<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Concerned NH Father:
My son is 15 years old... and yesterday he was caught by the police riding his dirtbike down a public road. Without asking my son for premission the police searched him and went into his pockets and siezed a bag of marijuana. (about 8 grams) Than he was arrested, cuffed and thrown into the back of a crusier... but the thing that scares me the most is I don't want my son to get sent away We allready have a pending case in the courts (a c.h.i.n.s that I filed so that we both could get some councling) and I heard if you got in trouble when you were allready involved in court that my son would get sent away...
I need to know if them searching him was legal... If so what kind of trouble can he possibly get in to.
Thank you...
concerned father
please respond ASAP<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My response:
If there were no "exigent circumstances" e.g., that the baggy of pot was hanging out of his pocket, or the smell of marijuana on his breath, then there would have to be "probable cause" e.g., the police had a tip that he was carrying, or that there was an odor of marijuana about him.
If none of these things happened, then his 4th Amendment Rights to freedom from searches and seizures was violated.
If you cannot afford an attorney, then have a public defender appointed free of charge. Perhaps a good attorney will make a Motion to the court to "quash" the baggy of marijuana from being entered into evidence as being the fruit of an illegal search, and the case will be dismissed.
Suffice it to say, your recalcitrant son, whom you are apparently unable to control, and be a proper parent for, will cost you time, money and aggravation, at the very least. Perhaps, on hindsight, it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to spend a little time in jail to realize that his actions are not acceptable in society, and that this just might be the medicine to turn himself around and stop breaking the law.
It's up to you.
IAAL
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