Giving alcohol to minors

On Nov 19, 8:32 am, jcug...@aol.com wrote:
> My brother, who is 24, threw a football party the other night. Several
> people there were under 21 and were drinking

Stop right there, quit making damaging admissions in public, and advise your brother to GET A LAWYER to represent him on these charges, and NOT TO TALK about the facts of the incident to anyone except his lawyer unless and until the lawyer instructs him to. 

> In our state this is a 3rd degree misdemeanor. The penalty
> is 0-365 days in jail and/or a minimum fine of $1000 for the first
> offence and $2500 for each additional offence.

Right, that's what can happen if he gets convicted of all charges.  But usually the lawyer is able to reach a plea bargain on just one or two charges with the others being dropped, and often the charge they agree to plead guilty to is a lesser offense that carries a lower minimum penalty.

> Now here is my question. Since 15 individual minors were caught with
> liquor, is my brother facing 15 offences or just 1 offence?

Potentially each act of furnishing liquor to a minor is a separate offense.  But what does the charging document say?  Was he given 15 citations, or just one?

> Also is jail time likely

Your bro will have to ask his lawyer to gauge the predelictions of your local judge to whom this case will be assigned, and your local prosecutors who will bring the state's case to trial.  Obviously, there is a wide range here.   He could get Judge Tenderheart, or Judge Hangem.

> or do the courts just want money?

Except for routine traffic speeding cases (which IMO are in some jurisdictions more about revenue than about safety) the courts mostly do NOT want either jail OR money, they simply want to convince the perp to stop doing what he was doing, straighten up and fly right.   And, within the broad discretion the law usually allows the judge, Hizzonor will typically do whatever he feels it takes to send a message that will accomplish that end and change the perp's behavior.

Obviously, the facts make a difference, often much more than the differences between judges.  If bro intended only to serve his 20something friends and didn't know there were minors at his party, much less that they were drinking, and he was maybe just a bit lax in checking out the ages of guests who got handed a cup or were allowed to tap the keg, a slap on the wrist and probation before judgment may appear to be enough, and if so, that's all your bro will get, even from Judge Hangem.   But if he comes across as a hardened bootlegger who spiked the punch and pushed alcohol on clueless teen victims, one of whom almost died from acute toxicity, then even Judge Tenderheart is more likely to send him to jail.  Or it could come out somewhere in between.

> He has no prior arrests or convictions.

That can help in a plea for leniency at the sentencing stage, but is completely irrelevant to whether he committed and should be convicted of the specific crimes with which he has been charged arising from _this_ incident.

> I'm trying to get an idea of how serious courts take this offence.

Pretty seriously, in most states.  His lawyer will advise him of just what that means in your particular area. 

> So basically is my brother going to, at minimum, going to be required
> to pay a $36,000 fine no questions asked?

No, no, no.   At minimum he will plead to a lesser charge and get probation.  Whether that is even a viable option, or whether there are flaws in the state's case that make it a better decision to insist on going to trial and risking a conviction of the heavier charges to try to get an acquittal, is a decision your bro can make with his lawyer's advice based on all the circumstances.  Just because he's been charged with 15 offenses initially doesn't mean the state is actually going to seek conviction on all of them -- it gives both sides some bargaining room.

Bottom line, bro needs a lawyer.  Quit reading Usenet and help him find one, if you want to be useful.

Ask your friends who have used lawyers before for _any_ purpose (commercial disputes, wills, divorces, traffic tickets, whatever) to give you the name of their lawyer, and whether they thought he did a good job.  If you don't have friends who have used lawyers, surely you have as an acquaintance a person you trust who is in a responsible position that is likely to put them in touch with lawyers on a regular basis -- your boss, maybe?   A guidance counselor?  A doctor?  After you get the names of some lawyers, call the ones that your referring friends believe did well, and ask the lawyer who he would recommend for this type of case.  Unless that lawyer is a criminal specialist he will probably not be the one your brother chooses to hire, but can recommend someone more versed in that area.  When you start getting multiple recommendations for the same guy or gal, that's your "go to" person.  Bro can also comparison-shop on price, but IMO it's far more important to get competence and find someone he had confidence in, than to be bargain-hunting.   After all, he has tens of thousands of dollars, and his freedom, at stake.

As a last resort, bro can call the local bar association for referrals, or let his fingers walk thru the yellow pages.  But don't necessarily trust the lawyer with the biggest, most expensive ad in the book -- bro still has to talk to the lawyer he's interviewing for the job, long enough to tell whether he feels good about placing his fate in this lawyer's hands and if it feels like they have a good "fit" or rapport with each other.

Avoiding jail is good, since usually only bad things happen in jails.   Serving booze to minors is bad.   Even if bro's lawyer succeeds in keeping him out of jail, I'm sure he will advise bro never to do anything that stupid again and to be careful whom he invites to his football keggers.

--
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Mike Jacobs
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