Underage drinking citation im 18 court date in 2 weeks?

Question

2 months ago i got a underage consumtion of aclohol citation. I went out to eat some people that i know. Once we started going back to my friends house, we were pulled over for speeding, the officer insisted that he smelt alcohol on the driver so he proced to ask him questions the driver said that he had nothing to drink and he blew a .00. the passager admited that he had 2 beers but he blew .00. i admited that i had 2-3 beers and i blew a .02. i got a underage consumtion of alcohol citation. then the officer asked us were we drank at. the officer went to his house and ended up giving him a citaion for serving alcohol to underage people. he got a lawyer and we later found out that we both have the same court date. I am confused about if i should plead no contest or guilty. i was also wondering if their is anyway i can get away with out a ticket and i dont have any money to pay a ticket. Thanks for your help and any other addional advise that i could get would also really help Thanks

Answer 1

lol.. the first dude cracks me up... Your friggen 18... if you werent driving who cares... ignore the first guy. If you can go fight for our country at 18, you should be able to have a beer at 18.

First of all. You could have denied the test. You were not driving. For future notice. You could have said No. I am not driving therefore I am not involved. If you would have simply said "No" He would have arrested you but it would have been thrown out.

Now... to the issue at hand.

You will get a fine. This is the government we are talking about here. But... You will have a public defender if you dont have your own lawyer... therefore you can talk to him about doing community service. First offense they have to offer another source of payment. This may include cleaning toilets but you wont have a fine. Talk it out. No biggy.


Now...

"No Contest" Is more when you have a trial comming forth that this would include... Like... You have a trial for driving under the influence... and you have a hearnig first to state that tyou were actuially drunk, then yuo want to state No contest, Or ... "Nolo" another term for No contest.

In your case I would just state "Nolo" To keep yourself in clear if you do anything stupid in the future... (Which is common, Your young, Mistakes are made)

"Guilty" basically means you are just taking the guilt.

Now, if you didnt blow you could say Not guilty and go to trial, which is all the same cost if you have a public defender, But you took the test so you need to just go in, offer community service. Explain your situation, and dress decent.

Good Luck!

Jessica


BTW a person up there claims to be a police officer, he stated...

"You already got a ticket, the question is whether you will end up with a conviction"

You already have a conviction hun. You have the ticket. IT is a citation, You are the offender. when you go to court, you haev the decision to fight it or talk about how to fix it, IE Community service, but you have to ask if the prosecutor if the terms are acceptable.

good luck

Answer 2

Whether you plead "guilty" or "no contest" is determined if your court even accepts the plea of "no contest!"

The officer seems to have done a thorough investigation by eliminating the suspects one by one until getting to the real offender....you!

Had you admitted up front that it was you drinking...you would have not wasted so much valuable time with the limited law enforcement resources.

Because you and the person who provided you the alcohol are "case related," you would be given the same court date and will most likely have your cases heard at the same time or one right after the other as "companion cases."

You were smart enough to not drive while under the influence and that goes towards your credit. However, DUI cases are monitored by strong advocates against drunk drivers and as such the penalties have been less forgiving.

Be glad it's only a "citation" and not a misdemeanor or felony arrest!

Best wishes!

Answer 3

I too was 18 when I recieved a ticket for underage drinking. I'm not sure what its like in your state and what state it is for that matter, but here in Ohio if its your first offense, they try and send you through something called a diversion program which is you pay fines and do some community service or something of the like and they wipe it off your record. Unfortunately I was unable to participate in said diversion program so I had to go ahead and plead out. I plead no contest and recieved 6 months probation and had to pay about $270 in fines and costs etc. A friend of mine who got the same ticket, but had court on a different day only recieved the fine and no probation, but he had a different judge. So I would say if you can and it is offered, do the diversion program and if not, just plead out to no contest and take the fines and probation (I highly doubt you'll have to do any jail time for an underage drinking ticket). Good luck.

Answer 4

You already got a ticket, the question is whether you will end up with a conviction.

If you admitted to the officer you were drinking, that is enough for the charge. Further, you showed a reading on his breathalyzer which will be admissible in court.

If you wanted to hire an expen$ive attorney and try to fight those two very damning points in court you may prevail on a technicality. Or you can take your lumps. Nobody can make that decision better than you.

Answer 5

A guilty plea means that you agree with the charges as stated in the citation, and that you admit guilt. A no-contest plea means you agree with the information stated in the citation but stop short of admitting guilt. That comes in handy if you were to, say, injure someone in an accident. A no-contest plea means that nothing you say in criminal court could be used against you in civil court. If you admitted to the police officer that you consumed alcohol, you're sunk. If that police officer shows up at your hearing, and he will, he'll testify to your admission, and you're sunk.

Answer 6

Guess you should have thought about that before drinking. Plead guility as charged