Tennessee has a “DUI by consent” law that allows the owner of a car involved in a DUI to be charged with drunk driving even if they weren’t drunk, weren’t driving, and weren’t even in the car. Address civil rights complaints to MADD.
Ok, and thanks. About like I thought (OK, NJ uses different legal terminology than CA, but the basic concepts are the same.)
Well, then if is is a “township ordinance violation”, then either fight it or just pay the damn thing. Although I don’t think the OP’s chances of fighting it are very good, there is always the possibility of “the People” not even bothering to send someone in against him (this happens sometimes in minor code violations, depending on the juristiction). And if he loses, all he has to do is pay up. (I am pretty good at “code violations” mind you, but I am not a lawyer.)
But if it is a “2c:33-15 a violation of the New Jersey criminal code (Title 2C)” then the OP should consult an attorney, since “A conviction would go on his criminal record.” It is quite possible that a lawyer could “plead it down” (and keep it off the Op’s record) since often no one wants to go to trial on this sort of thing. Yes, the fees could be higher than the fine, but the keeping it off his record could be well worth it. Later on he might want a job where answering “Yes” to “have you ever been convicted of a crime?” might well cost him that job. But all I am saying is consult a real lawyer and do what he sez.
Nope - you’re still confused. I suggest you re-read the O.P., and pay special attention to the following:
“But I feel that being completely sober, being woken up, and being taken out of bed to be issued a ticket is not right, so I will being going to court to try and fight it.”
My comments had to do with his going to court because of his belief that what they did was “not right”. “Not right” is a moral judgment, hence the relevancy of moral issues. I don’t know why this is so difficult for you to comprehend.
You do understand that they don’t have to actually catch you swallowing a mouthful of alcohol to issue a citation for underage drinking, don’t you?
Huh? Why are you simply parroting what I wrote earlier? That makes no sense.
You, apparently, since you wrote:
“I said that what you think is an unreasonable time to party has nothing to do with the charge.”
You’re being kind of thick. He wasn’t charged with making noise, he was charged with underage drinking. He participated in a party with his friends. They all drank. They weren’t supposed to be drinking. The police showed up, most likely on a noise complaint, and cited them for underage drinking. They are entitled to do so. If the police show up on one complaint and encounter evidence of another infraction, they are allowed to take action on that infraction.
You specifically used the word “you” in the sentence, which implies that it is only my opinion. If you would like to retract that, fine - otherwise stop arguing about it.
lowbrass don’t bother. As you can see with this thread logic will not work.
It is not my place to tell anyone to not get a lawyer. All I can say is that in my experience in minor cases you get the same deal with or without a lawyer. If someone feels uncomfortable about his legal situation then he should get a lawyer. My advice to him was that he can always go to court, see what they have to say, then ask for a continuance to get a lawyer if he doesn’t like how things are going. Since this is a shore town they probably deal with this as often as most courts do speeding tickets. They probably have procedures to push things along. If I had to guess I would say their standard deal would not include a criminal conviction.
Again a guess, but an educated one, I doubt he was charged under the criminal code since he was not arrested. That will be one of those unanswered mysteries if the Op doesn’t return.
New Jersey has something similar but not quite. Someone can be charged with allowing someone to drive drunk. It has to be proved that they knew the driver was impaired when they let them drive the car. It is not enough that daddy let junior borrow the car and junior got a bottle of Boone’s Farm later that night. It’s not a statute that comes up very often and I have never cited anyone for it.
My advice is that if you’re going to break the law, then at least learn to be discreet. Having an all night party is red flag #1. Having the party in a condo or hotel room, where your closest neighbors are on the other side of the WALL is red flag #2. Going to bed and allowing your guests to continue milling around the complex and disturbing the people who might actually want to, I don’t know, SLEEP is red flag #3. I’m not sure if I can credit the lack of a band to common sense or simple lack of funding, but that would have been red flag #4.
So fight the fine if you’d like. But I wouldn’t complain about the police showing up since you practically sent them an engraved invitation.
I heard somewhere that if you invite the judge to your next beer bash, he will dismiss the case.
Ugh. Thanks - I didn’t realize that was the same person.
I’d get all the people that got a ticket together, and make one solid story about the night. Tell it to the judge. Make sure you emphasize you were NOT drinking, making up some story about being the DD. This will get YOU out of the ticket, and may leave your friends to hang, but that’s it.
Oh, and don’t worry about all the posters worried about you admitting your guilt. Justice in municipal courts is perverted beyond belief. As long as yours is a shore town and not the next one in, you’re fine.
Perjury is a much more serious crime than underage drinking. Subornation of perjury is pretty serious as well.