Walk It Through: The Console
Intoxicated at 0.08, a refusal that costs 180 days, and two ounces as a Class B misdemeanor.
Driving home after a party, a driver is pulled over and the officer smells alcohol.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One stop and one bag. Repeat offenses, a crash with injuries, and drugs other than marihuana are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Implied consentThe rule that a person arrested for driving while intoxicated is deemed to have consented to breath or blood specimens. Before asking, the officer says that a refusal may be used in a later prosecution and suspends the license for not less than 180 days.
- IntoxicatedEither not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties because of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug or any other substance, or having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.
- Open containerA bottle, can or other receptacle holding any amount of an alcoholic beverage that is open, has been opened, has a broken seal, or has had some of its contents removed. Possessing one in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public highway is an offense.
- Probable causeWhat a magistrate has to be satisfied exists, on sufficient facts set out in a sworn affidavit, before any search warrant may issue.
- State jail felonyThe felony level below third degree: 180 days to two years in a state jail, and a fine of up to $10,000.
- Class C misdemeanorThe lowest offense level, for which the Penal Code sets a fine of up to $500.
- MagistrateThe judicial officer an arrested person goes before without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after the arrest, who tells the person the accusation and the rights that follow, among them the right to counsel and the right to remain silent.
- MarihuanaThe plant Cannabis sativa L., its seeds and preparations of them, as the controlled substances act defines it. Possessing a usable quantity is an offense, and two ounces or less is a Class B misdemeanor.