NeedHelpInVA
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia
Background:
I am 18 and my only past offense was underage drinking, blowing a 0.014 - this happened when I was a minor and when I have completed community service it should be cleared from my record by the end of January.
Anyway - story:
A few nights ago I was sitting in a car next to a park in an apartment complex with my girlfriend who is a minor (just a month shy of 18). A police officer drives up and parks behind me. Apparently someone had called in that they saw two shirt-less teenagers fooling around in the back of the car. He came up to my car and asked me for my license and asked me what I was doing there and if I lived there. I used to live there and I told him so and I told him that my girlfriend and I had simply been talking. But - I couldn't find my license so my girlfriend and I both started looking around my car for my wallet. He then told me to stop and to get out of the car. I got out and asked the officer what the problem was; he then put me in handcuffs and told me I was being detained because he smelled pot in the car. I told him that I had been smoking clove cigarettes in my car (which I had been) and that was probably what the smell was. He frisked me and found the clove cigarettes but refused to believe me. He then got my girlfriend out of the car (who is a minor), put her in cuffs as well, and then proceeded to call for backup.
Within 15 seconds another squad car arrives and within another 60 seconds there are around 6-7 police vehicles at the scene. Around the time the second officer comes the first officer begins tearing apart my car looking for this pot that he smelled. While this is happening me and my girlfriend are sat down on the curb next to the car while another officer watches us closely after frisking both of us. Within the course of the next ~2 hours cops tear apart my car looking for the pot. About 20 minutes in they found a pipe that was used for marijuana but they don't find anything else. They then, after already doing substantial work, on my car bring in two dogs , neither of which were able to uncover or find anything.
After this they threw me in the back of one of the squad cars and had my girlfriend's mother pick her up (since she is a minor), who is furious that we were both in handcuffs. My girlfriend asks an apparently superior officer why we were in cuffs when he arrives and he replies "I have no idea why you're in cuffs either; I just got here". Right before they let me go they tear out my radio and a compartment that is under it, damaging it (the radio can't be put back in now). Here they finally uncover the pot. I was struck with surprise by this because I knew that my friend had left his pipe in my car the night before but I had no idea that he had left a bag of pot inside my radio. Finally I get let go with a ticket for possession of marijuana. The officers then laughed and told me that they knew that there was pot in the car as soon as they had smelled "cloves" in the car...(I was smoking clove cigarettes and had made that clear earlier in the night.)
Some things that are marked in my head for consideration are:
- My girlfriend and I were both put in handcuffs before anything was found; based solely on the fact that we were parked there and he smelled pot when I rolled down my window.
- Did they have the right to search my car? Does the smell of pot constitute probable cause? I never gave them consent to search my car.
- This may not matter but I have cuts on my left wrists from the handcuffs. I asked an officer politely to loosen them but he told me to "Shut my mouth". The cuts are 100% definitely going to scar as one especially was pretty deep.
- One officer presented me with a field kit to test the marijuana for THC. He did so, taking a bit of it from the bag and the test came up without any result (neither positive nor negative. The test was supposed to achieve a purple tint which was never visible and it seemed like he knew so as well.) He gave me a lab report form which I can fill out if I want the pot sent to the lab. Should I fill this out?
- I also can pass a drug test right now and will be able to at the time of the hearing, but I have no proof that it wasn't my pot and I won't put the blame on anyone on myself even if it wasn't mine.
- Probably irrelevant but the officer who cuffed me and put me in the back of his car did not read me my Miranda Rights until he let me go.
- I was very cooperative with the police officers and did everything they told me to do. The only exceptions to this was when they cuffed my girlfriend and I told them to let her go because she had done nothing wrong and she was a minor. I also did not know about the marijuana behind the radio and so I stated clearly that there was nothing in my car that shouldn't have been there.
Is there any hope? Did they conduct everything within legal boundaries?
Can anyone recommend any exceptional criminal law lawyers or firms in Northern Virginia?
I'll add more information on as it comes to me.
