Marijuana summons

[alan321]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Two days ago my friend was rolling a joint in central park and all of a sudden a cop shows up. he was there with 2 friends and one of them took off. the cop came took the joint out of my hand and told him to call his friend back or he arrests them both(the other friend that was there with him).
anyways my friend tried calling his friend but he thought that the cop is calling him from my friends phone and didn't pick up. he asked me friend if he has any more on him and he handed him over his weed(about 5 grams). so he asked me friend how old is he and he said 15 so the cop said something like ok i have to call ur parents then, so after my friend begging him to not do that the cop said something like "ok, lets work something out" so ends up he wrote his birth date as 1993 instead of 1994 and he misspelled his last name (forgot to write one letter) and instead of marking his address as CT(for connecticut) he wrote CN. he was given three summons one for possession of marijuana(it says section 104 sub 4 which i can't find any marijuana law with that section code) and for loitering for illegal purpose(again his hand writing is pretty bad but what i understood is section 104 sub M2 or somethin like that) and another one for fail to comply with something (section 105 sub C1 or something like that)
now my question is, what is he gonna get? is it possible for him to get an ACOD?
is it possible to get the case dismissed because of the bad hand writing?
and should he call the court and tell them about his misspelled name?
if he tells them about his wrong date of birth will his parents be contacted?
and finally he needs to postpone his court date coz his current one is the same day as his finals so how does he do that?
thanks

 

[FlyingRon]

ACOD is possible.

Making sure that the name and address is valid is handy so he doesn't miss any important court information such as change in his hearing dates.
None of the clerical errors or bad handwriting is going to get his charges dismissed.

 

[alan321]

ACOD is possible.

Making sure that the name and address is valid is handy so he doesn't miss any important court information such as change in his hearing dates.
None of the clerical errors or bad handwriting is going to get his charges dismissed.

ok thanks! how do i find out if he is being charged with criminal possession or the decriminalized statue?
and above what age will his parents be informed?
thanks

 

[HighwayMan]

First of all it's not a misdemeanor, it's a criminal violation (the marijuana charge).

Secondly, if your friend was 15 years old he is not eligible for a summons, as 16 is the minimum age.

He should bring proof of his age to court and the charges should be dismissed. In addition, generally the marijuana will not be sent to the lab for analysis for a summons case, so even if he was 16 the charge would more than likely get dismissed since it was only alleged marijuana with no proof.

The failure to comply is nonsense - there is no such charge (only in the Vehicle and Traffic Law). If the sections you quoted are accurate then it seems like to cop made them up to simply scare your friend and to make him go to court for no reason.

For the record, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana is Penal Law section 221.05
Loitering is Penal Law section 240.35 but the statute does not even apply in your situation (none of the subsections do).

And as I said "failure to comply" does not exist, or at least does not apply unless you are operating a motor vehicle. It is VTL section 1102.

 

[HighwayMan]

By the way, your friend may very well have to bring a parent with him to court. I doubt that the court will let a 15 year old waltz in there by himself and deal with anything.

He'd better get his ass down to 346 Broadway and find out ahead of time. Or did the summons get returned to Midtown Community Court? Either way, he'd better go find out.

 

[alan321]

First of all it's not a misdemeanor, it's a criminal violation (the marijuana charge).

Secondly, if your friend was 15 years old he is not eligible for a summons, as 16 is the minimum age.

He should bring proof of his age to court and the charges should be dismissed. In addition, generally the marijuana will not be sent to the lab for analysis for a summons case, so even if he was 16 the charge would more than likely get dismissed since it was only alleged marijuana with no proof.

The failure to comply is nonsense - there is no such charge (only in the Vehicle and Traffic Law). If the sections you quoted are accurate then it seems like to cop made them up to simply scare your friend and to make him go to court for no reason.

For the record, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana is Penal Law section 221.05
Loitering is Penal Law section 240.35 but the statute does not even apply in your situation (none of the subsections do).

And as I said "failure to comply" does not exist, or at least does not apply unless you are operating a motor vehicle. It is VTL section 1102.

So are you saying that a 15 year old can't be taken to court?
and if he brings his passport to prove it hes off the hook?
can you show me any laws that say that?
and how does he go about doing that?
thank you

 

[alan321]

In addition, generally the marijuana will not be sent to the lab for analysis for a summons case, so even if he was 16 the charge would more than likely get dismissed since it was only alleged marijuana with no proof.

Well i think he admitted it was marijuana to the police officer because the police officer asked him if he had anymore on him and he said yes and handed over some more...

 

[alan321]

and wouldn't his case just get transferred to juvenile court?

 

[BOR]

First of all it's not a misdemeanor, it's a criminal violation (the marijuana charge).

Secondly, if your friend was 15 years old he is not eligible for a summons, as 16 is the minimum age.

He should bring proof of his age to court and the charges should be dismissed. In addition, generally the marijuana will not be sent to the lab for analysis for a summons case, so even if he was 16 the charge would more than likely get dismissed since it was only alleged marijuana with no proof.

This perplexes me? Where are you getting the fact a 15 year old can't be charged with such?

 

[You Are Guilty]

This perplexes me? Where are you getting the fact a 15 year old can't be charged with such?

Well clearly he's making it up, no? I mean, surely a police officer, charged with enforcing the laws of this fine state, wouldn't actually know what they are?

Infancy.
1. Except as provided in subdivision two of this section, a person
less than sixteen years old is not criminally responsible for conduct.
2. [exceptions for 13-15 year olds who do really bad stuff]
3. In any prosecution for an offense, lack of criminal responsibility
by reason of infancy, as defined in this section, is a defense.

Granted, I knew this stuff offhand, but it would have taken all of 5 seconds on Google to verify

 

[HighwayMan]

I never said a 15 year old cannot be charged.

I said a 15 year old CANNOT BE ISSUED A CRIMINAL COURT SUMMONS. Or any other summons for that matter. Every NYPD officer learns that in the academy - 16 and over for summonses.

The New York City Criminal Court Summons Appearance Parts are deluged with nonsense. Thousands upon thousands of criminal summonses written for all sorts of garbage. Many written because, depending on the command, the NYPD is pushed to write them. I doubt very much the Criminal Court (SAP) will transfer anything anywhere.

The officer will NOT be there for the arraignment (on the return date) so the issue of any incriminating statements will not be brought up. And as I said, the charges appear to be totally bogus anyway.

 

[BOR]

I never said a 15 year old cannot be charged.

I said a 15 year old CANNOT BE ISSUED A CRIMINAL COURT SUMMONS. Or any other summons for that matter. Every NYPD officer learns that in the academy - 16 and over for summonses.

Oh I see. How are they haled into court then, are ALL under 16 arrested then?

 

[You Are Guilty]

Oh I see. How are they haled into court then, are ALL under 16 arrested then?

They tend to get sent to Family Court.

 

[alan321]

how does he go about dismissing the charges? does he show up at court on his court date and when called up says motion to dismiss and then state his grounds?
thanks

 

[HighwayMan]

I told you already - he needs to check with the court to find out if they will even let him in the court room. He may need an attorney. In any event, I doubt that he will not have to get his parents involved somehow.

Of course, if we knew for sure what charges were written on the summonses it would help. He may be able to go to the court to get copies of the originals so that he knows what exactly he is charged with. If those charges are bogus he might be able to just show up and make a motion to dismiss based on the fact that the charges don't exist. But he'd better know for sure what he's doing.