Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Before I explain the situation I would like to make it clear that I know my actions were illegal, and immoral. I have learned my lesson, and now I am left with the task of making this mistake impact my professional future as little as possible. I would appreciate if any advice given was followed by sources or credentials. I am a minor who was recently arrested for the possession of marijuana, and the possession of paraphernalia. I was a passenger in a car with two of my friends (both adults) when we were stopped for speeding. We had just finished smoking a small amount of marijuana and were on our way to the mall. I am quite confident that the car had no scent of marijuana as we had aired it out and used deodorant spray. The driver was polite and compliant, and provided the officers with his license, registration, and proof of insurance. None of the occupants of the car had been arrested before, nor did we have outstanding charges/warrants. The driver was asked to step out of the car to sign his ticket. On his way back to the car an officer asked if he consented to a search, to which he replied no. We were all asked to step out of the car, subsequently exposing a grinder under my leg. At this point the officers started lambasting the three of us with questions such as "whose is this?", "is there anything else in the car?", "when did you smoke up?". I choose not to speak and one of my friends (whom the grinder belonged to) admitted the grinder was his, and the other was silent. At this time the officers said your are all under arrest. I asked what we were under arrest for, and he responded "you will all three be charged for possession, and paraphernalia, because no one owned up to the stuff in the car". At this time we were driven to a Pennsylvania state police office and processed. The driver (only the driver) was read his Miranda rights preceding a field DUI test (conducted at the station, with a negative result). I am wondering if these charges will hold up in court considering that none of us were read our rights preceding the questioning which led to our arrest. Additionally no officer told us that if one person were to own up to the marijuana and paraphernalia they would be charged, instead of the entire group being charged. A final detail that may be of value, when my parents picked me up the officer explained "we asked to search the car after pulling them over for speeding because we detected a strong odor of marijuana". This is not true because while I was in the station I overheard the arresting officer say to his partner "I'm glad we went on the 50/50 with this one, look what it got us", phrasing that made it seem as if the officers had searched us by chance. What are my legal options from here? And what can I expect for consequences (how will my record look? will I do community service?).

- Important Info -

None of us had been arrested before

Me and the other passenger never had our rights read

The arresting officer was a Pennsylvania State Trooper


Asked on 12/19/09, 12:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Davidson Law Office of John A. Davidson

You certainly ask a lot. You probably can get this off your record. that said its not going to be a do it yourself project. You need a lawyer.

By the way there are no such things as Miranda Rights, One of the rights they mention comes from Gideon v Wainwright, The Miranda warning need only be given if you're in custody. It should be remembered when Miranda got his new trial after the US Supreme Court threw out his original conviction he was convicted again.

{John}

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Answered on 12/25/09, 5:34 pm


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