Hey everyone,

Any suggestions for a good lawyer locally to help with a possession of alcohol underage ticket in the Blacksburg area?

Heres the deal... I was coming back from Radford and we had been drinking earlier that night. As we are pulling onto West Campus Dr (Virginia Tech), we see "Stop ahead - Sobriety Checkpoint".. Well long story short the driver was fine (21 but blew a .06) and then all the passengers got pulled out (read: me) and I was breathalized at .07. Well Im 17. So I get a ticket for General District Court. Yes, General District Court. Well in the mail today I receive a letter from the issuing officer that he didnt realize that I was only seventeen at the time of the ticket and that my case has now been moved to Juvenile court. He said my court date will be in December. My ticket (with General District Court on it) said November. Luckily I called up Juvy Court and they said I still need to be at Juvy Court in Nov. for arraignment even though the letter from the officer had no mention of this. The letter also said I need a parent or guardian at the date which also was untrue because Ill be 18 in two weeks and, thus, 18 for the court date (according to the woman at Juvy as well as one of the lawyers I spoke to)

So.... what should I do? Do I NEED a lawyer or will I likely just get probation and a class and then the charge dropped if I complete both successfully? A few things that perked my interest were: A.) I was told by the woman who answered the phone at Juvy court that it would be on my juvenile record which is sealed and B.) The current Juvy judge is new and so far has been a hardass


Suggestions? Comments? Lawyer's phone numbers?

Thanks everyone

 

Tom Blaylock
344-8548

 

One of my friends is at Tech and everyone up theres is always getting charged with underage drinking. they dont take lawyers or anything and most of the time get it thrown out or a small fine..i woudl see what a lawyer would charge first b/c if you have to pay the lawyer 1k, then i would take a risk of having a fine at say 500..you need to check to see what the charge carries as far as fines..

you may have to have a parent with you since you were under 18 when the incident occured. thast something a lawyer who is familar with this sorta thing would know. i WOULDNT trust a court clerk though. all she does is looks up cases and gives you dates and takes your money for fines, etc

 

I thought that also I think its what age you are at the time not what your are when you go to Court

 

G'luck!

 

I recently got the same charge when I was involved in the accident with my friends RX7 on 81. I had two sparks energy drinks and I got a possession of alcohol under 21. It sucks doesn't it?

 

speak with the virginia tech legal resource. i think they're still in burruss.

they might have a better idea.

 

friend of mine got underage possesion at 17
no lawyer
30 day suspended license
and had to take a cpr class for some weird reason
i got underage possesion being 18
566 dollar fine
also this was all over in yorktown
goodluck

 

thomas bowers
540-389-6994

 

yea check with the on campus guys

john robertson
kevin sullivan