In this video we're going to talk about minor in possession of alcohol. Now minors in possession of alcohol charges happen frequently in our area, in Conway, especially here in Myrtle Beach, especially because we have all the tourist destinations and all of the bars and nightclubs here in the area. And obviously our tourism crowd is based around that and they flock to these areas. Now the problem is law enforcement, you know, they're looking for minors who are drinking below the legal drinking age. Now, unfortunately if you are a minor and you're caught buying or consuming, or even possessing alcohol, you can be charged with minor in possession of alcohol under South Carolina law. The Minor in Possession of Alcohol Statute is below in this post if you read it. Essentially, the state's gonna have to prove some elements, and those are the following: one, that the accused did sell beer, ale, port, or wine or other similar malt or fermented beverage to a person under the age of twenty one. That's gonna be 61-4-50. Or, that the accused did knowingly give false information concerning his age for the purpose of purchasing beer or wine. That's gonna be found under 61-4-60. Or, that the accused did purchase beer or wine and give it to a person not legally qualified to purchase the same for consumption while on a licensed premises. This is if they were at a bar. 61-4-80. Or finally I believe if the accused was under the age of twenty one, and that he did purchase, attempt to purchase, consume, or knowingly possess any beer, ale, porter, wine, or similar malt or fermative beverage as can be found under 63-19-24 40. Now the penalties to these, under a first offence, you're looking at a monetary fine and generally up to thirty days in jail, or both. They could also require successful completion of a merchant alcohol program if you're caught selling it to a minor. For a second subsequent offence obviously the fines increase and the jail time increases, and they also make you go to those merchant programs. Oftentimes although the fines are only statutorily between a hundred and two hundred bucks and the jail's, the jail time is thirty days, generally they do add additional costs and fees in there from the county and the city that actually charges you. So those fees and costs actually increase when it's all said and done. Essentially we take these, we go appear on the behalf of the student, appear on their behalf, and we try to get them worked out, either we get worked out to a community service, a deferred prosecution where your student does, or your child does community service. It’s a dismiss. Or they actually go through, if we can get a judge to agree, what's called the alcohol education program. Essentially they pay the cost of the program, complete the program, do some community service, give back to the community, and actually you know they're going to spend, go into a AAA driving class or a AAA alcohol class and get everything done for them. So they actually learn something, give back to the community, and in return for that they dismiss the charge. And then upon dismissal and them completing all the requirements of the program, the charge can be expunged and we help the client file those expungent papers as well. Now, coastal Carolina alcohol violations are gonna carry an extra piece of the pie. Essentially the way I described with this is those students are also gonna face University discipline. The University has procedures in place that for those who are charged for alcohol violations while they're underage, many times they're gonna be brought to them, brought to the University by the prosecuting attorney. And generally that's gonna be Conway city court. Now our firm regularly works with the parents of the accused and we explain all of these consequences to them. And even if they don't live in Conway or nearby, you know we still represent them obviously if they're a minor charged with this. We also represent out of state defendants. Students may come down here, underage kids come down here on spring break or senior week, they get in trouble as well, but it's of the utmost importance that they have a defense so this is not following them on their future employment or school records. Give me a call, I'll sit down with you, I'll give my partner a call, Amy Lawrence, she'll talk to you. We handle these every day, every week we're getting calls about this kind of stuff. It's real big down here at the beach. But give us a call, we'll walk you through everything, make a game plan and figure out what's best for you and your child 843-839-4111. VISIT justiceislovely.com FOR MORE INJURY LAW AND CRIMINAL DEFENSE DISCUSSIONS Stay Connected to Us! Google + ► https://plus.google.com/+TheLovelyLawFirmMyrtleBeach/posts Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/Myrtle.Beach.Personal.Injury.Lawyers On the Web ►http://www.justiceislovely.com Call us ► 843-839-4111

• published: 31 Aug 2015
• views: 83