Expert: Robin Sexton - 6/21/2008

Question
My 17 year old son went out with some friends.  They ended up in the local woods at a bonfire party.  The local police came and ticketed everyone with trespass/open fire/open container, since they could not determine who had been drinking.  About 15 kids were involved.  The officers played it down to me, saying it was akin to a parking ticket.  However, they wanted alot of information, including SS numbers, place of birth, height, weight and so forth.  The court date is next month, do I need a lawyer? (He has never been in trouble before)

Answer
Anne,

It is more then a parking ticket, they may either be civil or misdemeanor.  At 17 your son in your state could be considered an adult.  The information is pretty standard for forms.  Since no fingerprints were taken it will only be a local record. The fines could be a little high.  You could talk with an attorney and get his opinion on the issues locally.  However for an attorney to work on these type of issues could be cost prohibitive.  You need to find out exactly what type of charges these are, misdemeanor or civil and proceed from there.

Good luck


Robin