<p>A few weekends ago I was hit with a public intox misdemeanor at a tailgate party (in indiana) at my college football game. Apparently it is legal to consume alcohol pre-game, but not during the game (I didn’t know this, nobody in my party did). Cop came by, saw a beer in my hand three minutes after the game had started, took me in for public intox. (I was barely over the limit, it was enough to take me in though). I had no intentions of driving, we had two DDs with our group. </p>
<p>I have a court date on Thursday; I will plead guilty or not guilty. Should I plead not guilty and get a laywer I will have a second court appearance where my lawyer will fight to bring the charges down to hopefully just a drinking ticket (since I wasn’t causing any trouble at the tailgate, I was sitting in a lawn chair when I was approached by the cop).</p>
<p>A second court date could do one of two things: </p>
<li><p>it could directly conflict with final exams coming up toward the end of the year, I would have to re-take a course or two and possibly stay an extra semester since these courses aren’t offered during the summer.</p></li>
<li><p>it could be scheduled for next semester when I will be out of the country.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My question to you; would fighting to have this misdemeanor off my record be more important than ruining my study abroad plans for next semester or more important than taking an extra semester of classes because my court date happened to land on exam day?</p>
<p>Obviously I would run into problems subsequent to graduation if I were to look for jobs in government and other areas; do employers in most industries have really strict policies against people with misdemeanors on their record?</p>
<p>Do you think a lawyer could get this down to just a ticket or something less permanent than a misdemeanor? </p>
<p>I realize what I was doing was ‘wrong’ - but being arrested at a tailgate for drinking is probably the last thing I thought would have happened to me. I will appreciate any advice you can give me!!</p>
<p>You need a lawyer NOW. Don't wait for Thursday. Your study abroad concerns add a lot of complexity to your situation that you're not going to be able to figure out on your own.</p>
<p>The final exam issue is not as much of a problem as you think, though.</p>
<p>Missing a final exam does NOT mean you have to take a course over.</p>
<p>Last year, my son got sick during the fall semester final exam period. He literally could not get out of the bathroom for long enough to take two of his finals. He contacted the TAs for both courses by e-mail and arranged make-up exams at the very end of exam week, just before the university closed for Christmas (fortunately, by that point, he was no longer throwing up). This was all handled very informally by my son and the TAs and department secretaries. No big deal. Stuff like this happens every semester. </p>
<p>Since you would know your court date in advance, it should be even easier for you to arrange make-up exams than it was for my son, who had only about three hours notice before the first exam that he had to miss.</p>
<p>Thursday isn't my actual court date. Thursday is when they read my charges to me and if I want to plead not guilty I schedule a second court date with my lawyer. </p>
<p>I'm not so sure that my professors will be very sympathetic with my situation. Most are very difficult to deal with and I doubt they'd allow me to take the re-take exam...</p>
<p>As for study abroad, I'm royally screwed if they schedule my court date next year. Since the court decides when my 2nd appearance is (assuming I plead not guilty) I am at their mercy not to conflict with my schedule.</p>
<p>Is it worth it to risk pleading not guilty?</p>
<p>Get a lawyer now. DO NOT take procedural advice from a message board, even one with lawyers on it, since none of them practice criminal law in your town and know the judges/ropes etc.</p>
<p>My guess -- and it's just a guess -- is that a lawyer will be able to schedule the court date so as not to interfere with your educational program. I also guess that if you decide you want to plead guilty in two weeks, you will be able to do that. Also, a lawyer may be able to negotiate a guilty plea to a "ticket"-type offense rather than a misdemeanor, or arrange some kind of expungement if you keep your nose clean for x years after the conviction. But you have to talk to someone who knows how to do these things where you are. Do it before the arraignment. Please.</p>
<p>I doubt a guilty plea will wreck your life, but DON'T DO IT without talking to a competent lawyer in your town first.</p>
<p>Get a lawyer. I think the odds that a lawyer could plead you down to a ticket-type misdeameanor are pretty good, if you weren't causing a disruption and didn't resist arrest or otherwise annoy the arresting officers.</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone else has said. If this were my son/daughter, I would advice get a lawyer ASAP, and regardless of cost. They can best advise you, lay out all of the options; they'll strip the emotional minuteau out of the situation and arrange the facts so that you can come to the best possible decision for yourself. The money spent will be well worth it.</p>
