Giving a minor your liquor ID in Massachusetts

[wxolue]

So here's a hypothetical situation in the form of a story:

This takes place in Massachusetts. Joe is 22 and will soon get his driver's license. Right now he has an identification card that allows him to purchase alcohol. In June, when Joe gets his license, he plans to give his old identification card to his 20 year old brother Mark, so that Mark can (via impersonating Joe) purchase alcohol. If Mark gets caught falsifying his identification, what are the legal penalties Joe could face? If there are penalties for distributing one's old identity, how is this proven? Could Mark and Joe both simply claim that Mark found the ID card in the trash?


Moreover, I question whether it's even illegal for someone to give away his/her ID in Massachusetts. The law says:

"Any person who transfers, alters or defaces any such card or license, or who makes, uses, carries, sells or distributes a false identification card or license, or uses the identification card or motor vehicle license of another, or furnishes false information in obtaining such card or license, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months."

It seems like as far as distributing identification goes, there is only a penalty for distributing a "false identification card or license." Wouldn't Joe technically be distributing a real identification card, not a false one?

 

[justalayman]

sounds like homework but Joe is complicit in the crime since he is providing the license with the specific intent to allow Mark to circumvent the law. It would be like giving your car to the bank robber wheel man knowing he is going to help rob a bank. It is a crime to knowingly aid and abet another in their criminal activities.

Oh, btw, Joe would be transferring the ID to Mark, right?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

"Any person who transfers, alters or defaces any such card or license, or who makes, uses, carries, sells or distributes a false identification card or license, or uses the identification card or motor vehicle license of another, or furnishes false information in obtaining such card or license, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months."

You bolded the wrong section. Transferring a liquor identification card is a misdemeanor.

 

[stealth2]

Joe is stupid. Mark is stupid. Their family line should end with them.

 

[dave33]

If Mark was to use Joe's i.d. than it would be Mark using a fake i.d.

 

[Zigner]

Isn't the state smart enough to make it a requirement that a previously issued liquor id is surrendered when a driver's license is issued?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Isn't the state smart enough to make it a requirement that a previously issued liquor id is surrendered when a driver's license is issued?

Nope. They stopped collecting the old ones a few years ago.

 

[Zigner]

Nope. They stopped collecting the old ones a few years ago.

So the state is NOT smart enough to do that

(I was just poking in the dark)

 

[stealth2]

Wonder if that was a Teddy Kennedy idea... <ducking>

 

[Mass_Shyster]

So the state is NOT smart enough to do that

(I was just poking in the dark)

I never said the state was smart.

 

[Zigner]

I never said the state was smart.

Very true. Not an insult specific to MA - all states do "not-smart" stuff

 

[NellieBly]

Joe won't be too happy when Mark gets killed in a drunken driving accident.