gak-master
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Washington
Here's the just of it, I metal detect as a hobby, a friend of mine took me to his grandpa's property to do some detecting cause there use to be an old trading post there and it's on the water so we could search the beach too. We had full permission to be there, my friends uncle even lived across the street incase we needed anything. We get there, (not illegally parked) it's about 10:00pm on a Saturday night. I get my detector out of the car and my friend says he'll sit this one out. As we headed for the beach we noticed a police car down the road. We didn't think anything of it cause we weren't doing anything illegal.
Went down to the beach for a bit. While there my detector picked up a crumpled piece of tin foil. I picked it up (like I do with everything I find. coins, nails, bottle tops, everything, even garbage. I figuar if I'm out there I might as well do my part to control the litter problem.) There was something inside, I unwraped it and found a small bag of a powder like stuff and a piece of glass that was like a tube. Not knowing what it was, I wrapped it back up and stuck it in my pocket with everything else. After about 20 mins, my friend said he'd found a spot on the far side of the beach he'd like to try. We went back up to the car, got the other detector out and was on our way back to the beach when an officer drove up at a high rate of speed, stopped right in front of us, getting out of the car, he draws his weapon and points it at us and tells us to stop. He asked us what we were doing, we told him. At this time his partener came up from behind us handcuffed us and searched us. He found the tin foil and said what's this? I told him I didn't know, that I had just found it. (and I know that's kind of a "my dog ate my homework" answer, but it was the truth.) At this point he reads us our rights and put us in separate police cars and then searched my car. Finding nothing except that the tabs were expired and the ones that were on the plates were from my truck. The rest as they say "is history". They took us to the county jail and booked me with Unlawful possession of a controlled substance. My friend had a warrant for failure to appear. So there you have it in a nut shell. So now I'm facing jail time, fines, and probation and drug court all because of a hobby that use to be really fun. I haven't taken any of the deals the prosecution has offered, I'm going to trial on this. What, realisticly, are the chances of a not guilty or an acquittal? I can't help but feel like me friend and I were railroaded. Can all this really come from just having my truck tabs on my car? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Here's the just of it, I metal detect as a hobby, a friend of mine took me to his grandpa's property to do some detecting cause there use to be an old trading post there and it's on the water so we could search the beach too. We had full permission to be there, my friends uncle even lived across the street incase we needed anything. We get there, (not illegally parked) it's about 10:00pm on a Saturday night. I get my detector out of the car and my friend says he'll sit this one out. As we headed for the beach we noticed a police car down the road. We didn't think anything of it cause we weren't doing anything illegal.
Went down to the beach for a bit. While there my detector picked up a crumpled piece of tin foil. I picked it up (like I do with everything I find. coins, nails, bottle tops, everything, even garbage. I figuar if I'm out there I might as well do my part to control the litter problem.) There was something inside, I unwraped it and found a small bag of a powder like stuff and a piece of glass that was like a tube. Not knowing what it was, I wrapped it back up and stuck it in my pocket with everything else. After about 20 mins, my friend said he'd found a spot on the far side of the beach he'd like to try. We went back up to the car, got the other detector out and was on our way back to the beach when an officer drove up at a high rate of speed, stopped right in front of us, getting out of the car, he draws his weapon and points it at us and tells us to stop. He asked us what we were doing, we told him. At this time his partener came up from behind us handcuffed us and searched us. He found the tin foil and said what's this? I told him I didn't know, that I had just found it. (and I know that's kind of a "my dog ate my homework" answer, but it was the truth.) At this point he reads us our rights and put us in separate police cars and then searched my car. Finding nothing except that the tabs were expired and the ones that were on the plates were from my truck. The rest as they say "is history". They took us to the county jail and booked me with Unlawful possession of a controlled substance. My friend had a warrant for failure to appear. So there you have it in a nut shell. So now I'm facing jail time, fines, and probation and drug court all because of a hobby that use to be really fun. I haven't taken any of the deals the prosecution has offered, I'm going to trial on this. What, realisticly, are the chances of a not guilty or an acquittal? I can't help but feel like me friend and I were railroaded. Can all this really come from just having my truck tabs on my car? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.