My son, a 19 year old college student, received a marijuana usage charge back in February. He was given a fine of $300, put on probation for a year, ordered to be tested once/month and his drivers license was taken away for 6 months with no restriction granted. He went to court without a lawyer as we did not have the money to get one. Last night he was at a friends house watching the Final Four basketball game with three other guys and were all spending the night. The parents were out of town, so a neighbor noticing a car in the driveway called the police. The Grand Haven police officers came through the woods and peered in all of the windows and seeing the boys watching the game and taking a sip of a beer, gave all four boys MIP's. My son blew a .03 (he had three beers). Due to his probation, he was immediately taken to jail. We have no idea how long he will be in there, what are we now facing? How much more will this cost? Do we need to get a lawyer? He only has a month left of college and is playing college Lacrosse. Please advise??

He will be held in jail until his VOP hearing at which time the Judge will determine his fate. You should have sprung for an attorney the first time around. If you do retain an attorney for this time it may help keep him out of jail but since the cops actually saw the boys drinking beer and they are all underage, that charge will be pretty hard to wriggle out of. As far as his college is concerned, I don't think the court is going to give a hoot if he misses it or not. He was given probation for the pot charge and now he's breaking the law again only this time with booze. It's going to be a tough call, but I do think he's going to do some jail time as he can't seem to get with the program and stick with it.

Would a public defender be of any help?

Would a public defender be of any help?Hello Citizen:

Yes. I don't know if peering into the window and seeing people drink is probable cause to search. If the MIP is beaten, there's no probation violation.

excon