All Americans have constitutional rights that provide protection from unreasonable search and seizure. This means that law enforcement has restrictions as to how they may search you or your property and invade your privacy when it comes to looking for anything, and that includes all illegal drugs. The 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides these protections for you, and it is important that you fully understand your rights in the event you find yourself being subjected to illegal search and seizure. The following are some things to keep in mind:
How to Know When a Search and Seizure Is Allowed
All US citizens have a right to a legitimate expectation of privacy. If that right is violated, it is in violation of the 4th Amendment. However, a legal search can still be conducted with or without a warrant. A search and seizure is considered legal when you allow the search of your property by a law enforcement officer.
Another thing to keep in mind is when there is not an expectation of privacy. For instance, when an officer can see that you have drugs sitting on the passenger seat through your car window, he or she may then seize them and place you under arrest without a search warrant. This is considered evidence in plain view, and it will hold up against you. There is no standard of privacy when it comes to things in your vehicle or on your property if they can easily be seen.
What to Do if Your 4th Amendment Rights Are Violated
The first thing you need to do is contact a drug crime attorney. Explain the situation so that you can hopefully bond out of jail if you have been arrested. Your attorney can then file a motion to suppress everything that was seized from your property and remove it as a source of evidence. The court would then have to dismiss any evidence that was seized as a direct result of the illegal search. For instance, if law enforcement found drugs hidden in your house because they seized a combination to a safe where they were kept, both the safe and the drugs would be thrown out as evidence because they were all illegally seized. This does not always mean that you will get off completely without punishment of some sort, but you could potentially reduce your charges if law enforcement is found in violation of your 4th Amendment Rights.
Share15 March 2018
When I started my first small business, I had no idea how much I really didn’t know. I was fully prepared to deal with customers, sell product and even handle complaints and returns. What I wasn’t aware of was that there is so much more to it. I was lacking the legal expertise to protect the company and myself. I wanted others to benefit from my experience, mistakes and lessons learned, so I started this blog. From employment law to the legal business contracts you’ll have to sign when you form partnerships, business law is complex. I hope that the information here will help you to be better prepared when you start your business so that you’ll know when you need to call an attorney and when you can handle things yourself.
