I was arrested for a misdemeanor PL 220.03 CRIM POSS CONTROL SUBST. I had one adderall pill and a little weed in my bag.I probably had less than 2 grams of weed I would guess, and only the one 10 mg adderall pill which was in an altoids tin in the front compartment of my backpack. The cop pulled over my friend for illegally tinted windows and then said the car smelt like weed. He put us all in the back of his car and searched the car without asking and went through my bag and found the 1 pill and little bit of weed. I'm a 19 year old college student with no prior arrests and I really, really, really don't want this on my record.
The search appears to be illegal, as no consent was given to inspect your bag or its contents. Whether you wish to battle is another question, as an ACD is likely.
Your first course of action should be to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney. An attorney will go over the facts of the case and determine if there are any issues that might help in getting the charge reduced or dismissed. You can use the "find a lawyer" area of this website to find local attorneys. Good luck.
If a Judge credits the Officer's claim that the car smelled like weed then the search will likely be upheld. I think you are looking at this correctly - it is probably not worth going to war over if you can get a good result upfront. Hire a good criminal defense lawyer.
Richard C. SouthardCriminal Defense AttorneyNew York, NY ·
The issue of the legality of the search can be litigated at a Mapp hearing. However, with an experienced criminal defense attorney you should be able to get the criminal charges reduced or dismissed entirely.
I agree with my colleagues. You need an attorney. Although It may be likely that the prosecutor offers a good plea deal right out of the gate, sometimes they don't. If you are charged with a Class A misdemeanor (Crim.Poss.Control.Sub. 7th degree) you're facing up to 1 year in jail, up to $1000 fines, up to 3 years probation, and surcharges. If you have a lawyer, they will hopefully use the potentially unlawful search of you to leverage a better deal --or even a dismissal. It's not worth taking the chance of fighting this charge without counsel, in my professional opinion. Best of luck to you.
