Justice served fresh daily

Over 20 Ferris minors arraigned in court for MIPs

In a court session last week, the minors who received MIPs, or minor in possession, at the busted party on February 22 were arraigned.

The four who were arrested at this party, which took place at 211 East Grand Traverse street in Big Rapids, were not arraigned during this court session, which was held on Thursday, March 19.

The 77th district courtroom was at full capacity of seating at the start of the trials where over $5,200 were racked up in fines on minor in possession charges in a three and a half hour session which began at 9 a.m. A sizable line of people who were to be arraigned had to wait outside the courtroom until seating became available again.

Over twenty minors, the majority of which were ages nineteen and twenty, either pleaded guilty or not guilty to the misdemeanor of minor in possession. Only a few of the cited minors were age 18 at the time of the party.

Most of said minors chose to plead guilty with a number of 17. Nine minors plead not guilty, and chose to be able to talk further with an attorney about what happened.

The consequence for receiving an MIP citation includes fines only, with no jail time. Most of the minors who plead guilty received a $325 fine, which was to be paid by the afternoon on the same day. Some received higher fines of $425, depending on prior offenses.

Although the majority of the people being arraigned were attendees of the party on February 22, there were also a group of people arraigned in the court session for other misdemeanors and civil infractions, such as marijuana use or having an animal at large. The three and a half hour session racked up over 5200 dollars in fines, just for the minors with cited MIPs.

The arraignments were conducted by District Court Magistrate Steve Delaney and Administrator and Magistrate Tom Lyons.