Need Advice

Hello I'm in California and the incident happend in Sequioa National Park.

I was driving home with 4 friends who had marjiuana in the back of my car. A cop pulled out behind us, increased his speed significantly and tail gated me for about a mile. He then pulled us over and told us to keep our hands up on the glass where he could see us. He pulled me out of the car and searched me, didn't find anything and proceeded to search everyone in the car. He found marijuana on one of my friends and put him in handcuffs. He then proceeded to search my car and found two pipes. He later said that he originally pulled me over for crossing the double yellow line, and because he saw frantic movement in the back of the car.

He wrote everyone in the car poss. of drug paraphaneila (4 tickets) when there was only two pipes. He also wrote my other friend that, and a ticket for poss of MJ > OZ.

My question is what can I expect as a consequence, if the pipes belonged to my friends, and they confessed to it am I still held responsible because it's my car, and did the officer have the right authority to pull each of us out of the car and search us, and search my car.

First, what was the exact sections you folks were cited for?

Second, the officer can conduct a limited search for weapons on anyone that he can articulate even minimal cause to think they might have weapons - and making a stop of a carload of subjects in the middle of nowhere is good cause.

Whether he could dig into pockets depends on what he thought he saw, felt, or smelled. It is also possible that the officer asked if he could look in the pocket. If I feel a soft lump in a pocket I'm going to first ask the person what it is ... when they reply, "I dunno ..." I am going to ask, "Do you mind if I check?" At that point they either sigh and say, "Yeah ... go ahead," or they 'fess up to it being pot. If they say "No" to my query, then I have to either articulate some other good cause (besides the refusal) or leave it be.

So, whether the search is good or not will depend on what the officer articulates in his report. If you want to stand the best chance to get out from under a potential conviction for marijuana possession (and subsequent license suspension), you should consider consulting an attorney. ... Well, that and give up smoking dope.

- Carl

Well I don't really care about the possession of MJ, I didn't get that. I got Poss of Paraphenilia due to my freinds pipe under my seat. I've never been charged with anything else, no traffic or speeding tickets. What can I expect ?

norman101 said:

Well I don't really care about the possession of MJ, I didn't get that. I got Poss of Paraphenilia due to my freinds pipe under my seat. I've never been charged with anything else, no traffic or speeding tickets. What can I expect ?

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What was the section you were cited for?

There IS no law against possession of marijuana parahernalia under CA law. If he cited you for H&S 11364 the officer misapplied the section and an attorney can almost certainly get that dropped.

- Carl

The officer said that while the pipe wasn't illegal itself he said it was illegal and I need to go to court due to the fact that there was MJ present at the scene. I'm looking at the ticket right now and yes, he did site me for HS 11364. I DID NOT get cited for poss of mj, ONLY poss of paraphanalia.

Also, would it make any difference that it was in a national park?

norman101 said:

The officer said that while the pipe wasn't illegal itself he said it was illegal and I need to go to court due to the fact that there was MJ present at the scene.

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Okay ... what did he cite you for? The code section?

As I said, if it was for H&S 11364, it was wrong and you can likely get it dismissed. if you were cited for H&S 11357 or CVC 23222 then you were cited for the possession of the marijuana.

- Carl

norman101 said:

Also, would it make any difference that it was in a national park?

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Only if you were cited by a federalofficer of some kind and he cited you for a federal offense ... this doesn't usually happen - they usually cite the relevant state statute.

- Carl

Okay - if you were cited for H&S 11364, speak to an attorney. Jail time IS possible for that offense, but it is NOT for marijuana. It is a common error by officers not in the know to cite for this section (it is for OTHER drug paraphernalia - not for marijuana).

However, if the pipe was a glass pipe of the type commonly used to smoke harder drugs (meth, coke, opium, etc.), then the citation was valid.

An attorney can probably get the case dismissed at prelim. because you were cited for an offense that can not apply.

- Carl

Yeah, he said that it was a federal court. Is there any notification on the ticket that states it as federal. Also, he pulled me over OUTSIDE of the entry gate to the park.

Also, the officer was a park ranger.

norman101 said:

Yeah, he said that it was a federal court. Is there any notification on the ticket that states it as federal. Also, he pulled me over OUTSIDE of the entry gate to the park.

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It should state the name and address of the court ... since you were cited for a violation of state law (H&S 11364) I am assuming you were cited into Tulare County Superior Court in Visalia or Tulare.

And the park ranger can cite for violations of state law.

- Carl

It says at the top right CVB Location Code CA-74. It didn't give me a date to appear in court, he said it would be mailed to me.

Under offense charged he marked CFR rather than State Code

norman101 said:

It says at the top right CVB Location Code CA-74. It didn't give me a date to appear in court, he said it would be mailed to me.

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That's the location of the offense.

And CFR is Code of Federal Regulations. However, the code section is a state code section. And the STATE section is inappropriate for a marijuana pipe.

- Carl