minor transporting alcohol.. questions?

Question

Hey Everyone.

I am 19 years old, and I recently got a ticket for transporting alcohol (california vehichle code 23224[a]). My friend keith, who is 31 years old, is the one who purchased the alcohol and, right in front of the cops, put it in my trunk. (Looking back, it was pretty stupid of us, but at the time neither of us thought it would be an issue.) The cop immediately came to my window and informed me that because keith was neither my parent nor relative, nor were we on the job, i was not legally allowed to transport his alcohol with him in the car...so I got booked.

Now I have looked up VC23224(a) (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc2... and I see one loophole that could get me off. It states that transportation is legal with "any other adult designated by the parent, or legal guardian," something the cop did not inform me of at the time. On top of the fact that I am 19 years old and therefore my own legal guardian, my parents are willing to write a letter or even appear in court stating that they 'designated' keith.

So what do you guys think? Do I have anything going here? Also, has anyone here ever been convicted of this violation? What are the consequenses? The code states that anyone convicted is subject to Section 13202.5, which is the suspension of my license. How likely is this to happen? I am trying to figure out if its worth even fighting...

Anyways thanks in advance for your help guys.

Answer 1

get the charges dropped because they are in conflict and groundless unless the cop is his own worst defense, he and you both saw your friend buy it. you got a wittiness enjoy it he saves your @ss by having to tell the judge who's bottle it is,hopefully if you got a judge that can talk out of the side of his mouth like the cop does and usually does you need to see this too