Sticky Situation

[Ymeeee]

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

A couple days ago I came across a small checkpoint. because my window does not work, I had to open my door to hand the officer my license. While the door was open he picked up what was actually a piece of a leaf or pinestraw and claimed it was marijuana. Also he pointed at little pebbles and sesame seeds (burger king driving and eating) in my floor board and claimed they were marijuana seeds. He wanted to search and, me knowing I was clean, agreed to it. Having said that, lemme tell a lil backstory. My father was a drug user: Alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana I know of. He committed suicide July 05. During the long process of getting all his belongings out of the house, I was using my Blazer to do alot of the moving. When the cops searched my truck, they found what they called a bumper (Kind of like a sneak a toke for weed, but this is for cocaine.) with residue inside The actual contraband was inside a camera film container (my father used them to store alot of oddball things like buttons, and small keep sakes.) They also found a hunting knife under my seat (which I knew about). The only was this contraband ended up in my truck would have to be it fell out of a box I was hauling and didnt know. then later down the road I clean my truck and I put the "harmless" film container in my center console and forgot about it.
after the search, they let me go. No charges, no tickets but the officer gives me his card with the number to a narcotics officer that he wants me to call and talk to.

i've never been in this situaion before; i've never even had a speeding ticket. Clean record through and through. Also I will add I'm pretty broke so getting a lawyer is somethin im tryin to avoid if I can get through this without one. I'm just lookin for some advice as to my rights in this situation and what they actually have against me. i believe that since im new to all this they could pull a fast one on me and get me into more trouble. Thanx to whomever takes the time to read and respond to this.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

A couple days ago I came across a small checkpoint. because my window does not work, I had to open my door to hand the officer my license. While the door was open he picked up what was actually a piece of a leaf or pinestraw and claimed it was marijuana. Also he pointed at little pebbles and sesame seeds (burger king driving and eating) in my floor board and claimed they were marijuana seeds. He wanted to search and, me knowing I was clean, agreed to it. Having said that, lemme tell a lil backstory. My father was a drug user: Alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana I know of. He committed suicide July 05. During the long process of getting all his belongings out of the house, I was using my Blazer to do alot of the moving. When the cops searched my truck, they found what they called a bumper (Kind of like a sneak a toke for weed, but this is for cocaine.) with residue inside The actual contraband was inside a camera film container (my father used them to store alot of oddball things like buttons, and small keep sakes.) They also found a hunting knife under my seat (which I knew about). The only was this contraband ended up in my truck would have to be it fell out of a box I was hauling and didnt know. then later down the road I clean my truck and I put the "harmless" film container in my center console and forgot about it.
after the search, they let me go. No charges, no tickets but the officer gives me his card with the number to a narcotics officer that he wants me to call and talk to.

i've never been in this situaion before; i've never even had a speeding ticket. Clean record through and through. Also I will add I'm pretty broke so getting a lawyer is somethin im tryin to avoid if I can get through this without one. I'm just lookin for some advice as to my rights in this situation and what they actually have against me. i believe that since im new to all this they could pull a fast one on me and get me into more trouble. Thanx to whomever takes the time to read and respond to this.

One point: This stuff was not your pa's. He's passed, remember. It was yours.




Standard answer

Here are some hints on appearing in court:

Dress professionally in clean clothes.

Do not wear message shirts.

Don't chew gum, smoke, or eat. (Smokers...pot or tobacco...literally stink. Remember that before you head for court.)

Bathe and wash your hair.

Do not bring small children or your friends.

Go to court beforehand some day before you actually have to go to watch how things go.

Speak politely and deferentially. If you argue or dispute something, do it professionally and without emotion.

Ask the court clerk who you talk to about a diversion (meaning you want to plead to a different, lesser charge), if applicable in your situation. Ask about traffic school and that the ticket not go on your record, if applicable. Ask also about getting a hardship driving permit, if applicable. Ask about drug court, if applicable.

From marbol:

“Judge...

You forgot the one thing that I've seen that seems to frizz up most judges these days:

If you have a cell phone, make DAMN SURE that it doesn't make ANY noise in the courtroom. This means when you are talking to the judge AND when you are simply sitting in the court room.

If you have a ‘vibrate’ position on your cell phone, MAKE sure the judge DOESN'T EVEN HEAR IT VIBRATE!

Turn it off or put it in silent mode where it flashes a LED if it rings. AND DON'T even DREAM about answering it if it rings.”

(Better yet, don’t carry your cell phone into the courtroom.)”


Here are five stories that criminal court judges hear the most (and I suggest you do not use them or variations of them):

1. I’ve been saved! (This is not religion specific; folks from all kinds of religious backgrounds use this one.)

2. My girlfriend/mother/sister/daughter/wife/ex-wife/niece/grandma/grand-daughter is pregnant/sick/dying/dead/crippled/crazy and needs my help.

3. I’ve got a job in [name a state five hundred miles away].

4. This is the first time I ever did this. (This conflicts with number 5 below, but that hasn’t stopped some defendants from using both.)

5. You’ve got the wrong guy. (A variation of this one is the phantom defendant story: “It wasn’t me driving, it was a hitchhiker I picked up. He wrecked the car, drug me behind the wheel then took off.” Or, another variation: “I was forced into it by a bad guy!”)

