§ 3-8-9 - Transportation of alcoholic beverages by underage persons.
SECTION 3-8-9
§ 3-8-9 Transportation of alcoholicbeverages by underage persons. – (a) Any person who has not reached his or her twenty-first (21st) birthday andwho operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways, except when accompaniedby a parent, legal guardian, or another adult who is over the age of twenty-one(21) years and related, whether by blood, adoption or marriage, to the operatorwithin the following degree of sanguinity: brother, sister, grandfather,grandmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law,stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister,uncle, aunt, great uncle or great aunt and, knowingly having liquor orintoxicating beverages in any form in containers, opened or unopened, in anypart of the vehicle shall be guilty of a criminal violation. The words liquorand intoxicating beverages, as used in this section, have the same meaning asdefined in chapter 1 of this title. This section does not apply to personsbetween the ages of sixteen (16) and twenty-one (21) who are transportingunopened alcoholic beverages in the course of their employment.
(b) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this sectionshall be subject to the following:
(1) For a first offense, a fine of not more than two hundredfifty dollars ($250) and have his or her license to operate a motor vehiclesuspended for not more than thirty (30) days;
(2) For a second offense, a fine of not more than fivehundred dollars ($500) and have his or her license to operate a motor vehiclesuspended for not more than ninety (90) days;
(3) For a third or subsequent offense, a fine of no less thanfive hundred dollars ($500) nor more than nine hundred and fifty dollars ($950)and have his or her license to operate a motor vehicle suspended for one year.