Hi. I live in Oklahoma where a friend of mine got charged with public intox. Tried to make this short but ended up long.
1.) I believe my friend (Sally) drank that afternoon (she has a bit of a drinking problem). I can't say for sure though.
2.) My friend Sally was arguing with her boyfriend (Bob) at the park. Screaming was going on.
3.) So a [bystander called the police thinking that Bob was posing a danger to Sally. No hard physical contact was made. Basically, Bob would stand in Sally's way if she tried to walk away, making it hard for her to make progress going anywhere.
**It's worth nothing I guess that Bob had good intentions and was trying to keep Sally from visiting some new friends a few blocks away. They are basically the wrong crowd. Bad people...but I digress
4.) The police show up. They ask Bob and Sally their stories. Bob says he was just trying to keep her from getting to bad friends house and also to keep from driving. Bob believes she has been drinking. (but does not actually know.)
5.) Sally admits that she "had been drinking", though she may have said "I have been drinking"
6.) Any other questions are muddy, but they didn't ask her if she was drunk.
7.) Also she was not stumbling. There was no breathalyzer test, or ANY type of intoxication test. Also she did not slur speech. Basically she showed signs of agitation perhaps but not of intoxication.
8.) They arrest her for Public Intox. She spends TWO nights in jail (until someone bailed her out)
9.) Statute says sentence for that is $10-100 and/or max of 30 days in jail.
10.) The "ticket" or whatever is $140
11.) We're not lawyers and can't afford one. Tried legal aid and other avenues but they deal only with civil cases.
12.) All this occured in a suburb, so small police dept, small prosecution office.
We would of course prefer to NOT pay anything and to NOT have a record, but failing that any kind of mitigation of the charges would be nice. And so here are some questions pertaining to that. Questions:
1.) Why is the ticket $140 If she goes to court can she ask for mercy and have it reduced to $10?
2.) What kind of legal things can be done so that it will affect her record the LEAST. For example,
I forget what it's called..."withhold of adjudication", or "deferred adjudication", and how does one go about asking for that?
3.) What about "affecting the prosecution"? Can we ask the DA not to press charges?
4.) What is the term for compulsory dropping of charges when the police officer just doesn't show up to court? You know like traffic cases, in some jurisdictions, no cop, no prosecution, no conviction.
5.) With reference to question # 4, can I ask the police officer(s) to use their enforcement discretion and not show up? Or is that somehow tampering with witness as I see on TV?
6.) The statute seems very vague. I know that the statutory standard for intoxication is different than that of DUI, but it seems it's not defined in the statute. So WTF, she's drunk because the police officer said so? Would that be a good defense? To question the definition of "intoxication"? The challenge the police officer's judgment?
7.) ^ Where is "intoxication" with regards to public intox defined? Case law? What about challenging the vagueness of the law?
8.) What if they got her name wrong? (She's been divorced. Or maybe they made a typo?)
9.) What other defense can be made? Remember, no one really really knows if she was intoxicated.
10.) BTW, how much WOULD a lawyer charge for this more or less?
If anyone can answer one or two or all of the questions, or offer any **legal** advice, we would really appreciate any advice.
1.) I believe my friend (Sally) drank that afternoon (she has a bit of a drinking problem). I can't say for sure though.
2.) My friend Sally was arguing with her boyfriend (Bob) at the park. Screaming was going on.
3.) So a [bystander called the police thinking that Bob was posing a danger to Sally. No hard physical contact was made. Basically, Bob would stand in Sally's way if she tried to walk away, making it hard for her to make progress going anywhere.
**It's worth nothing I guess that Bob had good intentions and was trying to keep Sally from visiting some new friends a few blocks away. They are basically the wrong crowd. Bad people...but I digress
4.) The police show up. They ask Bob and Sally their stories. Bob says he was just trying to keep her from getting to bad friends house and also to keep from driving. Bob believes she has been drinking. (but does not actually know.)
5.) Sally admits that she "had been drinking", though she may have said "I have been drinking"
6.) Any other questions are muddy, but they didn't ask her if she was drunk.
7.) Also she was not stumbling. There was no breathalyzer test, or ANY type of intoxication test. Also she did not slur speech. Basically she showed signs of agitation perhaps but not of intoxication.
8.) They arrest her for Public Intox. She spends TWO nights in jail (until someone bailed her out)
9.) Statute says sentence for that is $10-100 and/or max of 30 days in jail.
10.) The "ticket" or whatever is $140
11.) We're not lawyers and can't afford one. Tried legal aid and other avenues but they deal only with civil cases.
12.) All this occured in a suburb, so small police dept, small prosecution office.
We would of course prefer to NOT pay anything and to NOT have a record, but failing that any kind of mitigation of the charges would be nice. And so here are some questions pertaining to that. Questions:
1.) Why is the ticket $140 If she goes to court can she ask for mercy and have it reduced to $10?
2.) What kind of legal things can be done so that it will affect her record the LEAST. For example,
I forget what it's called..."withhold of adjudication", or "deferred adjudication", and how does one go about asking for that?
3.) What about "affecting the prosecution"? Can we ask the DA not to press charges?
4.) What is the term for compulsory dropping of charges when the police officer just doesn't show up to court? You know like traffic cases, in some jurisdictions, no cop, no prosecution, no conviction.
5.) With reference to question # 4, can I ask the police officer(s) to use their enforcement discretion and not show up? Or is that somehow tampering with witness as I see on TV?
6.) The statute seems very vague. I know that the statutory standard for intoxication is different than that of DUI, but it seems it's not defined in the statute. So WTF, she's drunk because the police officer said so? Would that be a good defense? To question the definition of "intoxication"? The challenge the police officer's judgment?
7.) ^ Where is "intoxication" with regards to public intox defined? Case law? What about challenging the vagueness of the law?
8.) What if they got her name wrong? (She's been divorced. Or maybe they made a typo?)
9.) What other defense can be made? Remember, no one really really knows if she was intoxicated.
10.) BTW, how much WOULD a lawyer charge for this more or less?
If anyone can answer one or two or all of the questions, or offer any **legal** advice, we would really appreciate any advice.
Last edited:
