18 year old - possession of alcohol

[marragtop]

What is the name of your state? MD

My apologies if this isn't the correct forum..

Last night my 18 year old daughter went to a tailgate party prior to a concert. She had a cup of beer in her hand and was charged with 'being under 21 in possession of alcohol' by a Howard County police officer. The citation is poorly written, and I can't make out what the actual annotated code is. The citation does say that she must appear in court. She admitted to the officer that there was beer in the cup and she didn't give him a hard time. He told her that she would probably get community service

My daughter has never been in any trouble and has never even had a traffic ticket. She starts college out of state in September. My questions are:

Do we need an attorney for this?

Is this a misdemeanor, and if convicted what sort of penalties are possible?

If she is convicted will this be permanently on her record?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

 

[marragtop]

One additional piece of information... The officer gave my daughter a breathalyzer and it registered .06. Obviously, this would indicate that she is guilty of the charge, which I wasn't planning on contesting. Does the test have any impact on the charge or potential outcome? I REALLY need some advice on this.

thanks.

 

[stealth2]

She can likely expect to lose her license for a period of time. Consider it an expensive lesson learned.

 

[marragtop]

Thanks for the reply, but why should she lose her license? She wasn't driving. She was in a public place with a cup of beer in her hand. I assume they gave her the breath test to prove that she was consuming alcohol. They gave everyone that was under 21 the test.

 

[stealth2]

That's a pretty standard punishment for underage drinking.

 

[Happy Trails]

What is the name of your state? MD

My apologies if this isn't the correct forum..

Last night my 18 year old daughter went to a tailgate party prior to a concert. She had a cup of beer in her hand and was charged with 'being under 21 in possession of alcohol' by a Howard County police officer. The citation is poorly written, and I can't make out what the actual annotated code is. The citation does say that she must appear in court. She admitted to the officer that there was beer in the cup and she didn't give him a hard time. He told her that she would probably get community service

My daughter has never been in any trouble and has never even had a traffic ticket. She starts college out of state in September. My questions are:

Do we need an attorney for this?

Is this a misdemeanor, and if convicted what sort of penalties are possible?

If she is convicted will this be permanently on her record?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Here is a link that will be very informative to you.

http://www.mudpc.org/laws.html