Okay folks here's the story, how much of a recalcitrant fuck am I? I think it's possibly up there with the worst night ever.

So back in April my brother's best friend graduated from college and he and I went to go visit him since the college isn't far away at all. So we get there and find out it was the campus bar crawl night, which I had never heard of. So basically his friend had been drunk for two days (he was trying to go out on a high note I guess..) and was throwing a massive party. It sounded good to me because I was on sabbatical waiting to go to The Ohio State University and hadn't really partied in a while. Well, it turns out that I don't have the skills required haha I'm ridiculously bad at Beer Pong, Civil War, etc. and was relegated to sipping a beer in the corner while my brother and his buddy (Jason) ran shit on the table. So like an hour goes by, I've had three beers and am bored as hell because sicne all of my friends went to UT, BG, and OSU, not this place.

So this would be a great time for my night to start sucking. They were storing their beer in huge plastic 300+ gallon containers on ice. They'd been binging for two days and thus the ice became water. So Jason walks into his roommate's room to get another beer and finds one of the containers is out, so what does he do? He breaks it. 300+ gallons of water flow out onto this roommate's room. Who does he blame? Me. So now I don't know anyone at this sausagefest, don't like how hard they're going at it binge-wise, and have now been blamed for drenching one of the guys who lives there's room with 300 gallons of water. Yeah, it was pretty awkward.

So another hour passes with me cautiously avoiding this roommates sipping my beer and Jason decides it's time for some food. There is a pancake place down the street and Jason decides it's best for him to drive. Already not a great idea. But it's ~200m down the road at 3am so I agree. We get there and eat, and leave. Well on the way back Jason does't turn his lights on and gets pulled over by the Ohio Highway patrol. He blows a .10 and gets arrested with a DUI. The Patrolman asks me and my brother if we'd been drinking, and I tell him I had a few but was fine. I told him I was only 20 but he didn't mind. However the local Policeman who came as backup watched the whole thing and was staring intently at me the entire time, as if looking for a reason to ticket me. Yes, we're doing a little bit of foreshadowing right now.

So the Patrolman lets us go because we're in walking distance of the house. We get back to find that his buddies were so pissed at what happened to his room (it's drenched, as said) that in a drunken fit they were throwing their jack bottles accumulated over the years against the walls. So we come in and there's glass all over the floor and one of the guy's girlfriends is vacuuming it up to little avail. So I turn to my brother, who's rather inebriated, and tell him we're getting the fuck out of there. I was not even buzzed because I never had enough beer due to running away from people all night and sucking at beer pong haha I'd maybe consumed five beers all night. So we hop in the car and drive off. Who's sitting there waiting for me to do just that? This local policeman. First thing he says "I wanted to give you the underage earlier, did you know that?" Yes, I knew that. So of course he makes me get out of the car and blow. I blow <.08, of course, but since I was under 21 I was fucked anyway. So he arrests me for going 35 in a 25, gives me an underage, and an OVUAC. An OVUAC means you blew between a .02-.079 and were under 21. It counts as an OVI (.08<) on your record though and is a M-4 (the lightest misdemeanor there is).

Of course, the policewoman who drove us back went 35 in a 25 the entire way back, as anyone would at 4am. So a night in jail later and I get back home. I realize just how much deep shit I'm in so I get a lawyer. He was rather confident we'd get it reduced because I'm an honors student, Eagle Scout, religious leader, etc. and had a spotless record, and am not a binger at all. Well the prosecutor saw it differently, first he stated that the officer who pulled me over is infamously strict and is known throughout the county as being the last guy you want to get ion this position with; the plea they offered me was:

-speeding ticket wasn't dropped, but no points or fine.
-OVUAC stands as is. Fines and court costs and I lose my car for three months.
-the Underage Consumption goes into a diversion program, in which I'd have to take two classes and be put on probation for a year. I turn 21 this fall but I won't be allowed to step foot in a bar or party with alcohol present for the next year. If I get caught in a bar I get THIRTY DAYS IN JAIL. Soooooo the expect me to be 21, and attend Ohio State and not touch alcohol for a year, even when it'll be completely legal. Hmmmmm....

Basically they didn't drop anything and will hang the underage over my head for a year. Now I wasn't looking to get off of this entirely, as I completely understood what I did at the time and have no problem paying the fines and getting a good ol' slap on the wrist. I'm well aware drunk driver is stupid, and buzzed driving isn't smart at all........but I was completely fine so I'm a bit hateful.

Am I being obtuse to think this might be overkill? I mean they drop OVIs that are near .08 to reckless operation all the time, but a person <.08 gets fucked extra hard because he's just shy of his 21st? Also they don't give you a year's worth of probation and hang 30 days in jail over your head for an underage normally. The classes I have to take are 2-3x more costly than what the fine would be anyway, but my lawyer says I want the certainty of knowing no jail time (initially haha) because since an underage is an M-1 the judge could give me six months in the slammer. Yeah, that'd be the best thing for society. Throw the honors student in jail because he had three beers in his system.

/end rant. How much do I deserve to spend four weeks in the slammer getting my shit pushed in?

I hate police.

You sure you got a decent lawyer?

I blew a .09 at 22 and it was dropped to reckless op. Spent 3 days in a alcohol rehab program. Lost my license for 6 months with work privs.

Nate;425152 wrote:I blew a .09 at 22 and it was dropped to reckless op. Spent 3 days in a alcohol rehab program. Lost my license for 6 months with work privs.

That's what I was referring to. That happens all of the time. I mean if I was 21 I'd have walked away from it. Although actually I asked the officer if that was the case and he said "No absolutely not. You were speeding at had alcohol in your system. All I have to do is say the alcohol affected your driving and it's still a OVI, which I would have done." but I'd have fought it tooth and nail at that point.

