pulled over for allegedly speeding, provided an expired license to the officer. a tow was called and upon arrival inventory of my vehicle was conducted. after the inventory i was charged with a dui alcohol/drugs, along with possession of drugs. the officer stated i was nervous and pale but it was 3am and completely dark out, and never stated this or anything about a dui until after the inventory was done. was this search done legally? do i have any chance in getting any charges dropped?
Yes, you need an attonrey. Speak to several and hire the one you like the best. The inventory search was legal. Your attonrey will work to minimize the damage. Do not attempt to handle your case without representation.
Yes, an attorney is a very good investment. These are serious charges that can, especially if you are under 21, result in extremely serious damage to your driving privileges. In addition, they can result in criminal prosecution for misdemeanor criminal offenses.
As for the search, it was as others have pointed out legal. There is no warrant requirement to search an automobile because of the decreased expectation of privacy (registration of the vehicle with the state for example). Probable cause is all that is necessary. In this situation, you provided an expired license at 3am. Because of this issue, you cannot legally operate the car and thus he can't just allow you to drive it home. Therefore, it is routine to call a tow on a vehicle in these settings. When they tow, an officer MUST perform a search in order to document all inventory in the car BEFORE the agency took possession of the car to protect themselves from civil liability so you can't claim they stole something from it. Whatever they happen across can be used as evidence against you.
That said, this administrative inventory search can be challenged by a skilled attorney. For example, if there was no valid justification for the speeding stop (unlikely), the search contents could be thrown out as fruits of the poisonous tree. Additionally, as long as they weren't in plain view when the officer approached you, there may be an argument that the administrative tow was not proper though this too isn't an easy argument to make and is highly dependent on providing supporting case law. If one of these could be established, you could have had an entire meth lab in your trunk and still not be prosecuted for it. For this reason, you would need an attorney skilled in criminal law to analyze whether there is any argument possible though as I have stated, I am inclined to believe this is a stretch.
The chances of getting it dropped are not very good just because speeding is a very hard basis for a stop to beat but a good attorney can work out a very favorable deal if they can convince the prosecutor of the strength of the potential case.
Little is gained by going in alone and much can be lost. A DUI conviction WILL revoke your license and an attorney who handles these can help secure an order of court supervision or even an amendment to reckless driving thus preventing serious harm to your license.
Call a local attorney who commonly practices in the region where your court case is.
If the officer had reason to believe you were speeding then the initial stop was proper. If you showed an expired license then it was proper to arrest you, and regardless of the arrest it was necessary to tow the car because you could not drive it. Since the car was to be towed, an inventory search was permitted. Evidence found in a permissible inventory search is admissible in court. Your attorney will go over the facts of your case with you in detail to see whether any of the steps leading to the search of your car is somehow defective so as to support a motion to suppress evidence. There might be something to work with, but If so it does not appear from your posting.
"Do I have any chance of getting any charges dropped?" Do you mean, is the prosecutor going to say, "I have a good search and a good case, but you look like a nice fellow and anyway here in Effingham we like unlicensed drunk drivers. Motion state nolle pros, judge, let's just forget this one." Let's say it is theoretically possible, but it is not going to happen unless the prosecutor has some good reason to want to go easy on you. You definitely need an attorney. There may be a lot to work with that you have not told us, or it may be a matter of damage control, but damage control, too,can be very important and can make a lot of difference in your future. Good luck.
You need to hire the best DWI lawyer you can afford. You may want to expand your search area as far as Madison County {Edwardsville). I am assuming you were charged in or near Effingham County. I agree that, based on your description, the search was probably valid. All the more reason why you need a good DWI attorney.
Obviously, the other attorneys are correct, you need to hire an attorney. As far as the search is concerned, technically the police are no longer allowed to search a vehicle subject to an arrest if the charge would not be affected by anything that could be found in the vehicle. (for example if arrested for DUI then they can search for drugs or alcohol in the car but, in your case, you were charged with no valid license so there would be no need to search the vehicle because there could be nothing found in the vehicle that would be related to that charge) although that sounds great for you, the reality is the police have developed a loop hole which is the "inventory search". This is meant to inventory everything in the car so if you get your car back and complain that there is $500 missing from the glove compartment they can look at the inventory logs to determine if there was truly $500 in the vehicle when seized. So, long story short, as long as, the police department has a written inventory search procedure/protocol then the search will be considered legal. By now, I would assume that every agency would have one, but your attorney can subpoena it if necessary. Good luck
