Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

search and seizure

I am desperate for legal advice. A few days ago, I was sitting outside my home when 2 undercover policemen pulled into my driveway. I live in a prodominently mexican neighborhood and they told me ''seeing a white girl sitting outside was cause for a welcome to the neighborhood'' . They proceeded to ask me if I smoked marijuana which I answered with a simple and honest, yes. My boyfriend and I in fact do smoke a copious amount of marijuana and were in no way trying to hide the fact. There is no benefit for us to sell it as we smoke enough to be in debt. We tend to buy an ounce or less at a time which requires us to have a scale to make sure we are getting what we pay for. I understand that living in California and posessing that amount of marijuana without a license may seem ridiculous. The cops proceeded to ask me who I lived with and I told them my boyfriend. I let them in the house to avoid a later search warrant which they threatened me with. They asked us to sign a consent to search which we did without protest because we had nothing to hide. After ripping apart our house and being very unprofessional in the process, they managed to come up with almost an ounce. Not in whole marijuana, but ash tray remnents and stems. We also h


Asked on 3/05/07, 2:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: search and seizure

I'm not sure what you're asking (your question was too long and the last part of it was lost), but I don't see any search and seizure issue here.

You didn't have to talk to the police but chose to do so anyway. You also didn't have to admit that you smoke pot, and you certainly didn't need to tell the police your boyfriend smokes it too. Even after doing all that, you were not required to let the police into your apartment, let alone to consent to the search in writing.

Because the police had your consent for everything they did, your rights were not violated. I also don't see any issue from your boyfriend's perspective since he signed the consent form, too.

Additional facts might lead me to a different conclusion. In particular, I would want to know more about how the officers persuaded you to let them in.

Now go get a lawyer if you haven't done so already.

By the way, the fact that the police told you they would get a warrant if you didn't let them in doesn't mean they would have actually done so. Getting a warrant takes time and effort, and officers usually have better things to do than spend so much time getting evidence of simple possession or other minor offenses.

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Answered on 3/05/07, 2:55 pm


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