I came across an article in the Houston Chronicle regarding a recent drug seizure. The drug seizure was a 400 pounds seizure of marijuana in San Antonio. My first question is if you had 400 lbs of marijuana in your vehicle, why would you voluntarily give the officer consent to search your vehicle? I guess this guy did not read or take my advice in a previous post and “Just Say No”! What I also find interesting is how the officer said that this was just a routine stop for an expired registration. In my opinion, this sounds like a “pretextual traffic stop”. Unfortunately, the courts allow officers to make pretextual stops, as long as they can reasonably articulate some minor traffic violation that was committed. If the officer, truly stopped a person for an expired registration, why would you ask a person for consent to search his/her vehicle for a “routine” traffic stop. It’s all a load of crap. It’s just a way for officers to pull people over for minor traffic violations in hopes of having people, ignorant of their rights, consent to a search in hopes of finding evidence and probable to arrest for drug offenses generally. Generally, if the officer had probable cause to search your vehicle, the officer would not need your consent. Remember, just because the officer asks does not mean you are obligated to to allow the search…that’s your constitutional right!!!
jcole Search & Seizure Law Consent
If a law enforcement officer pulls you over and asks to search your vehicle, You have the RIGHT to politely tell the officer “NO”!!!! By telling the officer “no”, the officer must have probable cause or some recognized exception under the law to probable cause before an officer can legally conduct a search of a vehicle. For example, a police officer can not just pull you over for a routine traffic stop, and then conduct a full search of your vehicle without some probable cause or reasonable suspicion to first of all stop you, and secondly probable cause to perform a search. However, often individuals waive this right by consenting to a search. That’s why officers generally ask you, “may I search your vehicle”. By stating yes, you have effectively waived any privacy interests under the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and under the Texas Constitution. By saying yes, you basically allow an officer to search your vehicle without needing probable cause to do such. Thus, if an officer’s search turns up evidence of criminal activity, that evidence can be used against you in a criminal prosecution. So in other words, don’t voluntarily make law enforcement’s job any easier to prosecute you. If law enforcement conducts a search without your consent and lacks probable to do so, then any evidence obtained as a result of the search generally cannot be used against you in a criminal prosecution. JUST SAY NO!!!
Administrator Drug Crimes, Search & Seizure Law Search & Seizure Law
Recent Comments