I have NO idea where to post this and it doesn't concern poker

[TheNoodleMan]

Demand a jury trial. They are so damned expensive that they'll often just drop it rather than continue.
Ahhh college, one minute you're totally gonna score, the next you're covered in some girls puke and talking to the police.

[miami32]

As a person with a criminal justice backround I feel I can answer this best. You have no defense. It's like if you let an officer in your house and he found a bag of drugs on the coffee table.

You told him you had drinks, you gave him the evidence. It's common sense not to tell an officer you did something wrong.

You are screwed my friend.

[tubalkain]

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As a person with a criminal justice backround I feel I can answer this best. You have no defense. It's like if you let an officer in your house and he found a bag of drugs on the coffee table.

You told him you had drinks, you gave him the evidence. It's common sense not to tell an officer you did something wrong.

You are screwed my friend.

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Seconded. To quote Homer Simpson, G-I-L-L-T-Y.

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I told him respectfully that I had a few beers but that I was in no way drunk.

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Simple. It was non-alcoholic beer, and you were in no way drunk. When confronted by the police you were confused, intimidated, and the most important thing in your mind was the well being of your friend. This is why you didn't think to tell them this until now.

Here's a way to get out of most small time offences like this and even DUI's...a lawyer friend taught me this, and anyone who knows the law, will just shake their heads at how obv it is. But it works.

Call the precinct, pretending to be your lawyer, ask to speak to the person in charge of scheduling court dates for the cops. When you are transfered to the right person, tell her that you will be out of town most of this month, and ask when the cop is unavailable to attend court. Most cops have at least a couple days scheduled for training or vaca per month. Then call the courts, with your ticket in hand, and tell them you want to schedule an arraignment for your ticket (if its a traffic ticket, you will get a lot of wtfs, but they have to legally do it). Tell the clerk the same story about you being out of town, and tell them you will be available such and such dates (when the cop is out of town, or training). You are gambling a little, but most likely the cop will not show up for the arraignment, and you are off scott free.

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...a lawyer friend taught me this

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Your lawyer "friend" should know better.


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Call the precinct, pretending to be your lawyer...

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Great idea! Let's compound a little mistake with a bigger one. Awesome!


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Then call the courts...Tell the clerk the same story about you being out of town...

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Hey, it was such a great idea the first time, let's do it again!

Is this considered illegal? Would it work? He didnt elaborate on this much, beause it was drunk talk over dinner, and I was more interested in where we were going out next, but I took his word for it. But what if you have a lawyer do it for you, is it fraud? I cant see how they could prosecute you for anything like this?

[4_2_it]

Just go, tell your story (the truth that is) to the judge and maybe you get a reduced fine for being honest and trying to do the right thing by your friend.

[spamuell]

From what you've told us, I would definitely go with the whole, "I was confused and didn't understand what he was asking, I was concerned about my friend, I hadn't been drinking." Either claim you thought he asked if she was drinking or he asked if you'd been around alcohol.

Of course, I know nothing at all about the legal system in your state but I'd imagine that if they don't have any evidence that you were drinking and they do know that you were in a stressful and unfamiliar situation where you are trying to look after a friend and suddenly the police are interrogating you, it would be fairly hard to convict you because there's good reason to believe you would be confused. Especially as it is clear that you weren't completely drunk because you managed to look after your friend. This confusion about what was happening and concern for your friend's well-being (both because she was drunk and because she was suddenly being attacked for it rather than helped) is why you didn't contest the MIP at the time.

This just seems like common sense to me, I have no idea if it will actually work but it's what I'd do unless someone can explain why it's not a good idea.

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Is this considered illegal?

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I consider calling the police and claiming to be an attorney to be making a false statement, which is illegal. If your actual attorney called and did it, although shady, is not illegal.

I doubt this whole scheme would work in any case. Most police departments assign their officers certain days for court every month and the officer puts one of those dates on the ticket. So, If you called to say you couldn't make it - if they did bother to re-schedule you, it would just be for another day when the officer was available.

I didn't mean to jump all over you - lying to the police/courts is never a good idea. If you can't decide whether you should lie or say nothing - always say nothing!