Long story short, I got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ended up getting arrested. Even as I was getting arrested, I knew I had done nothing wrong, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was brought to jail, without getting to speak to any officers/lawyers/duty council/anyone I'd want to call if I were given the chance. Apparently I was denied bail, but I didn't get to speak to anyone who made that decision either. Whatever, time went on, I did make bail and then tried to be as patient as I could as the courts remanded the case several times, while living under unrealistic bail conditions. Recently, my charges were dropped, and my record cleaned. This is all well and good, and I'm quite relieved/excited about it, but the enjoyment is bittersweet. By dropping my charges, the Crown has agreed that I didn't do anything wrong. Had this been determined from the day I got arrested, I could have gone without the following: -memories of spending time in jail, which I never thought i'd do in my life -paying $1500+ for a lawyer, which apparently I didn't need -living with a curfew for 5 months, and not being allowed to see/talk to my boyfriend -family and friends all improperly judging me for something I didnt do. All of that I'm sure I will get over in time, but the thing that kills me the most is the fact that, because this was part of a large region-wide drug raid, many newspapers covered the story. Many of the articles included a list of people's names and charges. As a journalist, I understand that the story was public knowledge, but perhaps the names could have been left out. Everyday I am applying for jobs, as I have finished school, and how can I expect to get a job (or even an interview) when people can easily google my name and read the false accusations?? So many publications (including one I've worked for) were so eager to publish this great drug raid story, but now that several months have passed and I've been cleared of my charges, there is no article to report that. My name will always have those bad articles tied to it, so how are future employers to know that I truly didn't do anything wrong? What am I supposed to do next?
FUCK that sucks. I think you'd have to explain to your employer before hand that your record is clean 100%, and that you had charges that were brought up against you but you were later proven innocent. Or you could become a journalist and write an article about how the charges got dropped! That'd take a while though
lol yea that will really give you some love. How about you tell us why you got charged in the first place. were you being a retard?
I slept over at someone's house, and I didn't know that someone keeps a lovely variety of drugs in their house to sell. Although I didn't know this, the police apparently did. When they raided the house, it just so happens that I was the only one there (the people who live in the house left for work at 6am and they busted in around 8am). So they woke me up, and even though I don't live in that house, they arrested me. So now, several months later, I finally got to sign a declaration that said I didn't live in that house so I didn't know what was in there.
Sue them for everything...if they wrongfully charged you and arrested you I promise you will win in court. When cops realized they actually fucked up they will not fight it. I've been through a very similar situation where the charges got dropped completely...those officers put me through a lot of trouble for no reason. Get your justice
^^^^^^^^^^^^sue the FUCK out of the county. pigs will learn next time to do some questioning b4 they toss u in the fuckin cruiser.
or you could just swallow it and stop hanging out with people who 1)Keep their stash where they rest their head at 2)being stupid enough to get investigation/followed. 3)For not fessing up and telling the po that you just slept over and had nothing to do with anything. its the government, Smart thing around them is to keep a low profile/stay off the radar.
The employers will do a criminal background and see you were never charged for it. But if you were arrested in a DRUG RAID, it's quite obvious you were in a place that DRUGS ARE SOLD and so even if you weren't charged, it is known that you are in fact a drug user, else you wouldn't be around those kind of places. So yeah, your pretty much fucked even if they say you weren't guilty, cuz your still guilty by association in everyone elses eyes. Hell I could never do a drug in my life, but if I hang with drug dealers, people have the right to assume that I'm involved with crooked people because it would be true. You're only as innocent (not law wise) as the company you keep. oh, and you won't win a case where you sue the police. No lawyer is gonna take a case like that unless something really fucked up happened, and the judges and police are good buddies, you're just gonna waste your money and not get anything.
Some things I disagree with. While yes you were arrested if everything was dropped they wouldn't even see the arrest. Most employers aren't going to google somebodies name to get information on them, that's why they run background checks and what not. Also just because somebody has drugs that I hang out with doesn't mean I have to know about it. You know how many people in government positions do drugs? What if this house was in the suburbs with no signs of people knowing it was a dope house? This again goes back to most employers wouldn't even see anything related to this anyways. Last but not least just because the judge is buddies with the cops doesn't mean they can't go to court. You can have a trial by your peers and if you have evidence you were wrongfully accused you will most likely win. Hell, you know how many people get away on murder cases? There's hope for everybody.
I guess you haven't heard that employers search facebook profiles to dig up dirt on potential employees? lol Also yes you don't know who does drugs. The difference is she was busted in a DRUG RAID. In order for a drug raid to occur, the person usually has pretty heavy traffic, something a friend/associate would know about. The dealer who sells buds to his friends doesn't get raided by the DEA/cops, they get busted by chance. People who are raided are typically big dealers, or at least they deal as a job. People are wrongfully accused all the time. If you were sentenced falsely, you get a certain amount of money for every year you spent in jail. She likely spent a few weeks in jail. The justice system isn't about justice, it's about money. They should call it the persecution system, cuz they don't care about innocent, your guilty until proven innocent. I have had my house and car illegally searched without permission, had 2 witnesses both with clean records. Guess what, I went to jail still regardless. My possession charges were for enough shake to get a mouse buzzed, and empty packets of "female hero" with only residual content. I still got possession for both even though the amount did not legally qualify as possession of the drug itself.
That's why you don't post certain things on facebook. If its not from you they can't use that as a reason to fire you...that's illegal. I totally agree innocent people get fucked over all the time but most of them really don't try and fight back. I don't mean just tell they can't search and what not but after getting out going to court and raising awareness about it. I think the reason people keep getting fucked over is mainly because the ones that do it do it over and over and know nobody is really going to try and do something about it. Granted it does take time and money the more people who stand up when it happens the less it will......but you'll never truely defeat corruption.
Um where the fuck else do you keep your stash? And stupid enough to get investigation / followed? Yea, because you know that they were the ones who fucked up and didn't just get screwed over? @OP: Honestly, I'd just call a lawyer and see if you have a chance at getting some money. If you do, so the county, etc.
You have stash houses.....it's never smart to sell and keep shit at your residence, just a lot easier to get caught up. Now if it was petty weight then not to much of a big deal but as 1Trismegistus1 said, the DEA doesn't raid small time....not saying they won't bust certain people to try and get the bigger supplier but it still wouldn't be a small time dude.
Obviously if I just said I didn't know there were drugs in the house, that kinda ruins your point with #1. If I knew those drugs were there, I'd probably rethink staying there. Your #2 point is also invalid because I was not the one being followed, the person whose house it was, was the one being followed. I asked the police what would have happened if I wasnt there and they said they had no idea who I was and I'd be in no trouble at all. And you think that in that WHOLE time, I didn't mention #3 to the police?? Obviously that was the very first thing I said. I know how to be smart, my only unwise decision was staying somewhere that I clearly didn't know well enough.