Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Minor in possession of alcohol and Marijuana

One Friday night me and my friend were crusing the back roads, and we spark up a bowl of marijuana, we smoke it. The car is engulfed in smoke, and we air it out, as soon as we turned the corner. Bam ''Checkpoint'' comes up and we couldn't turn around, and the cop pulls us over. He tells us it reeks of marijuana, and then he searches and finds a 12 pack that me and my friend forgot all about. This cop keeps searching, and he finds this shake of marijuana that I didn't even know I had under the seat in an old cigarette box. He charged me with minor in possesion of alcohol as well as possesion of marijuana (under an ounce, oviously. It was shake, little crumbs!) What should I do when I go to court in 2 weeks, what do you think is going to happen. I need to drive to school everyday, because I'm a full time college student that drives everyday for about 30 miles there, and 30 miles back. What should my friend and I do about this case?


Asked on 11/30/04, 2:43 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Okorie Okorocha California Legal Team

Re: Minor in possession of alcohol and Marijuana

An attorney would probably be a really big help, there is no real way to prep you for every contingency.

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Answered on 11/30/04, 3:10 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Minor in possession of alcohol and Marijuana

You should get lawyers. (You didn't say whether your friend was also cited, but I presume that he was.) If you can't afford counsel, the court will appoint someone to represent you. Do not try to handle this on your own.

Each of you will likely need a separate attorney because one of you will probably want to argue that he was unaware of the beer and the "shake" and that they belonged to the other person.

If you both had the same lawyer and he tried to make that argument, he would have a conflict of interest because he would be accusing his own client -- a violation of his duty of loyalty. If he tried to avoid that problem by not making the argument, he would be violating his duty to be a zealous advocate for the other client.

If you both need court-appointed attorneys, they will be selected from different offices; most likely one will be a public defender and the other a private attorney, but the county will pay her fees. They cannot both come from the same office because then the office would face the same conflict I described earlier.

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Answered on 11/30/04, 3:12 pm


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