Ticket troubles

June 19, 2006 11:09 AM

I received a Montreal municipal ticket for public drunkenness. Do I get any sort of record if I pay the ticket (thus pleading guilty)?

I was with a friend who was drinking in public when we were stopped. He didn't have I.D. so one cop took me aside to ask for his name, etc. I didn't like being questioned when I had not committed any offence, so I refused to give him the information. At this point he threatened to arrest me and asked for my I.D.. I obliged (not wanting to go to jail), and I suppose he could only give one public drinking ticket, so he gave me a public drunkenness one. I would contest the ticket but I'm leaving the country for the whole summer. What to do?

posted by azman to Law & Government (4 answers total)

Write a letter to the court explaining the situation and your circumstances. They should let you off. IANAL, but IMO you didn't need to give him any information if you committed no offence. And unless the cop lied in court, they would throw it out. Was this RCMP or city police?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:17 AM on June 19, 2006

Were you out on the street sale on St-Laurent?
posted by jon_kill at 11:20 AM on June 19, 2006

Response by poster: I knew that I didn't need to give him any information, and that's why I was insistent with him. However, it's difficult to stick to your guns when the cop is seriously threatening to arrest you (for doing nothing other than not giving him information). In my letter to the court, can I tell them I will only be back in September, so as not to have a date scheduled before?
On a side note, this wasn't actually at the street sale, it was a few weeks ago.
posted by azman at 11:31 AM on June 19, 2006

azman writes "In my letter to the court, can I tell them I will only be back in September, so as not to have a date scheduled before?"

Yes, though in my expereince if you contest the the ticket it'll be at least a couple of months before they'll schedule a court date anyways. Usually you do whatever the back of the ticket says to contest the ticket. The court will then let you know your court date and you can usually get at least one rescheduling if you won't be available to come in on that day.
posted by Mitheral at 7:18 AM on June 20, 2006