Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

A friend of mine and I took his girlfriend's car to go to school. He used a handicapped placard to park closer to campus. However, parking security ran the number and saw that the placard holder was deceased. When we got back to the car, security told us to wait while a cop came to lecture us. He ran my friend's license and saw that he had a bench warrant issued. He handed me the keys to say that I was the driver since he had a suspended license. The cop said that he was going to tow the car but my friend convinced him to let his girlfriend come to pick up the car. The cop took my friend away while I was there to deal with the other cop. The cop asked for my consent to search the vehicle and I complied not knowing I had no right to allow the search. He found a small jar (less than 1g) of marijuana in my friends backpack and issued me a possession of marijuana ticket. When his girlfriend came, the car was already ransacked and she said that he had no right to search HER property. When the cop asked who owned the marijuana, she did not answer. Now I have a $400 ticket for possession of marijuana. How can I go about to fixing this since it was not my fault and I had no idea that marijuana was in the vehicle in the first place?


Asked on 8/16/14, 9:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Zadik Shapiro Law Offices of C. Zadik Shapiro

First the lecture: You never authorize anyone to search anything. You have a Fourth Amendment right not to authorize a search and a Fifth Amendment right to silence. Use them!!

You could hire a lawyer to fight it but you have already admitted guilt and a lawyer will cost more than $400. You might be best off getting the $400 from your friend and paying the ticket.

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Answered on 8/17/14, 12:25 pm


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