Drinking Citation Luzerne county, need a lawyer

[mickey01023]

Originally Posted by Jup06

Steve in PA didn't write the citation and I think it's kind of unfair to argue this with him. Shit, even if he had been drinking...so fucking what. If he wasn't causing any problems, only a douche would write him up.

Out in the real world, there are teens shooting at each other.

I don't agree, you know whats going on its illegal and you still hanging around...how about people who have drugs in there car and they get pulled over and they charge everyone in the car with possession even tho its not theres....they knew its in the car (for sake of argument they knew) and yet they didn't say drop me off

[mickey01023]

Originally Posted by fingers80002

Steve, you know I respect you,
but, just because he was under age, where alcohol was present, should not be reason for the charge. Had he been drinking, yes, not just his presence.

Steve didn't draft the laws or jam him up lol

[fingers80002]

Originally Posted by mickey01023

Steve didn't draft the laws or jam him up lol

No he didn't, but Steve does know the laws, unlike some.........

[musclebound]

Thanks guys for all the responses. I think I'm going to lawyer up. Even though i don't agree with the law I wont fight the possession charge. My girlfriend asked a couple police about while she was at work today and they told her that in PA they can charge with underage drinking without a breathalyzer (wtf) I just want to try and avoid loosing my license.

A lot of cops go to my gym and one of them recognized me, so a fake name would have been a bad idea. I really think this is so dumb that I even have to go through this. Drinking age is nonsense. I'm going to be 21 next week.

Having this pending charge wont effect anything when I go for my LTCF, will it?

[Steve in PA]

Unless this was an adult get-together, and it was the adults drinking the alcohol.....all the minors (under 21) could have been cited under that section.

You can't be cited if your at a bbq and the adults are consuming alcohol. As it appears that this was not the case, anyone under 21yoa was guilty.

The legal age for alcohol is a tricky one. On one hand the vast majority of 18 year olds are in no way, shape or form "adult" enough to handle alcohol. Hell, look at all the college parties, "Girls Gone Wild" videos, etc. Being 21 doesn't make them that much better. Heck, there are plenty of 35 year olds that act like they are 18 with alcohol.

But, when my son (who is now 23) was 18, he could vote, enter the military and possibly die for his country............yet he couldn't go into a bar with me for a beer. When I was 18, I was in the USMC......was drinking beer in NC, was overseas a few times, but still couldn't legally buy or drink beer in PA.

The legal age in PA is 21yoa, period. Until it changes if you play with fire, you run the risk of getting burned.

[Wild Bill Klinton]

Originally Posted by Steve in PA

The judge is going to ask you;

Did you know there was alcohol at this party?

Did you know people under 21yoa were consuming alcohol?

You could play stupid, but everyone....including the judge has probably been in your situation and playing dumb by saying "no".....isn't going to cut it.

I've seen people under 21yoa get cited as you did. The judge will say you should have left the party when you found out about the alcohol. You could say you just got there to pick someone up and see how that works.

"You could say you just got there to pick someone up and see how that works."

Would that be under threat of perjury?

[ehidle]

Originally Posted by Steve in PA

Unless this was an adult get-together, and it was the adults drinking the alcohol.....all the minors (under 21) could have been cited under that section.

You can't be cited if your at a bbq and the adults are consuming alcohol. As it appears that this was not the case, anyone under 21yoa was guilty.

How many adults or minors does it take? If there's an adult BBQ where minors are present, and one minor goes over and grabs a beer out of the cooler, are all of the other minors then chargeable with the offense? Are all of the other minors at the BBQ, who are there in the custodianship of their parents, supposed to just leave? Are their parents supposed to just leave, just because one kid got into the beer?

I dunno, I fail to see how it's even remotely constitutional to charge someone with a crime that someone else is committing. If I'm 18 and at a party, and some of the other underage people there are drinking, I do not see how it is magically incumbent upon me to do something about it. I am not an LEO. I have no powers to enforce the law. I cannot legally ask other partygoers to prove to me how old they are. I cannot take possession of their ID upon demand. I cannot force them not to drink. I can't do any of that, but the State is still requiring me to "do something" about it.

What if I have no transportation of my own? What if I am a minor female, and it's after dark, in Norristown, and it would be unsafe for me to leave?

This law is just BS, plain and simple. If you want to stop underage drinking, this is a stupid way to go about it.

[MikeB0]

Originally Posted by ehidle

This law is just BS, plain and simple. If you want to stop underage drinking, this is a stupid way to go about it.

I think most of our laws are stupid. Being able to intelligently decide if there should even be a law, and then actually articulate it into a narrow carefully drafted bill are not skills required to be elected to any legislature from any evidence I've ever seen.

[chrisjames_71]

Originally Posted by musclebound

My girlfriend asked a couple police about while she was at work today and they told her that in PA they can charge with underage drinking without a breathalyzer (wtf) I just want to try and avoid loosing my license.

Yep, thats correct. Thats the way the law was written and as Steve (and I said earlier, but no one believed) pointed out, you do NOT even have to be drinking, just have to be present. As I said before, good luck.

I'm kinda surprised that no one except Steve and I knew about this law. Its been around since 88 and got ALOT of air time on the news and such. Kids have been getting busted on a weekly basis for it. Especially around Prom time, you can read about a party or two getting busted. And the stories always say how all the kids were charged and then kicked off sports teams.
I don't see this law ever going away either.

[zackattack784]

Originally Posted by chrisjames_71

They don't have to give you a breathalyzer to charge you. You were at a party where alcohol was present, therefore under PA law you were appropriately charged. If you are under 21 you do NOT have to be consuming to be charged. Can you fight it? Sure. Can you win? Maybe.. More than likely you will be find guilty, fined, and lose your license for a bit.

Either way, good luck

Can you show me this law that makes it illegal for an underage person to be in the same room as alcohol?

This is the only statute I can find:
"A person commits a summary offense if he, being less than 21 years of age, attempts to purchase, purchases, consumes, possesses or knowingly and intentionally transports any liquor or malt or brewed beverages, as defined in section 6310.6 (relating to definitions). For the purposes of this section, it shall not be a defense that the liquor or malt or brewed beverage was consumed in a jurisdiction other than the jurisdiction where the citation for underage drinking was issued."