Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

My 17 yr old son was on a Florida high school band field trip to Georgia. He was caught by the band director with a wax form of marijuana and was arrested in Fulton county and they charge him with disorderly conduct in violation of code section 38-54 of local ordinance, then remarks on citation "Drugs.... See incident report. (Which we do not have). We drove 8 hrs to bail him out, we were able to speak to a judge and he said if it was a joint he would just say have a good day, but this wax form that he was not familiar with was more concerning, but they just charged him with the misdemeanor and lowered the bail from $1500 to $1000. after the Judge determined we are good parents and the kids never been in trouble. The citation has an order to appear in 3 weeks and he has to submit to a urine test that tests as clean as 3 weeks allows. He is 6 weeks away from graduating High School and has to complete an intervention program along with 5 days suspension from school, as part of the schools punishment . So the question is, should we just go back up for the court date and submit to the judge what all we have done and hopefully just pay a fine, and is a public defender provided/necessary for what seems to be a simple case?


Asked on 4/07/14, 11:54 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Lawrence Lewis Lawrence Lewis, P.C.

first, parents that can travel 8 hours to attend a misdemeanor hearing will not be entitled to a public defender. Second, when he is given a fine, it comes with a guilty plea, which means his license will be suspended back in FL. See website for info on retaining the right attorney: http://www.lawrencelewispc.com/pages.php?go=pinfo&PID=38

Good luck

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Answered on 4/07/14, 12:00 pm
Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

A criminal charge that will follow him for many, many years, harming his chances at the college of his choice and then the jobs of his choice, is not a "simple case" for anyone.

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Answered on 4/07/14, 12:10 pm


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