daughter was under 21, broke the law and deserves the punishment she gets.

As a Mom of a teenager, If my daughter brakes the law, I would stand behind her punishment, not try and downplay the crime or try to get her punishment redused.

Oh, no, I agree that she should be punished. The ONLY thing that would be a shame is if she is denied entry into college because of it.

The odds of this impacting her college eduation are very, very, very slim.

It's not like she was caught with a dime bag of weed or something...

xylene said:

The odds of this impacting her college eduation are very, very, very slim.

It's not like she was caught with a dime bag of weed or something...

Click to expand...

Depending on the college, even that might not mean anything. I live in a "hippie" town, and the local university, it seems, only puts a facade of enforcing drug laws in order to stay in "compliance" of federal law to ensure they continue to get federal funding. As long as they make some sort of "administrative discipline", it seems to satiate the state. *shrug*