Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
Police went shopping
I was recently arrested for a search warrant in my home for recieving stolen property. There were six items listed on the search warrant. All ordinary items:
6 cassette tapes
1 cannon video cammera
1 briefcase
1 ladies wallet with id
1 ladies prescription glasses
1 passport id
NONE OF THESE ITEMS WERE FOUND! Because I wasnt recieving stolen merchandise. What they did find was 20 years of me living in my home. They took 98 items of my personal things that were not listed on the warrant! They later released me in 72 hours and it said lack of evidence. But then re-filed in another county and the new warrant said Embezlement and narcodics. Which they found 3 gr coke and 4 grams meth. But all of the things that they took are all my own. How can they legally take them and now say they are stolen merchandise? What do I do to get them back? Do I need to show reciepts for every item? I have them if I do. I just dont see how thats legal To come in under one warrant - not find anything on there warrant and now say all this other stuff is stolen? What are my rights please.
Thanks.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Police went shopping
Your rights are to defend the case, have your attorney conduct a strong preliminary hearing, file suspression motions, and otherwise do a good workmanlike job on the legal pleadings and hearings necessary for you to avoid jail, by forcing the police and prosecutor to prove their case. Feel free to contact me if interested in doing so.
Re: Police went shopping
A search warrant specifies what police are allowed to seek, not what they are allowed to find. If they unexpectedly find drugs while looking for stolen merchandise they are allowed to seize it, and the prosecutor can bring charges based upon that evidence. The police may have realized that a number of items in your home corresponded to a list of stolen items from a different case; if that is what happened they properly seized the items and you were properly charged, even though the other case was in a different county.
Keep in mind that a warrant does not have to specify every item the police might find. If the officers know of some specific items they might find they must list the items in their affidavit, but it is very common for them to say that those items are "among" those they expect to find. Police can seldom be sure ahead of time that they know of all the evidence they might find, and they are not required to ignore evidence -- even evidence of other crimes -- which they did not specifically expect to find.
You need to get a lawyer. If you can prove you own the supposedly stolen items then the prosecutor may dismiss that part of the case. You are still going to have to deal with the drugs, though, and proving you owned them will not get you the same result.
Good luck.
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