Got cited for alcohol on the beach and glass containers, but I did not do it? ?

Question

I recently went to a California State Beach and a person who is my friend's friend brought alcohol in glass containers. The dumb girl was holding the bottle in the air in plain site. I was some weak 5% alcohol. No one admitted guilt so he asked for our driver's license from 3 people. I was the obvious target as once I handed him the license he stopped asking for the others. I did not bring the alcohol! Unfortunately I was holding an empty cup of alcohol, but I did not know there was alcohol in it and have already drank it all once I showed it to the cop. I have no idea why he said he smelled alcohol, it was a 5% alcohol and sweet, which I thought was soda.

I did not admit guilt and I am now required to go to court. The court is in Watsonville, CA and is a 1 hour drive from my house... Considering the time it takes to get there and back and skip work for one day I don't know if I should go to court or just pay the fine.

How can I get out of this?

Which option do you think is better?

Will witnesses ,who are my friends, be able to testify?

Answer 1

I can tell you this:

1)  If it was a state parks police officer that issued you the citation, there is a reasonable chance he will not show up in court.  State Parks is so short-staffed these days that they cannot afford to let people off their shifts to attend court hearings.  Thanks to the budget stalemate, overtime is not authorized, so they also cannot pay another officer overtime to fill the shift of a person who needs to go to court.

2)  If you do go to court, don't tell that story that you were drinking, but the cup was empty.  That won't fly.  Say it was the dumb blonde that had the alcohol, and have your friends back you up.  Hopefully the judge will believe you.

Answer 2

You are going to have to come up with a better story than that.  That one is pathetic.

I can't tell from your story if the ticket was for glass bottles or drinking on the beach, or both.  You all had glass bottles and they had alcohol in them and you were drinking.  It doesn't matter if it was 3.5% beer or Barcadi 151, it's still alcohol and it was still in glass bottles.

Pay the fine before you go to court.  There's usually instructions on the ticket for how to do that, or a phone number you can call.

Answer 3

IF you are not guilty you have to go and make your case.  choose your friends more wisely too.  how sad that is!

Answer 4

If that is the story you plan on giving in court, you might as well plead guilty and pay the fine.  The officer did not really smell the alcohol.  He smelled the beer, which has a very distinctive odor.  By the way 5% alcohol is not weak beer and nobody will believe that you thought it was soda