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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    2

    Default Open Container Citation

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Washington

    The long and short of it is I was out drinking with some underage friends, they brought their own alcohol and I was the only one over 21. The officers did not cite me for providing to minors thankfully but they looked in the car I came in and saw an open empty beer can of the type I had been drinking. Everyone got MIPs and I got cited for an open container in the car I came in, and had not driven for hours. The car is not registered to me. The citation has the "traffic" violation box checked and as I was not driving and the car is not mine what sort of defense do I have? Should I hire a lawyer or can I just go to court and tell them I wasn't driving and so it should not be a traffic violation. The statute code reads RCW 46.61.519.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Open Container Citation

    It couldn't hurt to hire a lawyer.

    Your opportunity to argue in court, "It wasn't my beer can," is normally something you would get to do at trial. I can't promise you that a prosecutor will be interested in hearing that defense, let alone find it credible, prior to trial.

    Which of your friends is going to fess up to driving, and to owning the beer can?
    Quote Quoting RCW 46.61.519.Alcoholic beverages — Drinking or open container in vehicle on highway — Exceptions.
    (1) It is a traffic infraction to drink any alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle when the vehicle is upon a highway.

    (2) It is a traffic infraction for a person to have in his possession while in a motor vehicle upon a highway, a bottle, can, or other receptacle containing an alcoholic beverage if the container has been opened or a seal broken or the contents partially removed.

    (3) It is a traffic infraction for the registered owner of a motor vehicle, or the driver if the registered owner is not then present in the vehicle, to keep in a motor vehicle when the vehicle is upon a highway, a bottle, can, or other receptacle containing an alcoholic beverage which has been opened or a seal broken or the contents partially removed, unless the container is kept in the trunk of the vehicle or in some other area of the vehicle not normally occupied by the driver or passengers if the vehicle does not have a trunk. A utility compartment or glove compartment is deemed to be within the area occupied by the driver and passengers.

    (4) This section does not apply to a public conveyance that has been commercially chartered for group use or to the living quarters of a motor home or camper or, except as otherwise provided by RCW 66.44.250 or local law, to any passenger for compensation in a for-hire vehicle licensed under city, county, or state law, or to a privately-owned vehicle operated by a person possessing a valid operator's license endorsed for the appropriate classification under chapter 46.25 RCW in the course of his usual employment transporting passengers at the employer's direction: PROVIDED, That nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize possession or consumption of an alcoholic beverage by the operator of any vehicle while upon a highway.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Open Container Citation

    So I'm guessing the 'upon a highway' portion doesn't matter? We were off of a dirt road at a public camp site. Is it really illegal to have a can in a parked car? I wouldn't expect anyone to fess up to it being their can but it just seems crappy that I am being nailed with tossing an empty can in a parked car that I didn't drive because the officer said there was a little bit left in the bottom.

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