QUESTION
Drug paraphernalia, possession of a small amount of marijuana for personal use
Asked on Jul 01st, 2018 on Criminal Law - Pennsylvania
More details to this question:
This incident is in regards to my husband. He was pulled over recently and the cop said in his report that he smelled marijuana so was justified in searching the car. (My husband said that this report is false, that the cop did not smell weed but said his reason to search was rubber bands in the back seat which is a heroin thing? He denied my husbands request for a warrant and proceeded to search.) He found a small tinfoil bowl and a very small amount of marijuana in cigarette plastic bag that my. This is my husbands 2nd offense in PA for the exact same thing (the first occurred in 2010). We are going to seek help from a lawyer but I am feeling desperate for answers now. He is the sole provider and I am 7 months pregnant with our third child. He is a CDL driver so we are most worried that he would serve jail time and/or lose his license resulting in him losing his job. Any advice?
1 ANSWER
The absolute best advice is the one you have already taken. Get an attorney working on the case. Courts have held if the officer smells marijuana it is probable cause to search the vehicle. Your husbands protestations at the time were meaningless as if the officer has probable cause to search the courts have held no warrant is necessary. There are a lot of very fact specific issues in a suppression case such as this. Where were the items located? Where was the officer when he located them? If he smelled marijuana where was he? Did he actually smell or could he actually smell marijuana? These are issues that should be fleshed out by local counsel who will know more about the officer and his general practices and how the court handles these types of cases. Apologies for not being able to give a more quieting answer but it really depends on a lot of details and minutae. The sooner an attorney is working on your case the better.
Answered on Jul 04th, 2018 at 1:19 PM