The first week at a new school in a new city started out rough for Erin Hatch, a graduate student in GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, when she and two friends were arrested for drinking beer on the front porch of their Dupont Circle home.

Almost two months later, things are looking up, after the city dropped the charges against Hatch earlier this month.

Hatch and her friends, another GW student and a visiting University of Texas student, said they were arrested without explanation and held for three hours for what Hatch and her attorneys say isn’t a crime.

“It is unconscionable that we sit here in the 20th century and police do not have a clear concept of what is public property versus what is private property,” said James Spears, Hatch’s attorney.

Since the students’ arrest in August, media outlets around the area have reported the case, focusing attention on the District’s “zero-tolerance” alcohol policy.

Hatch, Micah Rappaport and Mitch Pryor were charged in August with a misdemeanor for drinking in public at their home at 18th Street and Riggs Avenue. Rappaport and Pryor opted to pay a fine and not stand trial, but Hatch decided to appear in court.

She is represented by Spears and Tom Pahl of Gadsby & Hannah. Spears and Pahl took the case free of charge.

Hatch’s attorneys said she has not committed a crime because she was of legal age and on private property. The statute cited the case is “unconstitutionally vague,” Spears said.

At Hatch’s hearing Oct. 3, the District’s Corporation Counsel surprised the defense by dropping all charges.

“We appreciate it,” Spears said of the city’s decision to drop the charges against Hatch. “But this still left Ms. Hatch in legal limbo, which we think is constitutionally unconscionable.”

Hatch’s attorneys asked that Hatch’s record be sealed, but the Corporation Counsel indicated that it was unwilling to do so, Spears said.

“The Judge encouraged us to file a motion. He would be very interested in examining (the Corporation Counsel’s) response,” Spears said.

Anthony Gagliardi, the attorney who is prosecuting Hatch, refused to comment on the case.

The recent media attention to the students’ case may have been an impetus for the city to drop the charges, Hatch said.

Hatch’s case sparked attention from local media including Channel 7 News, radio station WHFS’s call-in show, National Public Radio’s Derek McGinty show, The InTowner and the District’s City Paper.

“It’s not our view that intoxication is what we support; that’s not what it’s about,” Spears said. “It’s about the `zero-tolerance’ policy of the Metropolitan Police Department. It’s not `zero-tolerance’ but `zero-intelligence.’ “

Spears said police are not aware which porches are private property and which are public, and thus practice a “make it up as you go” policy.

However, officers interviewed said porches may be private property, but that might not necessarily stop what’s going on them from being illegal.

MPD Officer Sam Brown of the First District police service area defined the area “from your front door seal to your back door seal” as private property. A front porch is private if it is completely closed and screened-in so that people on the street cannot see what you’re doing, Brown said.

Officer D. Harris of the Fourth District said it also may depend on the police district. In his district, he said, someone “next to the sidewalk can be arrested”

“It’s against the law to drink in public,” he said. “If you are in your backyard having a barbecue that is fine, but once you are in the front and can be seen, you may be arrested.”