Hawking/Peddling charge

I was recently at a concert in Pontiac, Michigan. We had extra tickets because some friends had cancelled on us, so we were trying to find people who needed tickets. We had the unfortunate luck of offering tickets to some undercover officers who confiscated the 5 tickets we were getting rid of and gave us a $50 ticket. However, we did not ever even mention price to them. I wasn't aware that it was illegal to sell tickets for face value or give them away; do I have any legal recourse? We basically asked if they needed tickets, they said yes, and we pulled out the tickets. At that point they identified themselves. Since we could have theoretically just given them the tickets, can we avoid paying the fine?

Thanks!

Unlikely. You're not being charged on what you could have done but on what you did do. I advise you to pay the ticket and not try and scalp tickets again.

Thanks, but I don't think we were charged on what we did, but what we could do, and that was why I was questioning it. I understand that ignorance of the law is no excuse, and if the transaction had gone further we would have asked for the face value of the ticket, but my point is that we didn't ask for a price; if no price is offered or implied, there is no proof of hawking or peddling, is there?

We most likely will just pay the fine, but I would have rather fought it since the whole purpose of this law is not meant to protect anyone; it's just making it easier for licensed ticket brokers to rip off concert and event goers since you can't legally get a refund or resell tickets that you purchased. Thanks though!