matt1rsp

Howdy everyone! I’m Matt, a 21 year old university student in Oklahoma. I’ve been trolling through these forums for a while now because the laws and culture behind marijuana interest me. I was a smoker for a little while but have quit for a number of reasons, including school, family, money, etc. Protecting Your Rights has been my favorite part of the forum because I ran into trouble with the law concerning marijuana and find some of the posts relevant to my situation.

Rather than using the forum to ask a question, I’ve decided to outline what happened to me concerning my arrest from start to finish in hopes that the details of my situation might be able to help someone out there, or at the very least entertain someone.

A friend of mine and I bought tickets to see a concert in Houston, TX in July of 2003. The night before we were to leave on our road trip to Houston, this friend of mine informed me that 3 more people were going to be staying in our motel room, bringing the grand total up to 7 people. I did not have a good feeling about the additional people, because we were going to have some weed, but because the room was under her name, I went along with it.

We arrived at our motel in the afternoon of the day before the concert and checked in. At approximately 10:30 PM the remaining 5 people were in the room and we proceeded to drink beer and smoke. One of the additional people in the room thought that it would be fun to invite some friends of theirs to our room from a neighboring town. When these friends arrived, they were intoxicated and I decided that it would not be a good idea for them to come into our room because it would draw more attention to us. These people got angry and loitered outside our room for approximately 30 minutes and finally left.

We commenced our drinking and smoking after they left. Gearing up for another smoke session, the 5 of the 7 people in the room who smoked gathered in the bathroom to partake in the activity. Just before lighting up, the knock that no one likes to hear came upon our door. Someone looked through the peephole and it was several Harris County deputies. Everyone in the room scrambled to put everything illegal away and out of sight, including beer cans because 4 of the 7 were under 21, including myself. We turned out the lights in an attempt to fool the police into thinking that we were asleep. They continued to knock at the door, extremely loudly, announcing their presence, and asking us to open the door. Once we were sure that everything was out of sight, my friend, whose name the room was under went to the door to open it.

The rest of the story will be in another post.

matt1rsp

As soon as my friend cracked the door, the police pushed it in and came into the room. All of us were lying down on the floor or on a bed, faking sleep. Because the lights were out, the deputies entered the room with flashlights and guns drawn. All 7 people were immediately handcuffed, brought outside the room, and sat against the hallway outside the room. The room was thoroughly searched and approximately 8 joints, and 2 eights were found, along with paraphernalia. The joints were found in my friend’s closed purse, one of the eighths was found on the person of one of the people in the room, and the remaining eighth was found in a closed bag along with the paraphernalia. While sitting in the hall, one of the officers (there were 8 total, with 7 police cruisers parked outside) approached each person and asked them to open their mouth so he could look inside. It was only later that I found out that he was certified in identifying those who have smoked marijuana by looking at the taste buds on the back of their tongue. Evidently a raised green patch on the back of the tongue signifies marijuana use. The police report claimed that all 7 of the people in the room had been smoking, when in fact only 5 had.

We were all loaded into the back of our own police cruiser and shuttled to the Harris County Jail in downtown Houston. I chose not to call my parents to have them bail me out, because they were 4 hours away, and I did not understand the bail situation. I was under the impression that I would be able to bail myself out, which is not true. At approximately 8:00 AM in the day of the concert, I was bailed out. The clerk at the jail could not identify who bailed me out, but instructed me to go to the bond office and figure it out from there.

When I arrived at the bond office, I was informed that my parents had bailed me out and they were on their way to pick me up. My bail was $500, but the amount charged to my father’s credit card was close to $800. It was explained to me that it was $100 for the bail, and the remaining was an escrow. I still do not understand this point… When my parents arrived, we left the bail bond office to have lunch with a lawyer to discuss our options. After explaining the situation in detail to the lawyer, much like I have here, he said that he believed it was an illegal search and seizure and we would tackle the case from that angle.