Background:
I am 18 and my only past offense was underage drinking, blowing a 0.014 - this happened when I was a minor and when I have completed community service it should be cleared from my record by the end of January.
Anyway - story:
A few nights ago I was sitting in a car next to a park in an apartment complex with my girlfriend who is a minor (just a month shy of 18). A police officer drives up and parks behind me. Apparently someone had called in that they saw two shirt-less teenagers fooling around in the back of the car. He came up to my car and asked me for my license and asked me what I was doing there and if I lived there. I used to live there and I told him so and I told him that my girlfriend and I had simply been talking. But - I couldn't find my license so my girlfriend and I both started looking around my car for my wallet. He then told me to stop and to get out of the car. I got out and asked the officer what the problem was; he then put me in handcuffs and told me I was being detained because he smelled pot in the car. I told him that I had been smoking clove cigarettes in my car (which I had been) and that was probably what the smell was. He frisked me and found the clove cigarettes but refused to believe me. He then got my girlfriend out of the car (who is a minor), put her in cuffs as well, and then proceeded to call for backup.
Within 15 seconds another squad car arrives and within another 60 seconds there are around 6-7 police vehicles at the scene. Around the time the second officer comes the first officer begins tearing apart my car looking for this pot that he smelled. While this is happening me and my girlfriend are sat down on the curb next to the car while another officer watches us closely after frisking both of us. Within the course of the next ~2 hours cops tear apart my car looking for the pot. About 20 minutes in they found a pipe that was used for marijuana but they don't find anything else. They then, after already doing substantial work, on my car bring in two dogs , neither of which were able to uncover or find anything.
After this they threw me in the back of one of the squad cars and had my girlfriend's mother pick her up (since she is a minor), who is furious that we were both in handcuffs. My girlfriend asks an apparently superior officer why we were in cuffs when he arrives and he replies "I have no idea why you're in cuffs either; I just got here". Right before they let me go they tear out my radio and a compartment that is under it, damaging it (the radio can't be put back in now). Here they finally uncover the pot. I was struck with surprise by this because I knew that my friend had left his pipe in my car the night before but I had no idea that he had left a bag of pot inside my radio. Finally I get let go with a ticket for possession of marijuana. The officers then laughed and told me that they knew that there was pot in the car as soon as they had smelled "cloves" in the car...(I was smoking clove cigarettes and had made that clear earlier in the night.)
Some things that are marked in my head for consideration are:
- My girlfriend and I were both put in handcuffs before anything was found; based solely on the fact that we were parked there and he smelled pot when I rolled down my window.
- Did they have the right to search my car? Does the smell of pot constitute probable cause? I never gave them consent to search my car.
- This may not matter but I have cuts on my left wrists from the handcuffs. I asked an officer politely to loosen them but he told me to "Shut my mouth". The cuts are 100% definitely going to scar as one especially was pretty deep.
- One officer presented me with a field kit to test the marijuana for THC. He did so, taking a bit of it from the bag and the test came up without any result (neither positive nor negative. The test was supposed to achieve a purple tint which was never visible and it seemed like he knew so as well.) He gave me a lab report form which I can fill out if I want the pot sent to the lab. Should I fill this out?
- I also can pass a drug test right now and will be able to at the time of the hearing, but I have no proof that it wasn't my pot and I won't put the blame on anyone on myself even if it wasn't mine.
- Probably irrelevant but the officer who cuffed me and put me in the back of his car did not read me my Miranda Rights until he let me go.
- I was very cooperative with the police officers and did everything they told me to do. The only exceptions to this was when they cuffed my girlfriend and I told them to let her go because she had done nothing wrong and she was a minor. I also did not know about the marijuana behind the radio and so I stated clearly that there was nothing in my car that shouldn't have been there.
Is there any hope? Did they conduct everything within legal boundaries?
Can anyone recommend any exceptional criminal law lawyers or firms in Northern Virginia?
I'll add more information on as it comes to me.
