My question involves criminal law for the state of: NJ
About a week ago my friends and I went to Long Branch in NJ and were stopped by a cop on the beach because we had a cooler and solo cups. There was no alcohol in sight. We were on the beach approximately 10 minutes when the cop approached us which I think he only approached us because we are young girls. I am 19 almost 20 and my friends are all 20 almost 21. The cop made us open our cooler which he saw a beer sticking out. We spilled all the alcohol out in front of him and he gave us a ticket for open containers. I was driving so I was not drinking however I received a ticket as well. The cop filed our tickets incorrectly and gave us all parking tickets which he said would cost about 50 dollars and that we could pay the fine online. When we went online to pay it was discovered the ticket was not registered so we called the court and they said the cop has messed up multiple tickets in the last week and that we are not the only ones. The cop also explained that he catches lots of people drinking on the beach and that we will just have to pay the fine, no big deal. Now that we have to go to court we are nervous. How much will the fine for an open container be? Will we be charged with underage drinking even though we were not given tickets for that? How much will that fine be or what other punishments will come along with that if it is possible to be charged with. Will the cop screwing up be to our advantage? Does it matter that no one was intoxicated or even drank any alcohol at all? Will I be punished for driving even though I was not drinking and there was no alcohol in the car nor was anyone driving under the influence? Will the judge believe that I was not drinking and driving? One of my friends is thinking about pleading innocent and getting a lawyer. Should we all lead innocent or guilty? Is a lawyer necessary? Please help, court date is july 11th. This is also my first offense. I'm not sure about everyone else but I have no criminal past.

