A few nights ago My Roomate (age 20) and I (21) attended a small gathering at a friend of mines apartment (All residents of this apartment are 21+) There were 4 minors there with my roomate being one of them. On the way to the party I bought beer and drove us to the party with the beer in the bed of my truck. My roomate who doesnt drink beer was going to be my DD for the evening and when I entered I immediately gave him the keys to my vehicle.
During the time we were there He never even touch an alcohol container and the majority of his time was spent sitting at a table in the kitchen wich had no alcohol present.
I spent the majority of the evening sitting at a table in the living room playing cards with a good friend who was not a resedent of the apartment drinking the beer wich i had purchased while he was drinking the beer he purchased. During that time the box with full beer cans sat underneath my legs on the floor as was his and empty cans were sat on the table directly infront of us along with containers we were drinking from. Also the extent of visable alcohol containers was pretty much contained to the beer and empty cans sitting on the table in front of us or in the box underneath us.
There was almost no music playing except for one person who played a song by Johhny Cash (When the Man comes around) and it was played at a lvl that the lyrics where not even discernable in the next room with the door open.
One of the people attending said they saw a police officer walking in the hallway outside and we pretty much thought nothing of it as there were other small parties going on and we believed we were breaking no law.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door with only a statement of "Open up". One of the resident looked through a peep hole saw that it was an officer simply walked back to the interior of the apartment saying "The officer does not have the right to enter the premises without a warrent" Simply no response was given to the knocks. However the officer did not leave and the knocks became no less then them beating on the door yelling "Your only making this situation worse" Noted that that had neither identified themselves as law enforcement officers nor had they stated they were there to serve any legal purpose. (The resident there has a distruct of the local law enforcement as they have a bad rep in our college town for being corrupt and busting students on bogus charges)
After a solid after sever mintues of extremely forceful knocking (comparable to banging or punching the door with the full force of an adult) it stopped adn they aparently left. about 20-30 minutes later another knock came and the person was identified by a resident of the apartment as a neighbor. He was holding a beer and was known to be above the age of 21 and so was allowed in. However as the resident was closing the door behind him two police officers forced it back open and entered the room. There they proceeded to write everyone over 21 with a citation for noise violation and everyone under 21 with MIP including my DD and another minor who who has been known to be a perosn who abstains from alcohol completely and has no desire to drink. My roomate was told to sit down in a chair adjacent to the table where i was playing cards and drinking. When we asked questions as to the charges specifically the MIP they said the fact that alcohol was present was enough to convict him and all minors of MIP even though they had not seen them touch an alcohol container and at our request made a note on the back of the court copy saying as much.
Since then i have reserched the matter and found multiple court cases stating that the mere prescense of a substance is not in and of itself enought to convict of a possession charge.
We are in the process of seeking legal advice as we speek for what we belived was the offense of:
*Unlawful Entry
*Use of Excessive Force (In another related but for my questions Unnecesary situation)
I have found court precedence stating that the alcohol present cannot be considered enough to convict of MIP in cases withen the last 5-10 years
I have not been able to find legislation stating anything that would overturn them in future cases.
My question is that since the officers refused multiple request for sobriety test in any form from the minors and they refused to make an official statement or take any official statement from any of the witnesses to this, other than a note on the back of the ticket saying my roomate had not been seen touching alcohol, what are our chances in taking this to court.
My thinking is that
a) We have multiple court presedence that would seem to exonorate my roomate; and
b) the only written account of this is the above mentioned note on the back of his ticket wich should prevent them from manufacturing a story to try to get a conviction.
We also have the testimony of the person who knocked and was allowed in giving the officers an opportunity to push into the door as stating the officers on the lower lvl of the apartment convinced him to do that so they could get in.
We obsiously plann to fight this as much as possible but any feedback would be appreciated
During the time we were there He never even touch an alcohol container and the majority of his time was spent sitting at a table in the kitchen wich had no alcohol present.
I spent the majority of the evening sitting at a table in the living room playing cards with a good friend who was not a resedent of the apartment drinking the beer wich i had purchased while he was drinking the beer he purchased. During that time the box with full beer cans sat underneath my legs on the floor as was his and empty cans were sat on the table directly infront of us along with containers we were drinking from. Also the extent of visable alcohol containers was pretty much contained to the beer and empty cans sitting on the table in front of us or in the box underneath us.
There was almost no music playing except for one person who played a song by Johhny Cash (When the Man comes around) and it was played at a lvl that the lyrics where not even discernable in the next room with the door open.
One of the people attending said they saw a police officer walking in the hallway outside and we pretty much thought nothing of it as there were other small parties going on and we believed we were breaking no law.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door with only a statement of "Open up". One of the resident looked through a peep hole saw that it was an officer simply walked back to the interior of the apartment saying "The officer does not have the right to enter the premises without a warrent" Simply no response was given to the knocks. However the officer did not leave and the knocks became no less then them beating on the door yelling "Your only making this situation worse" Noted that that had neither identified themselves as law enforcement officers nor had they stated they were there to serve any legal purpose. (The resident there has a distruct of the local law enforcement as they have a bad rep in our college town for being corrupt and busting students on bogus charges)
After a solid after sever mintues of extremely forceful knocking (comparable to banging or punching the door with the full force of an adult) it stopped adn they aparently left. about 20-30 minutes later another knock came and the person was identified by a resident of the apartment as a neighbor. He was holding a beer and was known to be above the age of 21 and so was allowed in. However as the resident was closing the door behind him two police officers forced it back open and entered the room. There they proceeded to write everyone over 21 with a citation for noise violation and everyone under 21 with MIP including my DD and another minor who who has been known to be a perosn who abstains from alcohol completely and has no desire to drink. My roomate was told to sit down in a chair adjacent to the table where i was playing cards and drinking. When we asked questions as to the charges specifically the MIP they said the fact that alcohol was present was enough to convict him and all minors of MIP even though they had not seen them touch an alcohol container and at our request made a note on the back of the court copy saying as much.
Since then i have reserched the matter and found multiple court cases stating that the mere prescense of a substance is not in and of itself enought to convict of a possession charge.
We are in the process of seeking legal advice as we speek for what we belived was the offense of:
*Unlawful Entry
*Use of Excessive Force (In another related but for my questions Unnecesary situation)
I have found court precedence stating that the alcohol present cannot be considered enough to convict of MIP in cases withen the last 5-10 years
I have not been able to find legislation stating anything that would overturn them in future cases.
My question is that since the officers refused multiple request for sobriety test in any form from the minors and they refused to make an official statement or take any official statement from any of the witnesses to this, other than a note on the back of the ticket saying my roomate had not been seen touching alcohol, what are our chances in taking this to court.
My thinking is that
a) We have multiple court presedence that would seem to exonorate my roomate; and
b) the only written account of this is the above mentioned note on the back of his ticket wich should prevent them from manufacturing a story to try to get a conviction.
We also have the testimony of the person who knocked and was allowed in giving the officers an opportunity to push into the door as stating the officers on the lower lvl of the apartment convinced him to do that so they could get in.
We obsiously plann to fight this as much as possible but any feedback would be appreciated
