As San Juan Capistrano drug crimes defense attorneys, we were pleased to see a news item about a man whose conviction was overturned due to an illegal police search. The Orange County Register reported Aug. 18 that a California appeals court has overturned several drug-related convictions against Douglas George Schmitz. Schmitz pleaded guilty in 2008 to four misdemeanors, including possession of a hypodermic needle and driving under the influence of drugs. But he believed that the search that turned up this evidence was undertaken without a warrant, and when the trial court refused to support that evidence, he appealed that decision. The Fourth District Court of Appeal's decision on Aug. 18 says the trial court should have suppressed the evidence because the police obtained it illegally.
The article says Schmitz was driving through a residential area with two other adults when a sheriff's deputy pulled them over. The deputy said she thought Schmitz was lost. When she saw that his arms were covered in abscesses, which is typical for intravenous drug users, she asked if he or anyone else in the vehicle was on probation or parole. Schmitz was not, but his front-seat passenger was. The deputy then asked for permission to search the car. Schmitz did not answer, so she searched the car anyway and ordered the occupants out. In that search, the deputy found a purse containing two syringes, a syringe cap and some methamphetamine, which eventually led to the charges against Schmitz. In its opinion, the appeals court said that even though the parolee passenger did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy because he was on parole, Schmitz had a reasonable expectation of privacy in every part of the vehicle but the seat where the parolee was sitting.
Our Corona drug crimes criminal defense lawyers are pleased to see that the appeals court is willing to uphold citizens' Fourth Amendment rights, even when the citizen may not have been blameless. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches and property seizures, and part of those protections is the right to deny police permission to search you unless there are circumstances allowing it. Evidence of a crime might be one such circumstance; parolee status is another. Because the parolee status of the passenger did not apply to Schmitz, the appeals court said the police should not have searched his car. We want our clients to take away an important lesson from this story: When the police violate your civil rights, you can and should challenge the evidence they get from doing so. Even though Schmitz actually pleaded guilty to the charges against him, the court in this case threw out his conviction, because the guilty plea came on charges that should never have existed in the first place.
Howard Law, P.C. represents clients throughout California who are facing drug charges, including serious, high-level narcotics crimes as well as simple possession cases. Even small amounts of marijuana can carry serious charges, especially if the officers believe you were planning to sell it. Larger-scale drug charges can carry years in prison, even when there are no allegations of violence. Our Brea drug crimes criminal defense attorneys can raise civil rights defenses in any drug case involving questionable searches, wiretapping, police questioning of suspects without an attorney, conflicts over who "possessed" the drugs and more. In smaller cases without violence, we can also help clients avoid a conviction by arranging for drug deferment/Drug Court instead of conventional penalties.
If you're charged with a drug crime in California, don't hesitate before you call Howard Law, P.C. for help building a strong defense. To learn more or set up a free evaluation of your case, contact us through the Internet or call 1-800-872-5925 today.
