Alcohol & Drugs: MIP, MIC, Intoxication contributing to minors

[mcsmiles]

our family recently went camping on skyline drive in Va. My grown children one who will be 21 in july and the other who is 19 both brought their mates and had their own campsite across from us(thier parents) First night there, after about 1 hour in our campsite after setting up site the "kids" all opened a beer and along came a ranger. the ranger asked if they were with us and we said yes, then asked if we knew they were drinking and we said no but we would go and take the beer and make sure they did not drink. the ranger did not allow us at thier site and after about an hour or so gave all the young adults tickets for drinking under age. my daughters boyfriend being 24 was charged with contributing to minors, which at first we were told this was only a small fine, which i knew it was not. the Ranger then apoligized stating it was a required court appearence in Va, a 6 hr drive, and to bring about 5000.00 with him because since we are out of state there would be no payment arrangements. This boy is a very good kid and really had no control over the other kids taking his beer out of the cooler. no body was drunk and all the kids had only had a few sips of one beer. we now need to have a lawyer in Va so we are unable to use our own lawyer and would really like to fight the charge. the ranger definetly seemed new and was apoligizing after he called in the complaint and realized the severity. he said he would say that the 24 year old was very polite and cooperative but this is no help at this point. the 24 year old fearing arrest went along with everything the ranger said..including the responcibility of the young adults taking his beer as contributing....any hope...would he be able to speak with a public defender prior to driving all the way to Va for court...i feel terrible about this and almost would have taken the charge myself in foresight. i would have allowed my grown children to have a beer knowing they would not be driving and that myself and my husband were right there...also being a national park this is a federal offense.. not too sure what that means....please advise

 

[mcsmiles]

how do you get advice on here...does anyone ever answer?????

 

[seniorjudge]

Your choices are to appear and pay the fine and costs after pleading guilty

OR

to appear and plead not guilty and then come back a second time for a trial.

Since this is a federal offense, I would definitely hire a lawyer. Preferably one who has an office across the street from the federal courthouse and who appears in federal court frequently.

In fact, hire such a lawyer and see if there is any way the lawyer can tone it down a bit.

 

[mcsmiles]

we talked to a Va lawyer who told us to send 500.00 and a letter stating we the parents would not have opposed our grown children having a beer and we were right there to supervise and would not have allowed more than one. this letter needs to be notarized. the lawyer states he should be able to tone it down and we may not need to appear in court.