Sacramento Felony Drug Sales Case Dismissed!

Today my client’s felony case (possession of methamphetamine for sale) was dismissed by the Sacramento District Attorney due to an insufficiency of the evidence. The reason for the dismissal is that a judge ruled that the search and seizure of my client was illegal under the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Before a police officer can detain someone like my client who was in his car at the time, they must have reasonable suspicion that the detained individual is involved in a crime. This requires that the officer have specific facts suggesting that a crime is occurring and that the detained individual is involved in that crime.

The judge ultimately ruled in my client’s case that the detention was legal claiming the officer’s contact with my client did not amount to a detention since the officer simply approached my client and asked him some questions. After asking my client some questions, the officer determined that my client’s companion was on searchable probation for a weapons offense. As such, the officer was entitled to search the companion and the car in which the companion and my client occupied. Thus, the officer asked my client to exit the car.

When my client exited the car, the officer patted my client down for weapons. An officer may pat down an individual during an investigation if they have reason to believe the individual could be armed. The officer may not frisk someone to feel for or find drugs. In this case, the officer felt no weapons on my client. But he did feel plastic baggies in my client’s pants pocket. The officer suspected the baggies contained drugs and pulled them out. This is where the officer violated the 4th Amendment.

Case law exists stating that merely feeling a plastic bag in someone’s pocket does not give an officer the right to fish the baggie out as baggies are not solely used for storing drugs. Plastic baggies are used to store many legal items and thus an officer cannot assume the baggie contained drugs.

This bad search was challenged in the form of a motion to suppress evidence at my client’s preliminary hearing. Upon the judge ruling that the search was illegal and that the products of the illegal search i.e. the drugs were not admissible as evidence, the DA was forced to throw out my client’s case.

The 4th Amendment protects citizens’ rights to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. If you are accused of a crime, whether it is a misdemeanor or a felony, it is always smart to have an experienced criminal defense attorney like Jonathan Turner review your case to make sure your rights weren’t violated. Over the years, Sacramento felony defense attorney Jonathan Turner has won cases by challenging the illegal stop of his client’s car, the illegal entry into a client’s home, apartment or business, the illegal search of a client’s backpack and purse, and the illegal interrogation of the client. Contact Sacramento misdemeanor and DUI defense attorney Jonathan Turner for a free consultation.