MIP Ticket in South Carolina

[katiedunleavy]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: South Carolina

Here's the story as unbiased as I can be:

I was at a house party at an off-campus housing area. It was a quiet party (I honestly did not know the house we were going to had any people in it, it was very low key). My friends and I walked into the house and started drinking. The amount I had was a few sips of beer and a few sips of extremely watered down vodka before the cops came in. The cops came in by opening the door themselves. The cop asked who was the owner of the house, and the one of the owners stepped forward and asked the cop to talk with him outside (the cop refused and asked the question two more times before the owners stepped up). Before the owners stepped up, they threatened to charge us with burglary. Then the cops asked which of us were under the age of 21 (I'm 18) and took our ID's and gave us each a copy of our ticket, asking us each what we drank and made a note of it on our ticket. There were some people in the backyard and I think someone attempted to run and someone else did run (this person was the only one at the party seriously drunk and there was an ambulance needed later). He then told everyone to empty out all the alcohol in the house, including telling people under 21 to empty out bottles, cups, etc. The cop then told us the conditions of the ticket, that we must go to court and told us about classes we can take to wipe the charge clean from our record. This is my very first drinking ticket and it was recorded as offense number 94.

My questions are:

Because of the way the cop entered, is it worth pleading not guilty and arguing that case?
If I do plead not guilty and lose, will I still be able to take the alcohol classes?
How expensive are the classes and what are some plans to set up the way I pay for these classes?
Does anyone have any advise on how to deal with this the best way possible?

[Mr. Knowitall]

The fact that the officers entered through a door, not a... window?... won't make the charge go away. If you have more facts to share, share them; but it's unlikely that you would have any standing to object to the entry under the circumstances as you were not an owner or resident of the home.

If you take your case to trial and lose, you should expect to live with the resulting conviction.

You can try inquiring with the court, or the provider of the classes if not the court, about the cost.

If in fact you can get the charge dismissed by taking a class, that sounds like a very good outcome.