Possession of Alcohol by Minor and Provision of Alcohol to Minors: Dismissed.

A young, underage high school boy was charged with possessing alcohol and procuring it for other minors. One of his friends hosted a party for many of their classmates. Though the host’s parents were on the premises, they promised to remain out of site in order to give the kids free reign of the property, including the pool. The host invited nearly 30 friends to her pool party and encouraged them to bring alcohol. The young man was one of many who brought alcohol. He snuck in a bottle of flavored vodka to the event. All of the teens consumed alcohol at the party, some more than others. A young girl consumed too much for her own good, become intoxicated and ultimate got alcohol poisoning. The girl’s appearance and worsening condition prompted the host to notify her parents who ultimately called 911. A rescue came to the home, tended to the young woman and transported her to the emergency room for medical treatment. Police also arrived on the premises and discovered the underage drinking. The teenagers’ parents were also notified to come and retrieve their kids. Officers on scene attempted to question the kids who presented with varying levels of intoxication. The young man who was ultimately charged was the only boy to come forward and admit to both consuming alcohol and bringing it to the party. He also showed police where the teens had been storing all of their alcohol in a concealed closet within the host’s home. As a result, he was criminal charged in the juvenile court system.

The young man and his family retained Attorney John Calcagni to assist them with this very unfortunate situation. The young man was an excellent student at a prestigious private school. He played various sports, was on the debate team, a member of the French Club, volunteered with special Olympics, was college bound and had aspirations of becoming a physician. He also came from a stable home environment in that his mother is a doctor and his dad a science professor. Attorney Calcagni acquired documentation to substantiate all of these positive aspects of his client’s life. He also obtained an email his client has voluntarily sent to his school dean the evening of the event admitting to his misconduct and rendering an apology. Lastly, during a pretrial investigation of this matter, Attorney Calcagni uncovered an electronic communication sent out by the host of the party inviting her friends and encouraging them to bring alcohol, which completely discredited her contrary statement to police and implicated the many other attendees all of whom fell silent when questioned by police. At a preliminary hearing, Attorney Calcagni advocated for his client that “do good deed goes unpunished.” He emphasized his client’s candor, honesty, integrity and forthrightness by confessing his wrongdonig to both the police and his dean and fully cooperating on the night of the incident with both his parents and authorities. Attorney Calcagni compared his client to the 25+ other attendees that night who chose to remain silent instead of face the music for this similar misconduct, and that because of their failure to do the right thing, they had unjustly escape responsibility. Lastly, Attorney Calcagni with the assistance of his clients’ parents pointed out how the young man had already been punished and was still undergoing punishment at home, had a bright future, and wished to avoid having it tarnished by being dragged through the juvenile court system. Based on these arguments and representations, Attorney Calcagni successfully persuaded a Magistrate to out rightly dismiss the charges against the young man. Congratulations to this juvenile client and his family.