i recently got a tobacco ticket?

Question

i recently got a minor using tobacco ticket and i was wondering if there was a difference between minor using tobacco and minor posession of tobacco... because i wasnt smoking and my cigarettes were in the glove compartment... technically i wasnt posessing them in the first place...

Answer 1

i am an attorney, and i think you have a very good argument. just remember to be respectful when you assert it.

you should have the definitions of using and possession handy. also, possession is a true legal term with legal significance, so get it's def. from black's law dictionary and the def. for using out of webster's. do not use an online source.

from the definitions, respectfully plead your case to the judge and ask that the charge be dismissed b/c the indictment (ticket) is facially invalid. also, keep inmind that the stakes are very low, so there is no reason to get emotional.

however, i am taking your question to mean you were charged with USING when the charge should have been POSSESSION. if you were charged with possession on the ticket, that is a different matter, they charge you with CONSTRUCTIVE POSSESSION, which is not normally asserted in the indictment. they just say possession. it is a matter of whether the contra is under your control. the best defense to con. poss. is if someone else in the car admits it was theirs. you may in this situation be able to succeed with this defense if someone of majority though not in the car claims ownership of the cigarrettes. i have never encountered that scenario in the case law, but it may work. i do not know. give it a try and let me know what happens.

remember that with the using v. possession defense, what you are doing is saying that you were under the impression that you were going to defend against a charge of using, not possession, and you are clearly innocent of using, and since that is the charge, it must be dismissed.

thunder thighs McGee has a good point. If use is a lesser included offense of possession, then they can charge you with it. I have never encountered "using" as a charge to any crime. I have never heard of "using," as a legal term applied to contraband. Obviously where I practice, it is either not a charge, it is used synonymously with possession, or it is not enforced very often.

The more interesting question here is, How did you get in a situation where a police officer ended up rummaging through your glove compartment and found cigarettes. Do you live in Nazi Germany?

Answer 2

How do you get a ticket if the officer can't see you smoking, because you say you weren't, and your smokes are in the glove box? Did you invite him into your car? How did he know to look there? If he just assumed you had smokes then they have no right to go into your glovebox. You make no sense, but if they did an illegal search then you can fight the ticket. Quit smoking so you can afford to pay it.

Answer 3

hahahaha... wow that cop must have been a jerk off if he gave you a "tobacco ticket". Maybe it's because i live in california, people get away with a lot than tobacco charges!

Answer 4

UK or America? I know in the UK they're trying to crack down on underage smoking since the age went up in October and they're using any means possible...

Answer 5

Using and possession are different acts with the government providing for different penalties depending on the state where the violator was apprehended.

Answer 6

Technically yes you were posessing them. If they were in your glove compartment, then they are in your posession, just because they weren't in your hand doesn't mean that you weren't in posession of them.

Answer 7

If you are driving, or present, in the car then you are in possession of it's contents.

Answer 8

They are basically the same thing. You were in possession, by law, because they were in your car

Answer 9

the cop obviously had nothing better to do wasnt there any adults to catch

Answer 10

Your kidding right! Good one!