Legal advice for a friend

[SLCentral]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Glitchny

Originally posted by: SLCentral

Originally posted by: purbeast0
i just wanted to say that your friend is an idiot.

also what is the reason he got pulled over?

i'm not sure about the rammifications of his criminal record w/his school stuff. i was charged w/a felony and paid a lawyer $1000 for his services, but i never even saw a court room and only ended up w/16 hours of community service and the charge was put on stet.

Luckily he is from a wealthy family and won't need any financial aid, and paying whatever it takes for a lawyer likely isn't an issue. He got pulled over for the dumbest of all reasons...his back license plate light was out.

the light was out? my license plate doesnt even have a light.. how can he get pulled over for that?

Because the law requires that you be able to see the plate from a certain distance, and the lights are necessary to see the plate from that distance at night (it doesn't count that the cop can read your plate with his headlights, because when you rob a 7-Eleven the guy who sees you drive off might not be in a car). If your car doesn't have any lights illuminating the plate, you wouldn't be able to register it here in NJ (where the OP lives).

Of course the license plate light is just a convenient excuse to pull you over so they can check for other stuff. OP's friend was pretty dumb to drive after drinking when he's only 18, because the standards for DUI are substantially reduced at that age.

What was his BAC? Was he really drunk, or was he just over .02?

I'm not sure what his BAC was (I'm overseas right now), but knowing him, I'm assuming it was significantly higher then .08.

 

[Brainonska511]

Your friend needs a lawyer and needs to stop being an idiot.

In a mostly unrelated note, thank god that dumbass isn't coming to my school.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: SLCentral
I'm not sure what his BAC was (I'm overseas right now), but knowing him, I'm assuming it was significantly higher then .08.

Kick him in the nuts when you get back. Teenagers are bad enough drivers without being drunk. Hopefully his life isn't entirely screwed up by this, but hopefully he learned his lesson here.

 

[DomS]

I don't think you can get financial aid if you actually get convicted of anything like DUI, am I right?

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Glitchny
get a decent lawyer and it wont affect him. and the weed thing will not affect his college or his loans because they only ask for FELONY convictions. I know this because I received financial aid for 4 years at college after a similar yet more severe ticket. MJ possession really isnt a big deal in many states now so it depends on where you are. Biggest issue is the DUI.

tell them about the strip search

and your friend will most likely be fine with a laywer, the DUI can get droped to just underage drinking, you can prob swing the 2 year loss of licence to 6 months Limited, which mean just to/from school/work if he works, prob do some community service and be on probation for 6 months after which itll be stricken from the record. my friend did exactly this, also had random drug tests, they woudl call him on a random friday and tell him a time on the next day to show up and take it,

and 2 grams is nothing, i got cought by campus popo with 28 grams, they didnt really care

 

[jlee]

Expect to shell out $4-6k for a lawyer, and he still may not get off.

 

[IamElectro]

He can kiss his license good bye for quite a while. Most towns take under 21 DUI seriously.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Glitchny
get a decent lawyer and it wont affect him. and the weed thing will not affect his college or his loans because they only ask for FELONY convictions. I know this because I received financial aid for 4 years at college after a similar yet more severe ticket. MJ possession really isnt a big deal in many states now so it depends on where you are. Biggest issue is the DUI.

tell them about the strip search

and your friend will most likely be fine with a laywer, the DUI can get droped to just underage drinking, you can prob swing the 2 year loss of licence to 6 months Limited, which mean just to/from school/work if he works, prob do some community service and be on probation for 6 months after which itll be stricken from the record. my friend did exactly this, also had random drug tests, they woudl call him on a random friday and tell him a time on the next day to show up and take it,

and 2 grams is nothing, i got cought by campus popo with 28 grams, they didnt really care

An OZ eh? Where do you live? Fuckin cops around here would jail ya for a spec of leaf. OH NOES TEH EVIL DRUGS. Pfft.

 

[Eli]

Shouldn't be a big deal overall.

Why was he carrying his bong around? lol

Here in Oregon under an oz is only a violation. It really depends on the state. Some are insane about it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: OdiN
Hopefully they don't reduce or remove any of the charges. DUI and drugs? Throw him in jail for a bit, suspend his license, and fine the shit out of him.

:roll: You don't get thrown in jail for a little weed. Nor should you. It's a misdemeanor, he probably didn't even go to jail overnight.

 

[Nitemare]

didn't take that much to fuck up his life. Better hope he gets a good lawyer

 

[dartworth]

Get a lawyer, which I am sure he already has. Pay the fines and do a weekend in classes.

Really not a big deal...this is not a life ruining event as most would have you believe around here...:roll:

 

[CrazyLazy]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: OdiN
Hopefully they don't reduce or remove any of the charges. DUI and drugs? Throw him in jail for a bit, suspend his license, and fine the shit out of him.

:roll: You don't get thrown in jail for a little weed. Nor should you. It's a misdemeanor, he probably didn't even go to jail overnight.

You can get thrown in jail for a DUI though. If his parents are loaded it shouldn't be hard to get a good lawyer, just make sure he doesn't do it again.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: OdiN
Hopefully they don't reduce or remove any of the charges. DUI and drugs? Throw him in jail for a bit, suspend his license, and fine the shit out of him.

:roll: You don't get thrown in jail for a little weed. Nor should you. It's a misdemeanor, he probably didn't even go to jail overnight.

I got jail for a couple grams. Technically didn't sit in the cell cause I was bailed by the time they processed me, but still.

I agree on the "nor should you" though.

