MIP Appeal Victory!!!

In an hard fought battle, Jim Amberg was recently successful in winning an appeal of the 52-3 District Court's order that his client must be placed on probation for a conviction of minor in possession of alcohol.  At the sentencing, Jim argued that the Rochester Court did not have the authority to place his client on probation for his MIP because he was electing not to be placed on a deferred sentence.

Jim ‘s client, a young man with only weeks to go before his twenty-first birthday, did not want to be placed on the court’s difficult probationary period, which generally includes random drug and alcohol testing, a myriad of community service and classes, and restrictions such as not being allowed to leave the state.  In response to this, Judge Nicholson of the Rochester MI court denied the client’s argument and sentenced him to a year of probation. 

Jim and his client agreed that they should appeal the sentence from the 52-3 district court to the Oakland County circuit court, and they filed a brief to the Circuit Court requesting relief.  After appellate oral arguments, the Oakland County Circuit Court agreed with Jim’s argument and overturned the minor in possession of alcohol probationary sentence.