"6308 Purch Etc Alcoh Bev by a Minor"

[99redballoons]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Pennsylvania.

I guess I should explain the story a little bit before I ask my question:
Okay. I am nineteen years old and I share an apartment off-campus with 2 of my friends in Bethlehem, PA because we all moved there from the Pocono's to go to the local community college. About two months ago, we had our friend come over that we knew from back home who brought his three roommates from the dorms over who also happened to bring a bottle of tequila and a couple 40's over.. I was unaware that we were going to be drinking on this particular night but that's besides the point. After drinking for a few hours, one of our friend's roommates apparently got very intoxicated and passed out on the floor of my bedroom. There was no getting him up because he was out for the count, so they all decided to leave him there and go back to the dorms and come get him the next morning (the dorms are literally only a mile or two away from our apartment complex.) By the time it was just me and my 2 roommates left we were all pretty drunk. I don't really remember clearly what started it, but one roommate and I got into a physical altercation after an argument, while the other roommate tried to break it up but I guess couldn't stop it. So that roommate took off in his car before the police arrived because he was aware of all the noise we were making would have them coming. The police did indeed arrive after the fight was over (I'm assuming our neighbors called the cops in our apartment considering those walls are paper thin and we were banging against them), and saw an empty bottle of tequila on our dinner table. We sat down while the police investigated the apartment, and then they found the one kid passed out on my bedroom floor (who I didn't even remember was still there.) They obviously couldn't just leave somebody there like that so they called an ambulance because he would not wake up for anything.. I know this sounds really bad. Anyway, they breathalyzed me and my one roommate.. I don't think they even told us what we blew but I know we drank a lot so we definitely failed, and not to mention we were clearly intoxicated. They gave us both underage drinking citations after talking to us for a little bit and left. The ambulance came and took that one kid out on a stretcher and I believe gave him a shot of adrenaline and the one roommate who got away came back around 4am when all the cops were gone, nothing happened to him.


Now, I lost my license for 3 months when I was sixteen years old in my junior year of high school due to another underage drinking. I was with two of my friends who are both brothers, and we all literally drank ONE beer each. It doesn't matter obviously when it comes to underage drinking though. So I had my license suspended for 90 days then eventually got it back.


I've been told that on your second underage drinking offense you get your license suspended for a YEAR. I physically CAN'T have that happen to me. I need to drive my car to get to my classes and to come back home to the Pocono's on the weekends. I am also in desperate need of a job right now so if I end up getting one I'm going to have no transportation. My roommate who got in trouble with me is only getting his suspended for one month because he had the privilege of taking ARD classes (Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition?) to get his suspension shortened down, because it was only his first offense.


My dad and I went to the Bethlehem judge, who is actually a really nice guy, and we pretty much told him our situation but he pretty said it's not really up to him to decide what punishment I receive with driving, because he was to do what PENNDOT tells him. He did give us some advice though to plead not guilty to push the court date back a little further to figure out if we wanted to get a lawyer or not. The court date got pushed back until November 15th, 2010.


SO, we talked to an attorney for $30 to decide if it was even worth getting a lawyer OR if there were any alternatives or rules about the license suspension. He was very old and nasty and flipped through a couple pages of a book and had no help for us, and was very quick to get that $30. So we pleaded decided to plead guilty. We wrote a letter to the judge pleading guilty with the $387 fine money included in it, which pretty much said that I regretted it and how sorry I was, etc etc. However, just today in the mail, I received a receipt of payment that states "6308 PURCH ETC ALCOH BEV BY A MINOR". Is anybody familiar with this offense? This is not what the police issued, they said something like underage drinking "def was drinking under 21" or something. So my QUESTION is, does this still mean they will be taking my license away? Isn't this a complete different offense now? I thought they only take away your license for "underage drinking." However, I don't know why they would say I purchased an alcoholic beverage when I didn't because I'm only 19 so that's impossible. I didn't throw down any money towards that bottle at all actually. Do you think the Judge is trying to be a nice guy by doing this? My dad and I have gotten along with him and he seems to be friendly, and he knows the crappy situation we are in so I'm thinking maye he decided to cut us some slack?

If this still means they will be taking my license away for a year, is there ANY WAY possible that I can get some kind of probation period on my license that I can drive to class and work and nowhere else? I am just very concerned about my education right now as college is really important to me and I think it's rather silly that something as stupid as drinking an alcoholic beverage in my own apartment is going to effect my driving privileges which will effect my education. If I were actually drinking and driving that would be different. One year without a license is a very, very, very long time and I don't want to be that guy bumming rides from all his friends. I really want to know because my court date is coming up in 2 days and I don't know if I even have to go anymore because we already paid the fine and pleaded guilty to it.

Wow that was a lot, I appreciate anyone who read all that I am sorry how long it was.. Any help would be GREATLY, GREATLY appreciated as well.

[flyingron]

I think you're screwed. I think this offense bars an OLL on the second offense. Further if you used an OLL on the prior you can't use it again (five year lookback). If there's any hope, you need to talk to a lawyer (AGAIN).

[free9man]

Here is the full text of the statute that you plead guilty to:

Section 6308 (a): A person commits a summary offense if he/she, being less than 21 years of age, attempts to purchase, purchases, consumes, possesses or knowingly and intentionally transports any alcohol, liquor or malt or brewed beverages.

Violation:

* Maximum penalty for first offense: $300 fine; 90 days imprisonment.
* Maximum penalty for subsequent offenses: $500 fine; 90 days imprisonment.
* Police required to notify parents.
* Immediate suspension of operator's license. First offense: 90-day suspension. Second offense: one-year suspension. Subsequent offenses: two-year suspension.


As you can see, the etc part of the description includes possession and consumption, both of which describe your offense. The underage drinking is probably a generic description the officers used. Do you recall what the actual statute number on the ticket was?

And yeah, you're screwed. You'll have to look into alternative transportation to school because you can, and probably will, lose your license. Trips back home are another matter entirely. And notice that if you get busted again, it's a 2-yr suspension...which may even run consecutively with the 1-yr from this charge.

[99redballoons]

Seriously, fml. I love how people with f***ing DUI's get their licenses suspended shorter than people who weren't even driving while they were drinking. How is that fair?
And what is the statute number on the ticket? As in S 18 6308?