Old saying "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".

Your lawyer thinks you should take the deal?

I got an underage consumption two months before I turned 21. The cops told me if I cooperated they would go easy on me, so I did. I got 30 days in jail, with 27 suspended. I did 40 hours of community service instead of the other 3 days. I also had to pay a fine ($300 I think?) and got (I think) 3 years probation where if I got into trouble I would have to do the other 27 days. They never said anything about not going to bars though and I went to plenty without getting into any more trouble.

Some of my friends who were with me lawyered up and they walked. :-\

redrocket;425166 wrote:Old saying "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".

Old saying "An unjust law is no law at all."

FatHobbit;425168 wrote:Your lawyer thinks you should take the deal?

I got an underage consumption two months before I turned 21. The cops told me if I cooperated they would go easy on me, so I did. I got 30 days in jail, with 27 suspended. I did 40 hours of community service instead of the other 3 days. I also had to pay a fine ($300 I think?) and got (I think) 3 years probation where if I got into trouble I would have to do the other 27 days. They never said anything about not going to bars though and I went to plenty without getting into any more trouble.

Yeah he thinks I should take the deal because the judge could sentence me to actual jail time. Technically, if he gave me the maximum, it'd be six months for the M-1 and 30 days for the M-4. But personally I'd MUCH rather serve three days now than thirty a year from now. Here is what the Diversion Program says:

For the next year your charge will be hanging over your hear.-which means you will have alcohol restrictions (no bars and no alcohol), and you will have to stay out of trouble. Do not get any other charges in the next year. Yes, no bars and no alcohol means NO parties with alcohol.

That's the exact typing they listed. To me it seems as if I'll be serving the time, only a year from now with interest. Personally I'm 50/50 on not taking it and just pleading no contest to it and hope the judge sees it differently. My lawyer and I agree, this Diversion Program is just a huge fundraiser for the city.

That just seems like a poor deal to me. But of course I'm not a lawyer nor do I know the habits of this particular prosecutor/judge.

I Wear Pants;425148 wrote:You sure you got a decent lawyer?

He won my mom a couple million a few years back; trust me he's fantastic. But, he normally doesn't deal with little shit like this.

Is he normally a criminal defense lawyer?

FatHobbit;425168 wrote:
I got an underage consumption two months before I turned 21. The cops told me if I cooperated they would go easy on me, so I did. I got 30 days in jail, with 27 suspended. I did 40 hours of community service instead of the other 3 days. I also had to pay a fine ($300 I think?) and got (I think) 3 years probation where if I got into trouble I would have to do the other 27 days. They never said anything about not going to bars though and I went to plenty without getting into any more trouble.

Some of my friends who were with me lawyered up and they walked. :-\

I got an underage when I was 19. I got a $151 fine (that included court costs) and the judge basically laughed the entire time I was there. Guess I was lucky.

The question I'm asking is, "Is he normally $125 an hour?!"

But the firm does the whole gamut of cases, including criminal defense.

Yikes, what's the lawyer bill going to be for this?

When I've dealt with lawyers before I've had set fees which was nice.

sjmvsfscs08;425202 wrote:The question I'm asking is, "Is he normally $125 an hour?!"

But the firm does the whole gamut of cases, including criminal defense.

That's a deal. Decent lawyers in Columbus start at 150/hr.

So am I nuts to think that if I just plead no contest the judge would suspend the jail term? I mean none of you got jail terms...


and LJ he's out of Toledo because that's where I live "permanently." Although without a car I'll be stuck in Columbus until Thanksgiving haha

Is it overkill? Maybe. But you sort of had it coming when you jumped in a car drunk and then drove over the speed limit.

All I wanna know is what city/county this judge is in so I never do anything wrong there haha. But I'd take the deal.

When I was 18 and got my underage I had to pay around 225 for court costs, 375 for the diverision program and I also had the years probation if I got caught in a bar/party then I would have 30 days in jail. Last summer I got a DUI... and wasn't as bad as what you have. Mine was just a bunch of costs(court, weekend program, license re-instatement fees). I never even spent a minute in a jail cell haha.

Hope everything works out for you though man.

trackandccrunner;425240 wrote:All I wanna know is what city/county this judge is in so I never do anything wrong there haha.

You didn't bother reading the thread, did you?

sjmvsfscs08;425228 wrote:So am I nuts to think that if I just plead no contest the judge would suspend the jail term? I mean none of you got jail terms...


and LJ he's out of Toledo because that's where I live "permanently." Although without a car I'll be stuck in Columbus until Thanksgiving haha

I assume you've already had your arraignment then?

sjmvsfscs08;425141 wrote:How much do I deserve to spend four weeks in the slammer getting my shit pushed in?

If I read the story correctly, this possibility is 100% avoidable.

dlazz;425242 wrote:You didn't bother reading the thread, did you?

I read the entire thread up until his last post... where he said he was from Toledo. Sorry he posted that while I was making my post.

Wow...I had the best judge ever.

If you are on probation for a year and ordered to abstain from alcohol it will depend on your probation officer. Chances are they will not pay you much attention given your record and being an honor student. As long as you do not do anything stupid an get arrested while drinking you will stay off the radar.

dlazz;425234 wrote:Is it overkill? Maybe. But you sort of had it coming when you jumped in a car drunk and then drove over the speed limit.

DRUNK? Get real dude. I was under the legal limit. and the legal limit is a joke anyway. Three beers and your drunk, what are you 90lbs soaking wet?

sjmvsfscs08;425272 wrote: I was under the legal limit.

No you weren't. That's why you have a court date.