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?p=854687#post854687

Public defender’s advice

http://newyork.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/70300494.html


Other people may give you other advice; stand by.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Quite odd. Usually the elaborate and far reaching stories come from meth heads who spend hours dreaming up wild schemes. Dopers usually stick with simple stories like "hey, its not mine dude."

As SJ said, it was in your car, you were in posession of it. You gave consent to search so you're stuck. hope you remember where your 'father' got his dope, cause I'm sure the narcotics officer will want some answers.

 

[outonbail]

after the search, they let me go. No charges, no tickets but the officer gives me his card with the number to a narcotics officer that he wants me to call and talk to.

Lose the card.

Go through all your fathers belongings and look in all the cracks that something may have fallen into without you realizing it and throw away/destroy everything drug related and/or illegal to possess.
Your lucky they let you go this time, you can bet this story will not fly a second time,,, I assure you.

Remember the charges filed will be for possession, not ownership! So make sure you do not possess anything you can be arrested for!

 

[Ymeeee]

what if there were no charges filed. I did not receive a ticket for anything. The leading officer said, quote (as best as I can remember) I'm gonna let you go home tonight, but this isnt over. {he pulls out his card and on the back wrties a name and a phone number, time to call} This happened on a Friday and i was to call Monday.

The number is to a narcotics officer. This all happend this past Friday by the way. I called yesterday and he just so happened to call in sick that day. So I'm supposed to call him tomorrow. I've been told that since I was not ticketed for anything, I'm free to go and if I dont call there is nothing they can do.

?? true?

If so, will I be able to get my knife back. My grandfather called the officer that searched my vehicle and explained how this knife was an heirloom, but also that, for where we live, its somethin that can be found commonly in most vehicles. The officer seemed to follow along and say that my grandfather could retreive the knife.

I wasn't pulled over for anything, it was a random stop about 1 min from my house. I am innocent in this situation. Which is why even if they try to do somethin (4 days later) would I still be able to win in court.

Thanks again for your time and comments.

 

[CdwJava]

Keep in mind that even though you did not get a citation in the field it does not mean that they cannot still file charges through the DA!

A citation is essentially a field release in lieu of going to jail. If this is a felony in your state, they have years to file charges. In the case of a misdemeanor they likely have AT LEAST one year to do something with it.

Chances are it's not going to be resurrected, but you never know.

Before calling any narcotics officer to do any deals, I would recommend you consult an attorney.

- Carl

 

[You Are Guilty]

Years ago, a friend of mine purchased a vehicle from a police auction, the type where they sell vehicles impounded from the criminals they arrested. Although all the cars were supposedly 'checked' for contraband, they must have skipped this one, because a few months later, when he was pulled over and gave the officer a hard time, they pulled the trunk carpeting up and found some loose hollow point bullets and a bag with "residue". Long story short, the court didn't believe the "it's not mine - its the criminal prior owner" argument (and no, I wasn't his lawyer).

Moral of the story: You might want to come up with a more solid defense.

 

[outonbail]

Years ago, a friend of mine purchased a vehicle from a police auction, the type where they sell vehicles impounded from the criminals they arrested. Although all the cars were supposedly 'checked' for contraband, they must have skipped this one, because a few months later, when he was pulled over and gave the officer a hard time, they pulled the trunk carpeting up and found some loose hollow point bullets and a bag with "residue". Long story short, the court didn't believe the "it's not mine - its the criminal prior owner" argument (and no, I wasn't his lawyer).

Moral of the story: You might want to come up with a more solid defense.

YAG, I actually had this same situation happen to myself, only without the arrest. I had purchased a very clean cadillac from a towing company who picked it up as a police impound, then acquired title for it through the lien sale process. After driving the vehicle around for a month or two, I drove it from Riverside to San Diego Ca to see a customer. While at their location, I opened the trunk to retrieve a credit application for the customer to fill out. Not thinking, I dropped the keys into my brief case and then ended up closing the trunk, locking the brief case, complete with my car keys, in the trunk.
Thinking I might be able to gain access to the trunk through the back seat, I proceeded to lift up the back seat to remove it and the first thing I see is paper bags, little balloons, needles, a scale and several baggies, the whole works!
In a panic I slam the seat back down in place and step out of the car in a slight panic. Fortunately, my customer (who was standing there watching what I was doing) didn't notice the items or the look of confusion on my face.
I ended up calling the same towing company I purchased the car from and having them come tow the vehicle back to Riverside. The vehicle ended up having roughly an ounce of meth, quarter lb. of marijuana, several balloons of heroin, a scale, packaging materials, a customer list complete with their owed balance, spoons, new unused needles and at least one loaded needle!
It scares the hell out of me to think what would have ensued had I not discovered this illegal load myself, as I don't imagine there's a cop on this planet who would have believed I had no knowledge of these things being there. I'd like to think that the fact that I had a spotless record and a successful business would have been enough to prove I didn't engage in this drug activity, but even if I did win at trial, I imagine the expense would have been considerable.
Moral of the story, these things do actually happen. So when purchasing a vehicle that's been impounded by the police, go through it with a fine tooth comb!