California Court of Appeal

Juvenile court's order placing defendant on home probation for violation of County Code section 9.42.020, which makes it a misdemeanor for a person under age 21 to have a blood alcohol level of .01 percent or more while in a public place within the County, is affirmed and defendant's claim that the ordinance is preempted by state law rejected where: 1) the field of underage drinking is not fully occupied; 2) the ordinance was enacted to prohibit consumption; 3) the ordinance does not duplicate state law; and 4) defendant's argument that the potential adverse effects of the ordinance on transient citizens outweighs the possible benefits to the county is rejected.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/10/2009
• Published 11/10/2009

Judges

• SIMONS, J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Surowitz & Bell and Bobby Bell, El Cerrito, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant., Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Assistant Attorney General, Lawrence K. Sullivan and Martin S. Kaye, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.