More in the next post

matt1rsp

My first court date was a week after the arrest. The judge called roll for everyone on the docket and asked whether or not they had legal representation yet. After the roll call, I sat for nearly two hours while my lawyer spoke with the assistant district attorney. He offered a plea bargain of 1 year probation, $200 fine, $50 donation to Crime Stoppers, drug and alcohol awareness classes, and 30 hours of community service if I pled guilty. I decided not to take the deal. At the end of this court date, my case was extended another 2 weeks. The date was pushed back another 2 or 3 weeks each time I went to court. My lawyer was trying to get the DA to drop the case, but because 3 of the 7 people in the room had already plead guilty to the charge of possession of marijuana, the DA felt they had a strong case against me.

Finally, after much deliberation, my lawyer and I decided to have a Motion to Suppress Evidence Hearing, based on our belief that the search was not conducted properly. As it was explained to me, this hearing was to be sort of like a trial, but with no jury. I would be able to make my case, and call witnesses. The state would also be able to have one of the officers tell their side of the story. The DA did not want to have the hearing and would only agree to have it if I accepted a new plea bargain if I was to lose in the hearing. The new plea bargain upped the fine to $300 and increased the community service to 80 hours.

My lawyer’s clerk contacted one of the people that was in the room with us and convinced him to attend the Motion to Suppress Evidence Hearing in order to testify that all of the illegal materials were out of sight. Seeing as how the door was only cracked before the police came in, there was no possible way they saw anything in plain sight, which ruled out their reasonable suspicion to enter the room. The guy did not show up to court that day, unfortunately for me. However, not 1 of the 8 deputies that were there that night would show up to court either. Much to the chagrin of the DA, the case was dismissed and we never went through with the hearing.

In the end, the dismissed case was quite costly: the cost of gas to drive to Houston from Dallas numerous times and the $3000 lawyer fee. A total of 14 grams was collected from our room and documented on the report. The paraphernalia, alcohol, and a fake ID found in my wallet were not written down.

So that is my story…I hope you find it interesting and informative. If you have any other questions regarding the incident, just ask. Any comments would be appreciated also. Peace out.

IceFire

Well I'll be the first to comment.

First of all, you should never have been in such a situation. I mean a small party with beer and pot in a motel room?? That's the best way to get caught. Cops for one love to keep their eyes on hotels and motels for suspicious activity and the smell of beer and pot smoke would be a very easy indicator for police to come knocking.

I'll admit I have done the same thing in HighSchool. Only we were in an upscale hotel doing offtopics haha, so there was no "smoke smell" and we weren't noisy.

But the fact that there were going to be other people you didn't know. That just spells trouble. Cmon, whenever people invite more people, it's going to turn into a party! And not in a very discreet way.

Anyways, I have done dumber things and I have no right to really nag. But I am the utmost careful person now.

From now on only smoke with your close group of buddies, and plan the session well in advance with plans on what to do if police show up. Evidence disposal plans are the best way to prepare for police presence.

In your situation I would have set a rule that if any police were to show up, you flush your entire pot stash and joints. Some people may not be willing to flush an eighth even if police show up, but if they get even the slightest probably cause(such as the smell of pot smoke) consider yourselves arrested.

Anyways, I would have made a rule that if any police show up, one person goes to the toilet and flushes everything before you open the door.

That is another reason to only carry what you are planning to use. Since it was only going to be a day or two concert and only your friend and you, that shouln't be more than an eighth.

__________________
I do not grow marijuana or produce other illicit drugs. I do not consume or possess marijuana or other illicit drugs in any shape or form. Any information, statements or questions posted by me on this message board are not to be considered truthful or factual. Furthermore, I am not liable, in any way, shape or form, for any reason, any action that comes about from any information, statement or question I post on this message board.

Stephanie S.

Welcome to Cheaptalk, Matt I'm originally from OK...though I am a Sooners supporter...

Thank you for sharing your story. What exactly were you charged with?
With such a small amount it seems like just a misdemeanor.

peace

__________________
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Listen to audio)

matt1rsp

I, along with the other 6 people in the room, was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana (POM). Thats funny you say that you're a Sooner fan. I just transferred here to Oklahoma State after going to OU for 3 years. I came here to OSU because they offered a degree plan that I was interested in that OU didn't (Wildlife and Fisheries Management).

Edit: So in turn that makes me a die-hard Sooner fan...the year in marching band at OU that I had brainwashed me to hate OSU (which is ironic because I attend OSU now...) and UT