Hey Ice-
My roomate, who is twenty years old got pulled over last night with 2 beers in his system. The officer gave him field sobriety and my roomate passed it. However the officer detected alcohol on his breath and took him to jail. There was also 1 old unopened beer in the back of his truck and it cost me 720 to get him out of jail. He was charged with an M.I.P. and a Minor D.U.I.- When I got him out of jail they did'nt set a court date for him because the amount for the offense was paid in full. He never recieved an actual copy of his citation. Truck impounded, and license confiscated all the routine stuff. He was pulled over in Allen, Texas- about 20 minutes north of Dallas, you may be familiar with it.

I guess my questions are...
-Did he plead guilty by paying the fine.
-What class of misdeamdor is a Minor D.U.I.
-Can it be deffered with any deffered ajudication deals.
-Do they typically suspend licenses for the first offense on a Minor D.U.I.
-What is the best move from here?

I know you may not be able to answer all or any of the questions but any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any help Ice.
Andrew

It says he is 20 years old.

Your detective skills need some work, ice.


Just messing with ya, I do worse than that.

OK, here we go

1) He did not plead guilty by paying those fees/fines. Im not sure exactly how much of the money is for what. You may have paid some of that to get his car out?

Anyway, all of the fees or the portion that is for the 2 charges will be returned to him if he goes to court and wins.

2) MIP and Minor DUI are both Class C misdemeanors (the lowest possible charge). Since hes a minor, he doesnt have to by drunk to be arrested. he only has to have been drinking and if the officer smells it on him...thats enough.

3) Yes, he can go to court an dplead guilty and take defferred adjudication. Since hes pleading guilty, he wont get the money back and may have to pay court costs, but if he stays clean for 6 months (I think its 6), his record will be wiped clean

4) Yes, his license will be suspended automatically for 6 months, even if he goes to court and fights it and wins. He CAN appeal that though and could get it back at least for the purpose of going to and from work.

5) If it was my son ( I would kick his ass) and then advise him to plead gulity and take the defferred adjudication. He knows hes guilty and so does the cop. It will be his word against the cop and he will lose if he fights it (especially in Collin County). Its possible that he could beat the MIP charge since the beer was unopened and in the back seat. That depends on the judge and again, in Collin County his chances are not that great of winning. if it was Dallas County it would be a whole different ballgame.

Thanks for the help ice...it was very informative and greatly appreciated.