Selling alcohol to a minor is what is known as a strict liability offense. That means that the prosecution doesn’t need to prove that the defendant had criminal intent in order to get a conviction. The California law that deals with this is Business and Professions Code 25658. If you are prosecuted under this section the prosecution does not need to prove that you knew the individual to whom you provided alcohol was underage. The judge/jury can convict you of this offense regardless of that knowledge.
However, there is a trend recently to allow a defendant to raise a mistake of fact defense in this type of case where an honest and reasonable belief may justify the defendant’s conduct.This trend involves juror nullification, meaning that if the judge/jury believes that you honestly and reasonably thought that the minor was of legal drinking age, they could choose to acquit you of the charge.
There are a couple of additional defenses that are written into the law:
California Business and Professions Code 25660 is a defense that is also based on a mistake of fact. If you are a licensee and either sell alcohol to a minor or allow a minor to consume alcohol on your premises, you may be absolved of criminal liability if you did so because you reasonably relied on a bona fide (that is, “genuine”) government issued I.D. card such as a
· driver’s license,
· identification card, or
· passport.
The card itself doesn’t actually have to be government issued, it can be forged or fake. The critical issue is whether you reasonably believed that it was, in fact, a true government issued form of identification.
If you inspected the I.D. and it looked as if it were genuine, you would be exempt from prosecution and/or an Alcoholic Beverage Control license suspension/revocation. However, if the I.D. did not appear to be genuine, you would still face liability for this crime.
You could also have entrapment defense if (1) There is excessive governmental involvement in the sting operation and(2) you were not predisposed to selling alcohol to minors.
It is highly unlikely your employer will be prosecuted under this scenario, unless they were encouraging or turning a blind eye to the sales of alcohol to minors. However, your employer could be sanctioned by ABC—ie face a suspension in their ability to sell alcohol, depending on whether this has happened before and other factors.