Minor in Possession Ventura

Question: My son received a MIP in Ventura California but the citation code used was 25664a this doesn’t make sense. What is the correct violation for this and what are the potential penalties? Also, I think there could be Should we fight this? He was at a house party no parents home and he is 20.5. The cops came into the house, alcohol everywhere he had all the kids sit down and hand over their ID’s. My son had already received his citation because he was in the front yard so he was not in that group. Nobody else got cited even though it was clear they were all drinking. One 17yr old’s parents were called to pick him up. The 20yr old girl that threw the party was cited and then called later and said they are going to destroy the ticket and she has to write an essay really! I don’t get any of this at all why he was the only one cited. I have NEVER used race as an issue for anything but this seems racial. My son is mixed black and white and the girl who threw the party was white. Just not getting the situation at all and what penalties does his citation carry? Fine, license suspension? The citation number doesn’t even match with an MIP which is what was written. Not sure if we should fight this or not.
Answer: That definitely sounds suspicious if other underage kids were caught drinking, yet your son was the only one who was charged. Sounds like the officer may have mis-wrote the violation code, which is B & P 25662. Subsection (a) of that statute spells out the potential penalty as follows…. “Except as provided in Section 25667, any person under the age of 21 years who has any alcoholic beverage in his or her possession on any street or highway or in any public place or in any place open to the public is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or the person shall be required to perform not less than 24 hours or more than 32 hours of community service during hours when the person is not employed or is not attending school..” Further, if convicted of this, there is a 1 year drivers license suspension.
I would definitely recommend fighting this. It may be possible to potentially win a case like this, or get the charges reduced to an infraction, and perhaps an infraction for a different offense which would not include the 1 year drivers license suspension. Feel free to contact me at 818-336-1384 to discuss further. I have been successful in getting these charges dismissed.
Sincerely,
Phil Hache
DUI & Criminal Defense Attorney