Violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law
Section 65 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, known by the acronym ABC violations, sets forth prohibited sales and special provisions relating to liquor. Section sixty-five states that no person shall sell, deliver or give away or cause or permit or procure to be sold, delivered or given away any alcoholic beverage to : any person, actually or apparently, under 21 ; any visibly intoxicated person ; or any habitual drunkard known to be such to the person authorized to dispense any alcoholic beverages. The most common charge I see clients faced with is violating ABC 65(1), sales to person(s) under legal drinking age.
If you, as the licensed operator, or an employee of yours is issued a Desk Appearance Ticket to appear in Criminal Court; or is arrested and taken to Central Booking for arriagnment charged with violating ABC 65(1), the Criminal Court matter is often only half of the nightmare for the licensee. Often times such an arrest will trigger a notification to the State Liquor Authority , SLA, which will require the licensee to appear for a hearing.
A licensee should strongly consider not immediately pleading guilty to the charges, for various reasons. Just as the prosecutor in a criminal case must prove their case against an accused, so too must the State Liquor Authority prove their case against the licensee. Often times police reports may be lost; police officers, as well as auxiliary officers and undercover officers are not available to testify for various reasons; and records necessary to prove their case may be poorly maintained or completely unavailable. Defenses are available and the Authority must substantiate the charges against the licensee. If you are found guilty of, or otherwise plead guilty to the charges against you, or the entity of which you are a shareholder, which was granted the license to sell alcoholic beverages, the SLA may impose fines and even revoke or suspend the individual's or entity's license.
If you are a licensee charged with violating the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law and are notified by the State Liquor Authority of your need to attend a hearing, you should not attend such hearing without an attorney familiar with such hearings.