Bailey1138

Okay, here's the story. Myself and three of my friends (there were 4 of us) were going back up to college this weekend (U of Toledo) from Columbus, Ohio. It was raining really hard, and my brother's car, which we were in, died. It's an old car, and it's died before in pretty heavy rains. So we pulled off to the side of the highway and tried to restart it. Given time, it probably would've started. Naturally, before too long, a highway patrolman pulls up. First, he asks what's wrong, and if we've called anyone. At that point, we hadn't yet. One of my friend's in the car at AAA, so he was about to call it, when the patrolman says my brother can get out of the car and call from his car. This confused all of us, but we went along with it. At this point, me and my friend's sit in the car for a while wondering what's going on, figuring the cops just wanted to hassle us because we're hippies. At several points the officer comes up and asks us if there's anything in the car he should know about. We all say no, we don't have anything. At one point, he says that my brother admitted that we were smoking last night at a concert, which was true, but that we didn't have anything left, which wasn't completely true. My brother had a joint (he was still in the cop car) and a pipe, I had a pipe, we had a bong packed in the trunk, and one of our other friend's had a pipe packed in his stuff. Eventually, he tells us he can smell it one us, and that he was going to search. I find it very odd that he can smell it on us because none of us had smoked that day, we were all tired from the weekend, and we all had showers and were wearing clean clothes. The car had been smoked in Friday, but this was Sunday. We've baked the car out a lot, so there may have been some lingering smell from that, but we'd been smoking cigs the entire way up. To make an already long story short, he asks us out of the vehicle and proceeds to search us. I volunteer my pipe before he can find it. My brother is already handcuffed and in the back of the cop car, at this point. My friend's pipe my brother later claims as his, the bong my brother and I both claim. I get handcuffed and put in the back of the car, and we get put into jail for a couple hours, I'm charged with paraphenalia, my brother's charged with paraphenalia and possession. And no time were we ever read our rights (I don't know if that matters). Everything he found except for the joint on my brother and our friend's pipe which was packed away, was volunteered before he searched us.
Sorry about the length of this, but I wanted to make sure I gave as much info as possible, oh and if it matters, the cop asked my brother if he could search him for weapons after getting out of the car, my brother said he couldn't, at which point he told him he could smell marijuana, which led to him giving up his pipe and being searched. My questions are, is there any way to get out of this? What are the chances we could be given a drug test. We're both 18, what about a deferrment plan or something? Any ideas or comments would be appreciated by anyone knowing something about the law. Thanks

Slightly Stoopid

The cops damn well better have read you your rights!! I beleive that in itself is enough to get you and your freinds dismissed. A cop can't "arrest" you without reading you your rights. It is scandalous, and i would speak to a lawyor about it.

Oh and another thing, do they teach you to use paragraphs at the Univirsity of Toledo? That would have made that read much more easy on the eyes.

__________________
Slightly Stoopid
"Before you knock it, try it first. You will learn that it is a blessing and not a curse"
-Ben Harper

Bailey1138

Sorry dude, when I start writing, I just kind of forget (plus my brain is kind of spaced from this weekend, a much longer story involving a drug I'm not allowed to talk about on this forum, but it's a miracle one of us wasn't arrested during that).

That's what I thought about my rights, I'll be sure to mention that to the lawyer. Thanks, peace
Matt

iMac Bondi Bong

As far as arresting persons being read their rights, I believe one of the LEOs (Niteshift) has previously said that right only involves interrogation…the police don't have to read you your rights unless they ask you questions…That's from what I remember…

Cheers!]

Slightly Stoopid

Well they had to have asked him questions somewhere along the line.. And they never did read him his rights.

goodgirl

I am sure that Niteshift will correct me if I am wrong...but from all that I have heard him explain time and again, iMac is correct.

If he was not read his rights then any evidence that was gathered that resulted from any questioning will be dismissed. However it sounds to me like the officer made the arrest based on the evidence he found during the search. The search was conducted based on probable cause (smell of weed) so any other evidence gathered due to any questioning that may or may not have occured is irrelevant. The paraphernalia and the marijuana is admissable regardless of whether or not any rights were read to them.

Peace
~GG

__________________
"No one is free when others are oppressed."

Bailey1138

That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure. The only thing that really bothers me is I still don't believe he smelled weed. We had not smoked that day at all, which was very odd for us, but, like I said, I can't go into details about that because I'm not allowed to talk about other drugs. The car might smell a little, but we'd smoked numerous cigarettes on the way up, which have a habit of covering up all other smells.
If we could all go back, I don't think we would have volunteered our pipes, that way, if he searched us to find them there would be the possibility of the officer screwing up or some other kind of loophole we could find.

Thanks for the feedback, as it stands right now, our lawyer is confident he can get a continuance so we won't have to appear in court until school's out, which is early May. We're gonna see what happens from there. Still not sure how I'm gonna plead, lawyer's cost money, and since we gave up our pipes, I'm not seeing a whole lot we can do. I'll keep everyone updated on how it turns out. Thanks again guys.

Panama

Plead no contest. What this is is simply saying you do not contest the charge, but neither are you admitting guilt. May seem trivial, but it could help you to keep any chance you would have at government aid for college.

__________________
"This fight against the War on Drugs is not a war in the classic sense of the word, so it's virtually impossible to point to one instance and say, 'That was the battle that stemmed the tide in our favor'. We have had many small victories that have led us to where we are and each day we continue to communicate and educate brings us that much closer to our ultimate goal: The end of marijuana prohibition." -Richard "Panama" Red-
Marijuana.Com Posting Guideline

Niteshift

Good job iMac and goodgirl...............

At least I know someone is paying attention

After their answers, there is little I can add about the rights.

Maggie

Bailey,

No smell of pot? Gee wonder what his probable cause was or the reason you got hassled? Another cop looking to bust someone who looks like a "Hippie".

Never consent to a search of any kind or give things up because you feel intimidated. My advice is go to the NORML homepage and look under their protecting your rights section. You will find a wealth of information including a "Bust Card" that you can download and keep in your wallet. It was designed in conjunction with ACLU and tells what to do if you get hassled by the cops, word for word.

This cop had no right to hassle you, but unfortunately you didn't know this.

Sorry to hear of your troubles,
Maggie