<p>Get the lawyer, but I must warn you, many professors will NOT accept a court date as an excuse (unless you are on jury duty or called as a witness to a trial unrelated to a personal charge). I know for the course I'm TA'ing for, we will NOT accept this as an excuse, so it is certainly something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>I just know the law of the college world regarding excuses. I'm not sure how it will impact you further down the road, if at all.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm not so sure that my professors will be very sympathetic with my situation. Most are very difficult to deal with and I doubt they'd allow me to take the re-take exam...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Professors aren't ogres. They just act that way so that students won't take advantage of them.</p>
<p>People often want to take make-up exams for silly reasons. ("If I take the exam on Wednesday instead of Thursday, I can get a ride home with my friend and save the $50 I would have spent on a bus ticket.") Instructors want to discourage this sort of thing because it's a nuisance.</p>
<p>Having a student come to the professor's or TA's office a few weeks before the exam, with a summons in hand, to explain that a required court appearance conflicts with the exam time is an entirely different situation.</p>
<p>I used to be a TA. Every time there was a test, there was at least one person who couldn't take it at the scheduled time for one reason or another. Except for people who never bothered to come and tell me or the professor that there was a problem, nobody ever got a zero. We worked things out.</p>
<p>Edited to add: ophiolite and I cross-posted. I'm glad I wasn't a TA at his university. It would have been awful to have to enforce policies like that!</p>
<p>Lawyer here- get a lawyer. Chances are the lawyer can work something out for you to get the charges reduced without even the need for a court date that conflicts with finals or being abroad. Get thee to a lawyer!!!</p>
<p>Could you, OP, study ahead and take the finals a bit early? That would hush a professor up. No offense to any professors out there. But, no professor is going to think it cool that you were drinking. I am sorry, but that is true. Now, if you lived where I do in Memphis, no one would mind-because there is a bar around the corner of every church. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, in your case, your record is more important right now than anything else. I am not trying to be mean, but a ton of jobs require background checks and credit checks and all of that. Please do as all of my fellow posters in this thread have said and get a lawyer.</p>
<p>If you have a lawyer, the lawyer can control the time that any subsequent court dates are scheduled, and in most cases can arrange to handle procedural matters without you even being required to be present in court. So getting a lawyer also resolves any concerns you have a about future scheduling conflicts.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you have a lawyer, the lawyer can control the time that any subsequent court dates are scheduled, and in most cases can arrange to handle procedural matters without you even being required to be present in court. So getting a lawyer also resolves any concerns you have a about future scheduling conflicts.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The prosecutors office told me that my court date on thursday is when I can plead 'not guilty' and inform them im seeking a lawyer. Should I have a lawyer present for the initial hearing or wait until after my first court date? Thanks everyone, you've helped a lot</p>
<p>Great advice to get a lawyer, because you can't predict what might happen without. </p>
<p>Recent ridiculous case here in NJ made front page news: Student cited for alcohol while drinking alcohol free wine in a plastic cup. Student represents himself in court, thinking he can explain it was alcohol free wine. Judge tells him, "Sorry, that stuff still has tiny amount of alcohol, even .3% is alcohol and you are in violation." Student thinks, "Oh well, guess I must plead guilty, but at least judge will be understanding." Student pleads guilty, judge fines him $750, same as every other student cited for alcohol. </p>
<p>Punchline: New Jersey law defines an alcoholic beverage as > .5%, so his .3% wine was NOT an alcoholic bev.... but he already plead (pled? pleaded? filed a guilty plea?) guilty!!</p>
<p>Moral of the story: Get a lawyer!!!!!!
relevant quote from the article:
[quote]
Hall's case could also be a costly lesson in what could happen when someone goes to court without a lawyer.
<p>i don't know whether you should have a lawyer at the initial hearing. but if you contact a lawyer asap, s/he can tell you whether it's a good idea and whether it's a common thing to do in your town.</p>
<p>You go to college, right? What is it about "now", "before the arraignment" "as soon as possible" "immediately" and "today" that you don't understand?</p>
<p>ASK YOUR QUESTIONS TO A LAWYER WHO KNOWS THE LOCAL SYSTEM AND IS REPRESENTING YOU! Do NOT take legal advice from the people who are trying to convict you. They are not looking out for you, believe me. You need a lawyer to tell you whether you need a lawyer at the Thursday hearing. That's why you should have called one already.</p>
<p>A lawyer I talked to said we could get the charges down from public intox to 'arrested with dismissal'. </p>
<p>Do most full time jobs require you to inform them of felony/misdemeanor charges or do they require a record of all arrests / felonies / misdemeanor charges?</p>
<p>Usually jobs ask about convictions, in many states it is illegal to ask about arrests. It is possible, in my understanding, that an arrest could still show up on a background check, depending on the depth, even in cases where people have done diversion classes and are statutorily allowed to say they have never been arrested or convicted. Were you ticketed or arrested & booked (mug shot, finger prints, etc.)?</p>