What is Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor
Furnishing alcohol to a minor is a misdemeanor violation of Business & Professions Code section 25658. A conviction of this offense subjects you to embarrassment, fines, and county jail. We can help to avoid all that in some situations and at the very least, help you through this difficult time of you lives. Give uas a call right away so we can begin advising you what to do.
Business & Professions Code § 25658 makes it a misdemeanor to sell, furnish, give, or assist in procuring an alcoholic beverage to anyone under the age of 21 years old.
How Can Fiumara & Milligan Help?
We can appear in court for you. In most cases, we can appear in court for you, so you don’t have to miss work, school, OR family. We will make all court appearances and call you that very same day to give you a report. We will take care of procuring evidence, reviewing that evidence, reporting to you, helping you make decisions about any offers made in your case, and keeping you informed about your case, developments, and the law. The amount of time it takes to resolve a case depends on the circumstances, but on average it takes about 2 to 3 months to resolve a case. If you end up going to trial, it can take even more time. Keep in mind, each case is different and there is no one size fits all.
What are Potential Defenses?
Getting busted for furnishing alcohol to a minor is embarrassing and can have potential lasting impacts on your career. Almost all of our cases are the result of a STING OPERATION. Most of the time, people who get cited or arrested for this crime think they are doing a young person a favor by providing a safe purchase and preventing that young person from exposing themselves to much more nefarious people. As well meaning as that is, it is a crime. However, there are many defenses to being accused of giving alcohol to a minor. The following are an example of some, but not all, defenses to a violation of Business & Professions Code section 25658.
You are eligible for diversion. Most counties know that you had good intentions when seeking to “help” a kid out. For that reason, most counties also provide for offering diversion in your casepursuant to Penal Code section 1000. This is an ideal outcome as it results in no risk to you and a dismissal of your case. Great for immigrants too because the result is that you have no criminal record.
You reasonably believed the person was 21 years of age or older. Mistake of fact is a complete defense. Meaning that if you can show that you had a reasonable belief the person you were purchasing alcohol was 21 years old or more, then you should be found “not guilty.”
The Sting Operation is Wrong! Often sting operations are set up to catch business selling alcohol to minors. Police will send in an undercover person who is under the age of 21 and that person will ask to purchase alcohol to see if the business will either; 1) sell alcohol without checking a drivers license or 2) sell alcohol and not check a fake ID thoroughly. If you asked for a drivers license and it was provided to you and it states the person is 21 or older, you likely have defense.
What is the Fee?
In most cases we charge a flat fee for our criminal defense cases. We will have to meet with you either in person or by telephone for a ½ hour free consultation, to discuss your case and assess the potential defenses in your case in light of the facts. Our flat fee covers all appearances, motion work and more. There are no hidden fees and we will communicate with you at times.
Call Us Today at 707-571-8600 for IMMEDIATE HELP!