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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    6

    Question Police Found Drugs When Arresting House Guests

    I will try to make this as short as possible. A friend and his girlfriend were visiting with my boyfriend at his house one Saturday morning. The friends son called and a heated discussion took place between the two concerning a 9mm pistol that the father supposedly stole from the son's house hours earlier. I believe that the son said something about calling the police and the couple decided to leave and go try to talk to the son.

    Immediately after walking out the front door, Heath police were present (even though we live in Rockwall and no Rockwall police were present). The girlfriend supposedly reached in her pocket, pulled out a small bag that supposedly contained "ice" and dropped it on the ground. The police saw this and arrested her. They searched her boyfriend, as he was the burglary suspect, and found a small amount of marijuana; naturally, he was also arrested.

    The police searched their vehicles that were in my boyfriend's driveway. A couple of hours after they first arrived, they wanted to come into the house and "secure" it. They didn't have a warrant and when my boyfriend attempted to exercise his rights and not consent to a search of his home, the Special Crimes Task Force officer became beligerantly irate. They had us both in the front yard, made their sweep of the house, and found noone else to be in there which could be of any danger to them.

    My boyfriend, although extremely hesitant, signed the consent, mainly due to the threats from the Special Crimes head guy. They made me sign it to although I do not live there.

    Consequently, they found roughly 3 oz of meth and roughly 4 lbs of marijuana in an open safe. They never found the gun. My boyfriend was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance.

    Does everything I have stated sound kosher? Isn't there some kind of reasonable expectation of privacy? Could the threats by the officer have any substance in coercion? Did Heath police have a right to be here to begin with?
    Isn't a protective sweep all that was necessary to ensure their safety?

    Any type of input, positive or negative, will be greatly appreciated.

    Kristi Love

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Cops in Texas wanted house guests; found more than they expected

    He signed a written consent to the search, so he's probably stuck with the consequences of his consent. Given the quantity of drugs he had, he would be wise to get the help of a criminal defense lawyer to try to have the search held invalid and the evidence excluded.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    6

    Default Re: Cops in Texas wanted house guests; found more than they expected

    Mr. Knowitall:

    Thank you for responding to my question and I apologize for not replying sooner; I have been away for a week. He definately is planning on hiring an attorney. We are just doing some research to find one that is better than average as well as saving the money for retaining him/her.

    When you say, "to try to have the search held invalid and the evidence excluded" are you saying that there MAY be reasons to support claiming that it was an invalid search? Is it possible that the evidence MAY be excluded because it had absolutely nothing to do with the "burglary of a habitat" that the visitors have been charged with?

    One more question: If the homeowner that originally pressed charges against the two visitors drops those charges, what are the odds, in your opinion, that a D.A. would charge them with it anyway? Would he maybe offer them a great plea deal if they turn state's evidence against my boyfriend?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Cops in Texas wanted house guests; found more than they expected

    Your boyfriend needs to discuss the possibility that there are grounds to suppress the search when he talks to his lawyer. His signing a written consent, though, hurts just about any suppression effort.

    I'm not sure how the homeowner's opinion would be deemed relevant by the D.A.

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