Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Under Minnesota Statutes Section 340A.503 PERSONS UNDER 21; ILLEGAL ACTS.

"Subdivision 1.Consumption. (a) It is unlawful for any:

(2) person under the age of 21 years to consume any alcoholic beverages. If proven by a preponderance of the evidence, it is an affirmative defense to a violation of this clause that the defendant consumed the alcoholic beverage in the household of the defendant's parent or guardian and with the consent of the parent or guardian."

A violation is a misdemeanor.

A juvenile adjudicated delinquent will have a juvenile court record until at least age 26. There is no automatic expungement of juvenile court records to my knowledge. Juvenile court records are normally non-public (unless age 16 or older plus a felony charge, or EJJ or adult certification). But though "non-public" they can be shared with schools, law enforcement, etc.

Though this type of violation may be viewed by many as a small one, especially if no priors, many people will still want to keep their juvenile court record clean of any adjudications (the juvenile equivalent of convictions). They way to do that is to go to court and get an outcome that will not result in an adjudication.

FFI see my web page: liberty-lawyer.com/juveniledelinquency/juvcourtrecords