Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

was pulled over for going 5 miles over speed limit, officer says he smells marijuana and i inform him that it was my my sister's car and i hadnt been smoking. he tells me to get out of the vehicle because he has "probably cause".another cop has showed up and i am sitting in my car asking "do you really have these rights, why can you do this." they basically forced me out of my car and proceeded to search my entire body, finding nothing. then they search entire car,tearing open garbage bags and messing up everything. this goes on for about 5 mintues, the entire time im asking them to tell me how they are allowed to do this and they are completely unresponsive and wont let me call my lawyer. i belive they expectted to find some real drugs but they finally find a small pipe hidden deep in between the seats probaly from a while ago. i get charged with drug paraphenilia, at no time did i give them permission and im wondering if i have a chance to fight this in court as illegal seizure case


Asked on 1/17/10, 3:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ken Gober (Austin TX) Lee, Gober & Reyna

You always have a "chance". Your odds of success depend on lots of facts and discretion of the Judge.

From a first read, without knowing all of the facts, the officer probably did have probable cause to search based on the smell of marijuana, but if the officer exceeded the scope of the traffic stop in order to smell the marijuana then your chances get better.

Additionally it sounds like there may be a problem linking you to the pipe.

You should consult with a criminal defense attorney in your area to further discuss this case. A good online directory is the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer Association service:

http://www.tcdla.com/source/members/creferralsearch.cfm?section=lawyerlocator

Good Luck!

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Answered on 1/22/10, 4:50 pm


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