A first-time charge of Minor in Possession of Alcohol (MIP) or Underage Drinking is a class D misdemeanor in Missouri. Police officers can charge you with MIP if you are under age 21 and you do any of the following:
An experienced attorney can convince the Prosecutor to reduce your Minor in Possession of Alcohol ticket to a lesser offense, such as “Littering,” and only require you to pay a fine and court costs. Or the Prosecutor might agree to dismiss your MIP ticket after you complete an alcohol education class and/or do a few hours of community service and pay court costs.
If you are a first-time offender convicted of Minor in Possession of Alcohol, your driver’s license can be suspended for 90 days. You can lose your driver’s license for 1 year if you have a prior MIP conviction on your record.
The maximum punishment for first-time Minor in Possession of Alcohol (Underage Drinking) in Missouri is a fine of $300 and no jail time. If you have prior MIP convictions on your criminal record, the maximum penalty is 1 year in jail and a fine of $1,000.
Pleading guilty to MIP will cause you to have an alcohol-related conviction on your criminal record (and on your driving record, if you were caught with alcohol in a motor vehicle). Having an MIP conviction on your record can prevent you from getting a job and may negatively affect your chances of being accepted into the college of your choice.
An MIP conviction stays on your criminal record forever, unless you hire an attorney to expunge it. In addition, it remains on your driving record for 5 years after your license reinstatement date, and then you must send a written request to the Missouri Department of Revenue asking them to remove the MIP conviction from your driving record.
MIP convictions are not automatically removed from your criminal record once you reach age 21. A petition for expungement must be filed with the court, and the judge must approve it, before your MIP conviction can be expunged (removed) from your criminal record.
After a period of not less than 1 year after you reach age 21, you can hire an attorney to file a petition to expunge (remove) a first-time MIP conviction from your criminal record, but only if your record has been clean since the conviction. Hiring an attorney to get your MIP ticket dismissed or reduced is a better and cheaper option than hiring an attorney to expunge the conviction later.
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