probable cause

[CdwJava]

There was no evidence to prove possession of the mj in my car.

You mean ... BESIDES the presence of marijuana being in your car and on your passenger, right?

somehow through,witnesses,physical evidence or even proximity ,and admittance by me after miranda rights had been read to me ,would have lead to my arrest.so nobody has really given me anything.

Well, *I* would have cited you for possession ... they didn't ... they cut you a break - or so it seems to me.

i was just wondering about somebody being guilty of a misdemeaner amount of mj possibly being punished for a felony amount leads to a misjustice.We are fighting for justice right?or does the passenger of the car just deserve to get what he gets.

The state has to prove the elements of the offense. Chances are he will be allowed to plead to the misd. possession. But, that is a decision for him and his attorney to discuss.

- Carl

 

[helpforfriend]

Im not sure the expired tag gave them probable cause for a search, if it is an area known for drug activity, or someone tipped them off about your car, they had probable cause and theres nothing you can do, you sound like you did get lucky with them not pinning posession charges on you, in georgia, everyone in the vehicle can be charged with possession even if the drugs were in one persons pocket and no one in the car knew about them.

 

[CdwJava]

Im not sure the expired tag gave them probable cause for a search,

No, but it gave them good cause for the detention. After that, anything they observed (or, possibly, smelled) could give cause for a closer look.

in georgia, everyone in the vehicle can be charged with possession even if the drugs were in one persons pocket and no one in the car knew about them.

Well, in theory, I suppose you could. In practice, it would be hard to pin a possession charge on everyone under that circumstance. But, under the right set of circumstances, sure - why not?

- Carl

 

[magicmic]

In florida sole possession warrants a charge of possession.If the contraband is not solely possessed then it warrants constructive possession.Constuctive possession requires knowledge of the contraband.to prove constuctive possession you must build the facts ,and make a case through testimony,physical evidence[prints .etc] and or confessions.possession has long been challenged even in the supreme court where states have conflicting interpretations.In my case im wondering if 2[1 for me,1 for passenger] misdemeaner counts for possession may have been better than 1 felony count for passenger.Thanks for all the feedback

 

[fairisfair]

In florida sole possession warrants a charge of possession.If the contraband is not solely possessed then it warrants constructive possession.Constuctive possession requires knowledge of the contraband.to prove constuctive possession you must build the facts ,and make a case through testimony,physical evidence[prints .etc] and or confessions.possession has long been challenged even in the supreme court where states have conflicting interpretations.In my case im wondering if 2[1 for me,1 for passenger] misdemeaner counts for possession may have been better than 1 felony count for passenger.Thanks for all the feedback

Better for who??

I suppose that would depend on whose weed it was.

 

[magicmic]

I am really looking for angles of attack on this case for the passenger of the car.If anybody has any cool ideas let me know.Tommarow i plan on filing "demand for discovery"to see what position the police officers will be taking.besides the discovery how can i get copies of all the reports written by the police officers involved in the case?

 

[CdwJava]

I am really looking for angles of attack on this case for the passenger of the car.If anybody has any cool ideas let me know.Tommarow i plan on filing "demand for discovery"to see what position the police officers will be taking.besides the discovery how can i get copies of all the reports written by the police officers involved in the case?

YOU have no standing in your passenger's case. None. Zip. Zero. You have a right to discovery relating to your citation and any notes made relative to that violation, but unless they merged the whole thing into one mondo report, you don't have a right to anything involving your passenger. Your passenger's attorney can seek all that info in discovery, but you are only a witness in his possession case, you are not (from what you wrote) a defendant.

The case seems pretty simple ... expired plate justifies stop ... contact reveals either open view of marijuana or odor of marijuana ... subsequent inquiry finds marijuana. Perhaps your friend should have his ATTORNEY doing his legwork for him, and, perhaps, look at diversion as an option.

if you really want to help him, loan him some money to pay for an attorney.

- Carl

 

[magicmic]

Thats a good one.
finding an attorney that will work for you is hard.In the system everybody scratches each others back,which is ok if the defendant can get in on the scratching.im unfamilier with diversion ,please educate me.

 

[magicmic]

im wondering if the police will use the expired tag as means of the traffic stop,or the investigation on the house they were watching? depending on which one they use changes things abit.

 

[fairisfair]

Thats a good one.
finding an attorney that will work for you is hard.In the system everybody scratches each others back,which is ok if the defendant can get in on the scratching.im unfamilier with diversion ,please educate me.

try google, type your state name and drug diversion programs.

Get real dude, you had expired tags, you got stopped.

They smelled weed, they found it.

Seems pretty cut and dried, (pun intended) no unicorns or leprechauns here.

 

[Zigner]

I just wanted to clear a couple of things up.First of all i was not given the opportunity to pull over,if you read my post i clearly stated that we were surrounded in the middle of the road at a stop light.The norm for a traffic violation[in my case expired tag] would clearly be handled by waiting for me to pull over into a safe place and the officer asking me for my registration and insurance[actually insurance isnt an issue in florida at this time].

This is funny. You are complaining about the safety of the stop, yet you say you were "surrounded" in the middle of the road. I think one of the SAFEST places to stop would be INSIDE of a circle of police vehicles!

 

[CdwJava]

im wondering if the police will use the expired tag as means of the traffic stop,or the investigation on the house they were watching? depending on which one they use changes things abit.

How would your expired tags help them with the house??

However, your pal's marijuana MIGHT help them if they can tie it to the house somehow.

- Carl

 

[magicmic]

If the reason for the stop was the tag ,then why the sting operation?
if it was for the house,then i can attack reason for being pulled wasnt for the expired tag.i just want to thank all the police officers including military for the job they do.without police i would need to stay home and protect my own family.Thanks again ,and keep up the good work.[no pun inteded]

 

[CdwJava]

If the reason for the stop was the tag ,then why the sting operation?
if it was for the house,then i can attack reason for being pulled wasnt for the expired tag.

You're getting into a circular argument here.

To put it plainly, the officers can even waltz into court and say, "Yeah, we saw this car in the area of this suspected dope house ... we got behind it and noticed the tags were expired, so we stopped it in order to see who was in the car."

THAT would be perfectly lawful.

There is no successful "attack" you can make on that cause unless your tags were NOT expired, and were clearly legible as being valid. The only vulnerability I would see might be the smell of the marijuana or the plain sight seeing it when the other officer walked up to the car. However, I can tell you from extensive experience that marijuana is pungent, and even if you had been around someone smoking it or handling a lot of it, the air will wreak with it at times.

- Carl