Illegally Pulled Over

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

Hi,

I have a question regarding the legality of a recent encounter with the police. What follows is a brief and truthful description of the events, which occurred earlier this evening.

My friend, Justin, and I were driving to another friend's house. On the way, Justin, who is 21 years old, decided to get some beer for himself. I, being 20 and in no mood to drink, waited in the car. On his way out of the liquor store, Justin was eyed by two police officers in an undercover car. He put the beer in the backseat of the car and we proceeded on our course, only to be pulled over moments later, blue lights flashing in the rear view mirror.

I have read up about so-called 'pretext stops,' wherein an officer uses a minor traffic violation as an excuse to investigate a hunch. In this case, the cop's hunch was that Justin was a minor in possession of alcohol. So he pulled us over.

The problem, then, is that he had no pretext! The officer asked Justin if he knew why he was being pulled over, to which Justin replied that he did not. The officer went on to explain that the police were investigating area liquor stores to crack-down on underage drinking. We, apparently, did not look of age. This is the reason the officer provided for pulling us over. No running of a stop sign, no failure to use a turn signal. Rather, we were the unfortunate victims of age-profiling (if such a thing exists in legal terminology). I was charged with possession of alcohol that I had no intention of drinking.

Is this legal? Isn't this illegal? What gives? And do I have a legitimate case to bring before the court, or should I simply hope the judge believes my story and throws out the case? From logic as flawed as our arresting officer's, it seems a small step towards legitimizing racial profiling and other such tactics that have been rightly condemned by lawmakers throughout the country.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated, as my court date is set for Tuesday and my previous strategy for a defense (that I was not read my rights after my arrest) seems flimsy at best.

Thanks for your time,
Tom

[CdwJava]

Your rights are only required when you are noth in custody AND are being questioned. Unlike television (and apparently, NYPD policy) most agencies do not Mirandize when they slap the cuffs on you.

As for the stop, the appearance of youth CAN be sufficient cause to investigate. It CAN give reasonable suspicion to detain for further investigation. Even the Supreme Court has rules that youth who appear of school age can be pulled over during school hours based solely on their youthful appearance. And I believe similar case law exists for underage alcohol and cigarette suspicions ... at least in CA - MA may be different.

And no, "age-profiling" is not a legal term that I know of. Besides, when age is an element of the offense, it's called "criminal profiling".

If you were in the seat next to the beer, then I can see why you were cited ... if you were within reach of the beer, that could also give them sufficient cause to cite you. However, if the beer was not within your reach, it might be hard to sustain the charge ... hard - not impossible.

And nothing you posted seems obviously improper or unlawful ... in fact, we do much the same thing out here from time to time. And maybe next time, your pal will consider putting the beer in the trunk instead of in the car.

Carl