Always say you have nothing on you, especially if it's only a misdeamenor charge that you'll get. That way you either 1) get lucky and are let off and 2) if they do search you with dogs or whatever, GOOD, because they wasted YOUR time so you get to also waste THIERS. Never let the pigs off easy because they will never let you off easy either.
Sucks man, sorry to hear that. I don't know what part of Gwinnett County you were in, but did you by any chance get pulled over by the FIND Unit? They're an anti-drug task force that posts up all up and down 20 east/west and they solely profile out "suspicious" cars. They'll pull you over, will be the biggest douche bags ever and tear your car apart And to everyone rippin on OP for payin 130 qtr of nice purps, that's normal prices in the A
It's not about them finding the pot, that's we all need to understand. If they're looking for a way to get in your car, they're going to find one (MOST, not all, of the time). Refusing consent isn't so much for the sake of protecting your pot as it is in protecting your COURT CASE. When you consent to a search, you leave your lawyer with basically nothing to fight for. If you continuously refuse consent to a search and in the course of the traffic stop answer all questions with these phrases: "I do not consent" "Can I call my lawyer?" or just plain old silence is fine, then GET those MVR tapes for court, prove that the search was unconstitutional, and THEN you've got a chance of getting off. THAT's the point of refusing consent. Anyway, man, profiling sucks. My boyfriend and best friend are both black and I'm a white girl, so we've been in similar situations (only refused consent and walked...) Good luck man, find those bad ass pot lawyers in your state!
dude, you had no reason to let him search you, if you guys weren't smoking, and you had kept it in the trunk, or hidden out of sight, you should have denied him the right to search and asked him if he was detaining you, and for what charge. you should not, and i repeat NOT, have told him, he knew he could fuck you over instantly after that.
damn...blacked out for a minute, almost puked, and went pale talking to a cop, because i was obviously incredibly fucked up. the story was about 30 percocets came up missing from this chick who they were perscreibed to, but she totally abuses them. a friend of mine stole them and i bought and snorted a bunch from him, along with some coke. while fighting to at least stay conscious, and hopefully stay straight, i still never admitted to doing anything. it was my word against a couple snitches. he couldn't prove that i had done them right then and there. by the time he could have tested me i would have been clean, and had no shit on me. in the end nobody, not even the thief, got into trouble. no court even, the prosecutor looked at it and decided there wasn't enough evidence as to who did it. that's because nobody admitted to doing anything wrong.
I'm surprised there is noone here that really grasped that I could have gotten a felony to fight over if I didn't say anything about the pot. Basically he knew I had something based on my increased heartrate (spotted my carotid artery), sweating more than the driver, and I guess I had a lil shake to me. I COULD NOT hide it in a vehicle that was not my vehicle and the driver was not willing to let me hide it in his vehicle. If I would have refused, he WOULD have called the dogs, and I would have had to bail out on a FELONY. I know this is hard to grasp for some of you who have never been busted or spent time in jail or acquired your first felony, but trust me, whether you win or lose in the case, fighting a felony case SUCKS. Period. And most of the time Atlanta cops aren't worried about pot, especially not a measly 7 grams, so telling the truth off the bat was a good card to play. I've played it before with excellent results. I'm very surprised everyone here seems to think that once you refuse a search, they don't call the dogs. lol. You probably should do some real-life research on the matter before you speak up on that one because I have refused searches in the past and they ALWAYS call the dogs if they truely suspect something in the vehicle. I took the correct course of action, while I could have refused the search and hard balled the cop, I would have ended up fighting a FELONY with my professional license in limbo. I know a lot of you may not have professional licenses, but basically that means I'm out of a freaking job! For trying to play it and refuse a search that was bound to turn up with me going to jail. Sucks, but I've contacted the local NORML lawyers in this case and hopefully will have Tanya Burgess and David Clark working my case
Not to be a dick, but, you didn't really get busted by profiling. You got busted by yourself when you said this: You basically lost your case, rights, and everything right there. Good luck with the court though! I've had friend's who have to deal with the same bullshit and I know how your feelin...
Well now Im starting to realize I shouldn't have admitted it probably, but still the scale and past experience with honesty still inclines me to think it might have been the right course of action in a clinch like that. After thinking about it and reading how illegal search and seizure rules are so complex, hard balling it might have been better for the long run in beating the case...unfortunately I was thinking I'd just got it confiscated and let go since it was only a freakin quarter. Jesus...I can't believe this is happening all over again...
I'm now over by west end, near Campbellton Rd to be specific. I get trees mostly here on my side of town but I still get it in from diff connects around the city, and anywhere from 115-135 qtr is like I said, normal prices for quality buds. If you get quality cheaper than that, I envy you. OP, hope NORML lawyers find interest in your case. Best of luck to you.
you didnt have to hard ball it. All you had to do was play it cool and exercise your rights assertive but not agressive. youll learn from this experience and hopefully wont have to worry about dealing with the police again. But if you do youll learn what to do and not do and how to play it sooner or later.
Spoke to my lawyers, they both agree that I did the right thing admitting to the bag, especially with a friend in the car that couldn't afford the charge anymore than I could, and also by avoiding the potential felony. I'd like to thank WeFlyHigh for the negative rep comment of "fail" for my reaction to the police that was approved by two people who have passed the Bar Exam, you have really stood out with your vast ignorance and inexperience. If I remember correctly, I remember seeing a thread that you wrote about when you got robbed, dude hit your girl, and you stood there like the stand-up guy you make yourself out to be. Good job. It was definitely a smart idea deleting that thread before people realized that you're only human and make stupid mistakes, but that would kill your whole ego-driven image, I don't fault you for it, you're only human. For everyone else, I appreciate your help and constructive critisism. This is a terrible situation that I hope to move past quickly and as efficiently as possible. I've learned that racial profiling, false noise citations, and harassment from law efforcement are pretty common ordeals in Gwinnett County, and actually one of my potential lawyers (Also the director of GA NORML, David Clark) has a podcast and a book out preaching about it and the 4th Admendment. Someone's got to take the heat to put out the fire, guess I'll have to be one of those special people this time around. Keep fighting the good fight!
really glad to hear you got a lawyer and you're fighting it...most people would just take the ticket, leaving the cops to continue doing things like this to other people. fight for your right!
Wow, although it is a pretty fucked up situation, consider yourself lucky you didn't get hit with intent to sell. I don't know how bad marijuana charges are in AL, but in CA marijuana posession is decriminalized (but still a misdemeanor like AL), and posession with intent to sell is a felony.
Ya these things could go either way..i had an arguement with my friends over what you should do the other day.. like you can either be nice an honest and just give it to them and hope to get of with a citation or just deny deny deny and let them do their job... of course this really depends on the cop...if they have nothing better to do and feel like being a douche they will walk all over your fucking rights and you won't be able to do shit about it... it could have just as easily been him saying .. I got nothing.. and the cop bullshitting probable cause and goin in his pockets or getting the damn drug dogs.. good luck man..you should tell the lawyers bout what happened to your friend...and just idk man i hope you get outta this clean..its not more than a misdemeanors anyway... EDIT: weflyhigh you sound like a bitch dude..you let someone hit your fucking girl..fuckin pussy
Had a consultation with David Clark. It's going to cost me $2000 in retainers, but I can beat the case. The cop first off had no right to ask me for my ID during a traffic stop concerning the driver. Second, he shouldn't have asked me out of the vehicle unless he believed I was about to commit a crime or I was a danger to him, neither of which were the reasons he said for questioning (only nervousness). So it's improper seizure and I can motion to have the evidence suppressed God I love karma. Still going to cost me 2 grand though.