Underage Possession of Alcohol

I am 17 and was recently ticketed for possesion of beer under age. I was in a car with a friend who is 21 and another friend was driving us. They came to pick me up at my house. I was in the the back seat with the 21 year old friend and we stopped at a gas station because he wanted somthing to drink. He got a can of beer and came back. We started driving back and got pulled over for no reason at all. The cops said they had reasonable cause to pull us over. The cop then asked me if I had anthing to drink and I told him yes I had a sip to taste it. They then proceeded to search his car and found some old bottles. I want to know how I was charged for possesion if I wasn't even aware there were open containers in the car besides the one my friend had. The open containers weren't even within my reach. I also want to know if it was legal for them to pull us over because we were'nt making any traffic violations. Finally I want to know how I can get out of this I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They didn't give me any type of sobriety test to know that I had anything at all. They only me saying yes I had a sip.

What reason did they give for pulling you over?

The South Carolina law prohibiting possession of alcohol by a minor provides in relevant part,

Quote:

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Quoting S.C. Code, §§ 20-7-8925

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(A) It is unlawful for a person under the age of twenty-one to purchase or knowingly possess alcoholic liquors. Possession is prima facie evidence that it was knowingly possessed. It is also unlawful for a person to falsely represent his age for the purpose of procuring alcoholic liquors.

(B) A person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred dollars or must be imprisoned for not more than thirty days.

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The police are probably asserting that your admission that you possessed a can and tasted its contents is sufficient to satisfy the requirement that you knowingly possessed alcoholic liquors.

If you are going to dispute the charge, you would benefit from consulting a South Carolina criminal defense lawyer.

They said they had probable cause and that their probable cause was there were open containers in the car but there was no way of seeing there was open containers in the car from inside there car it was night. I didnt even realize there were open containers except for the beer my friend was drinking. What kind of penalties am i looking at? I have a clean record

As the statute says, "A person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred dollars or must be imprisoned for not more than thirty days." There is also a driver's license suspension.