Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Here is a senerio that happened to my brother I need info in what to do to help him and his friends
My brother and his wife we stop in a traffic stop the officer approched them and asked for their information in that time the officer most have smelled marijuana the officer then seached the car wher he found a pound of marijuana the officer then prior to taking my brother and his wife in to custody the officer asked my brother if there where more drugs in his home he said yes and gave concent to the search of his home where they found a friend of my brother and his wife in a bedroom where she is then ordered to the living room when she was in the living room they then searched her and found cocain in her pocket then they arrest her and a police officer then searched a table in the living room where they found a stolen gun the friend immediately say that the gun is not hers during the search of the home they find 20lb of Marijuana and they sieze papers in the name of my brother later in during the invontory of the friend thing they find herion which she said that it was hers was the search of the house lawful? was the search of the friend? lawful? was the search of the table lawful? was the arrest of the friend lawful? was the search of the inventory lawful? was the friends response to the herion being hers admissible in court? is the Marijuana in my brothers home admissible? was the seziers of the paper in my brothers name lawful? does is there any exeptions that could be used in court to have any of this evedince admissible in court?

Asked on 9/19/11, 8:10 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

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When arrested or charged with any crime, �What can you do�? No amount of free 'tips and hints' from here or anywhere else are going to effectively help you in your defense, other than the advice [if not already too late] to exercise the 5th Amendment right to SHUT UP and do NOT talk to police or ANYONE about the case except an attorney. That includes on this or any other web site or public forum. Most police and prosecutors will happily tell you that 95% of people convict themselves by trying to be 'helpful and cooperative', either during initial contact, questioning, interview or interrogation.

Of course you can fight the charges. When arrested or charged with any crime, the proper questions are, can any evidence obtained in a test, search or confession be used against you, and can you be convicted, and what can you do? Raise all possible defenses with whatever admissible and credible witnesses, evidence, facts and sympathies are available for legal arguments, for evidence suppression or other motions, or at trial. While this isn't a 'capital case', you certainly face potential jail and fines, so handle it right. Effective plea-bargaining, using those defenses, could possibly keep you out of jail, or at least dramatically reduce it. If you don't know how to do these things effectively against an experienced prosecutor intending to convict, then hire an attorney that does, who will try to get a dismissal, diversion program, reduction or other decent outcome through plea bargain, or take it to trial if appropriate.

If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help you, using whatever defenses there may be.

Answered on 9/20/11, 11:36 am

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