A friend and I were recently returning from a football game in a neighboring town when we were pulled over for speeding. We had been tailgating before the game and there were two empty beer cans in the car. Knowing that we were not intoxicated we just threw the cans into the truck's center console and pulled over. We are both 21.
The officer instructed my friend, the driver, to step out of the car and then proceeded to give him field sobriety tests and two breathalizers, all of which he passed not even close to the legal limit.
The officer was about to just write a speeding citation and let us go when a second officer pulled up. The second officer decided he wanted to search the vehicle. He asked the driver if it was alright (this is a BS tactic because if you say no they'll arrest you and search it anyway) and the driver said yes. Of course the second cop found the two empty beer cans and showed them to the first cop who proceeded to write both of us citations for transporting an open container. This all occured in the state of Kansas, if that is a relevant variable.
I have a few questions about this incident:
1. Can you be cited for open container even if there is no alcohol in the container?
2. Did the second officer have the right to search the vehicle?
3. Being a misdemeanor charge, if I choose to fight this is it serious enough to warrant the need for a lawyer?
4. Since I was the passenger and not the driver, and since this occured in a vehicle that was not mine, will pleading guilty or no-contest and just paying the fine get me points on my license and raise MY auto-insurance rates?
5. I understand that if the officer doesn't appear at the court date I can motion to dismiss. Since it was the second officer who found the "evidence" leading to to O.C. charge, but the first officer who actually wrote the citation, does the second have to be present in court as well?
6. If my friend can find a way to beat the speeding ticket, can we get the open container charges thrown out for lack of probable cause? They never would have happened if we hadn't been pulled over for speeding.
7. Can you just give me a ballpark figure on what you think the average lawyer would charge to defend something like this?
8. Since I have never so much as even jay-walked in my life, could I plead diversion to this to keep it off of my record?
Any help or answers you can give me is gladly appreciated. Thanks for your time.