 

[mattocs]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: OdiN
Hopefully they don't reduce or remove any of the charges. DUI and drugs? Throw him in jail for a bit, suspend his license, and fine the shit out of him.

:roll: You don't get thrown in jail for a little weed. Nor should you. It's a misdemeanor, he probably didn't even go to jail overnight.

For real. Pot does not = drugs. DUI, sure, that is bad, but the possession should be a small fine, equal to the severity of a parking ticket.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Why did he let the cop search the car?

If he hasn?t been in trouble before, he?ll probably get fines and either community service or a deferred sentence. I doubt he?ll get jail time for this, but it kind of depends on where you are.

Attorney will be around $5k, again depending on where you live.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My friends that were caught with this stuff in college all struck a plea deal for court costs, lawyer costs, etc.

They ended up with:

1. Suspended Driver's License (he better find a desperate GF to drive him around..they're out there)
2. Drug/Alcohol Counselling... Basically it's a class taught by burnouts with alcohol and relationship problems themselves. I think the industry was founded by people who work in courthouses trying to milk offenders for even more money.
3. Pay Court Costs & Lawyer Bills....

He'll be lucky if he gets out of this for under $2500 by the time its all said and done if he gets a lawyer. Otherwise, he needs to hope he gets a good judge. Without the lawyer, his chances are still pretty good to get a break, but he's going to still have to jump through the legal hoops and enjoy the insurance increase when he does finally get his license back.

 

[mattocs]

And I know here, you can get a DUI off your record if you don't have a prior record. Maybe the underage part complicates it.

 

[Eli]

It really depends on the state. In some, yes, 2 grams would probably get you jail time. :laugh: :| :roll:

I know someone that just did less than 60 days county for getting pulled over with 18lbs in California.

The cop should have just dumped the weed out on the ground smashed the bong. Christ.

It's the DUI he should be worried about. Are you sure he was charged with DUI and not DUII? Or both?

 

[stinkynathan]

Originally posted by: DomS
I don't think you can get financial aid if you actually get convicted of anything like DUI, am I right?

Yes, you can get federal financial aid with a DUI (or probably two). I'm guessing it stops when the DUI turns into a felony (in some states a third DUI is a felony).

I believe any drug or violence convictions make a person ineligible for federal financial aid, at least for a period of time. Says here that Clinton signed it. Not sure what changes have happened since then, though.

Here's what I think will happen, even with a lawyer. In exchange for a guilty plea, the State will drop the underage and paraphernalia charges and whatever fix-it ticket that was issued. Pretty sure bargaining both of the drug charges down would be nearly impossible because it would set a bad example in that court. Same with the DUI.

 

[Deslok]

NJ Mandatory Penalties

For everyone not from NJ there is little to no judicial discretion in these cases in NJ.
The penalties and fines are set by the state.

SLcentral, your friend or his family had better get the most experienced DUI lawyer in the state because his only hope is to challenge the breathalyzer readings or other
procedural errors on the part of the police (if any).

A good DUI lawyer can review the police report for under $1000.00 and tell your friend if he has any chance.

 

[Corporate Thug]

a good lawyer should get him by w/ $2000-3000 fine + suspended license.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: Deslok
NJ Mandatory Penalties

For everyone not from NJ there is little to no judicial discretion in these cases in NJ.
The penalties and fines are set by the state.

SLcentral, your friend or his family had better get the most experienced DUI lawyer in the state because his only hope is to challenge the breathalyzer readings or other
procedural errors on the part of the police (if any).

A good DUI lawyer can review the police report for under $1000.00 and tell your friend if he has any chance.

Uh... he won't see 75% of what's on that website even if he shows up in court and defends himself. Those are max penalties.

 

[wwswimming]

Originally posted by: SLCentral
Hey guys,

My friend (and yes, it's actually my friend, not me), just got charged with a DUI. Once he was pulled over, they searched his car, and found ~2 gram's of marijuana and a bong (drug paraphernalia). He just turned 18 in November, and is heading to a top-25 University in two weeks. Everything just happened last night, so legalities haven't really caught up. I know he got charged with underage drinking and DUI, and has a court date in early September (which is when I assume they will charge him for the drug possession). They already let him know that he will lose his license for 2 years, no questions asked.

How at risk is his college future? Would a top-25 university realistically consider expelling him before school starts for something like this?

it depends a lot on what state (where the arrest is) -

and what university (where he's going). i don't think Stanford would care
about the possession of the marijuana, but the DUI will probably raise
eyebrows everywhere.

if he makes some attempt at dealing with it, how do you do that, meet
the family of someone who's been killed by a drunk driver, volunteer
for community service even before getting charged with anything.

just make it clear he understands it was really stupid to do the DUI.
if they're going to give him a witch-hunt because of the marijuana ...

one attorney possibility is to use an attorney that went to the same
school he's been accepted at.

 

[Deslok]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21

Originally posted by: Deslok
NJ Mandatory Penalties

For everyone not from NJ there is little to no judicial discretion in these cases in NJ.
The penalties and fines are set by the state.

SLcentral, your friend or his family had better get the most experienced DUI lawyer in the state because his only hope is to challenge the breathalyzer readings or other
procedural errors on the part of the police (if any).

A good DUI lawyer can review the police report for under $1000.00 and tell your friend if he has any chance.

Uh... he won't see 75% of what's on that website even if he shows up in court and defends himself. Those are max penalties.

You are incorrect. Those are Mandatory Fines and Penalties imposed by the state if he is convicted.