Hi I received a charge of "Illegal consumption of ethyl alcohol by underage person" 18-13-122(2)(a) in Colorado. I'll go into detail below but my question is after the description.
The day after Thanksgiving at about 2 AM we had been drinking, but did the 1 hour=1 drink rule, I was in the passenger seat and the driver and I were pulled over (on a hill) because he hadn't fully stopped at a stop sign two miles earlier. The officer asked him if he had been drinking and he said no, so he took him outside and the driver (19) failed the sobriety test and then "blew a .057" but wouldn't show the breathalyzer to him (so far this is just what the driver told me). The two officers told him to call for a ride and while he was on the phone started talking about him for about 5 minutes (I could hear them from the car) they were really bashing him saying things like "I can't believe his f****** attitude" "what the h*** does he think this is" and "he's so f****** nonchalant." The two officers then decide to come and get me. One comes to the driver's door…
Officer: Did you hear the conversation we had with your buddy?
Me: no sir
Officer: well, your friend's a liar and what your friends do reflects on you, you could learn a lesson from his mistake. Can you step out here for a sec?
Me: yes sir, (I step out of car) is it ok if I take some CDs out of my pocket
Officer: that's fine; can I see your license? (I give it to him) Have you had anything to drink?
Me: Not a lot sir
Officer: how much is that?
Me: Less than one sir
Officer: Ok could you blow in here for me
(I take the breathalyzer and when he pulls it out of my mouth he looks at it and I read .018 and then it starts to drop) Then he points to the car and says, "Could you step over here for me?"
(it was really cold and while he was writing the ticket he kept telling me to keep my hands out of my pocket, he finishes writing the summons and asks me to sign, I'm trying to read it and he turns the spot light on it and starts tapping his fingers on the car hood I signed it but didn't find out the pbt reading was .042 until after I got home (he let me walk because I was only a block away) after I got home, I tried to go back to ask the officer about it but he just drove by me because he was escorting the car with the driver in it. Later that night, the driver called the Sergeant to tell him about the swearing. I am not saying that the Officer was lying because that's not likely. I just wanted to include all the details.
My question is how to address this issue. It is not an issue for me to take the maximum punishment for this but my goal is to keep it off of my public record. Do you think that these details (specifically the swearing) would cause the evidence to be dismissed or should I plead guilty and hope they pull it off my record after a few years? I go to school for mechanical engineering at Kettering (General Motors Institute) in Michigan and I don't have a criminal history, just 2 speeding tickets in Iowa (82 in a 70 and 55 in a 45).
Sorry for writing so much, but thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Max
The day after Thanksgiving at about 2 AM we had been drinking, but did the 1 hour=1 drink rule, I was in the passenger seat and the driver and I were pulled over (on a hill) because he hadn't fully stopped at a stop sign two miles earlier. The officer asked him if he had been drinking and he said no, so he took him outside and the driver (19) failed the sobriety test and then "blew a .057" but wouldn't show the breathalyzer to him (so far this is just what the driver told me). The two officers told him to call for a ride and while he was on the phone started talking about him for about 5 minutes (I could hear them from the car) they were really bashing him saying things like "I can't believe his f****** attitude" "what the h*** does he think this is" and "he's so f****** nonchalant." The two officers then decide to come and get me. One comes to the driver's door…
Officer: Did you hear the conversation we had with your buddy?
Me: no sir
Officer: well, your friend's a liar and what your friends do reflects on you, you could learn a lesson from his mistake. Can you step out here for a sec?
Me: yes sir, (I step out of car) is it ok if I take some CDs out of my pocket
Officer: that's fine; can I see your license? (I give it to him) Have you had anything to drink?
Me: Not a lot sir
Officer: how much is that?
Me: Less than one sir
Officer: Ok could you blow in here for me
(I take the breathalyzer and when he pulls it out of my mouth he looks at it and I read .018 and then it starts to drop) Then he points to the car and says, "Could you step over here for me?"
(it was really cold and while he was writing the ticket he kept telling me to keep my hands out of my pocket, he finishes writing the summons and asks me to sign, I'm trying to read it and he turns the spot light on it and starts tapping his fingers on the car hood I signed it but didn't find out the pbt reading was .042 until after I got home (he let me walk because I was only a block away) after I got home, I tried to go back to ask the officer about it but he just drove by me because he was escorting the car with the driver in it. Later that night, the driver called the Sergeant to tell him about the swearing. I am not saying that the Officer was lying because that's not likely. I just wanted to include all the details.
My question is how to address this issue. It is not an issue for me to take the maximum punishment for this but my goal is to keep it off of my public record. Do you think that these details (specifically the swearing) would cause the evidence to be dismissed or should I plead guilty and hope they pull it off my record after a few years? I go to school for mechanical engineering at Kettering (General Motors Institute) in Michigan and I don't have a criminal history, just 2 speeding tickets in Iowa (82 in a 70 and 55 in a 45).
Sorry for writing so much, but thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Max
