Being pulled over by the police is always a stressful experience, even if you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. These situations can be full of tension, and it’s important to remember that the police are often as nervous as you are. That means there are some things you should be careful not to do in order to protect yourself and assure the officers that you pose no threat; but that doesn’t mean you should give up your rights. A drug crime lawyer in Oklahoma City can help you if your rights have been violated during a traffic stop and you’ve been charged with marijuana trafficking.
Your Rights During an Oklahoma City Traffic Stop Leading to Arrest for Marijuana Trafficking
#1: The Right to Remain Silent
This right is number one for a reason: it is your most important right. You do not have to answer any questions about where you’re going or where you’ve come from, you don’t have to say what you were doing, and you don’t even have to say where you live or even your name: but you do have to surrender your driver’s license, registration, and insurance information, all of which have your name and address on them, so there’s functionally no point to refusing to give your name and address, and it may help the situation if you’re cooperative to that point.
In other words, you do have to comply to show that you are authorized to be doing the activity which you are engaged in – driving a car – but you don’t have to answer any other questions. If you want to exercise the right to remain silent, it’s best to say out loud that this is what you are doing.
#2: The Right to Refuse Consent to Search
You do not have to agree to allow the police to search you or your car. Now the reality is that, if the police stopped you with good cause, that is, if they had reason to believe that you’re breaking the law in some way, they may pat down your clothing and carry out a search of your car even against your will. There is nothing you can do about this, and you should not resist, but you should say out loud and for the record that you do not consent to the search.
This could be a huge help to your case, because if your lawyer is able to show that they had no reasonable suspicion for pulling you over in the first place, the only way they can use any of the evidence they find on your person or in the vehicle is if you actually consented to a search.
#3: The Right to Film the Encounter
You do have the right to fill your entire encounter with the police, so long as it does not interfere with what the police are doing. The reality is that they will try hard to find a way to claim that you’re interfering, but if they are being unreasonable in this, your recording will capture that. Let them know that you are recording them, provide the required information (license, registration, and proof of insurance), and repeatedly ask them why you’ve been stopped and if you can leave.
#4: The Right to Call a Drug Crime Lawyer
It’s also important to remember that you have the right to a lawyer, and you should say nothing until you have talked with your lawyer. As soon as the police begin asking questions, tell them you want to talk to a lawyer and that you are exercising your right to remain silent. As soon as you are booked and given the opportunity to make a phone call, call us at Cannon & Associates immediately. Will advise you what to say, meet with you quickly, and protect you from the police and the prosecution’s office.
What to Do When You’re Arrested
If the situation escalates to an arrest, and particularly on a charge as serious as marijuana trafficking, continue to remain silent other than to ask for a lawyer. Resist all temptation to give any sort of explanation or excuse for what you’re doing or what the police have found in your car. Don’t even tell them it’s not yours, or you don’t know how it got there: just stay completely silent other than to demand a lawyer. Don’t sign anything, either.
If you think that your rights have been violated at any point, then, as soon as you’re able, write down everything that you remember. This might be precisely which agency the officers came from, their names and badge numbers if you know them, the patrol car numbers, and the names and contact of any witnesses that might have been there. If you’re injured, get medical attention as quickly as you can and, if possible, take pictures of those injuries. Your lawyer can then help you to file a written complaint as well as use this in your defense on trafficking charges.
Protecting Yourself
You do have rights, and if those rights are violated, your lawyer can do something concrete about this. But even if your rights are being violated, doing certain things could make your case much harder to win and could even jeopardize your health and safety. Here are some things you really want to avoid when you’ve been stopped by the police:
Running
Absolutely do not run and do not attempt to escape by driving away. When the police indicate that they intend to pull you over, cooperate and pull over as soon as it’s safe to do so. Do not attempt to run away from the police once the stop has been made. In 100% of cases, this does not work. The police will either catch you immediately on foot or find you later, and the situation will be much worse for you. Even if you are completely innocent of marijuana trafficking, once you start running, you can now be charged with other things. And if you are guilty, your best chance at getting a good plea deal or a lesser charge is through cooperation.
Rummaging
Once the police have pulled you over, don’t lean over and start messing around with stuff in your car. If you do that, especially if it’s in the glove box or under your seat, you’re going to make the police nervous. You may just be looking for your license and registration, but they don’t know that: they may believe that you are rummaging around for a gun, and they will be scared. If the police are already on edge, any movement you make could, in a best-case scenario, be misinterpreted as an attempt to resist arrest or, in a worst-case scenario, even cost you your life.
Resisting
Resist all the attempts to get you to talk about what you’re doing or answer questions other than your name, license, registration, and proof that you’ve got insurance. Resist their request to search your car by saying no verbally. But physically, you must never resist anything that the police are doing. Cooperate fully with what they say to do, don’t leave your vehicle unless they tell you to do so, and make no attempt to stop them from searching you or your vehicle even if they have no right to do so. Your lawyer can take care of this later.
If you’ve been arrested for marijuana trafficking, call us right away so we can get to work building a strong defense for you. Visit Cannon & Associates in Oklahoma City today or call us at (405) 657-2323 for a free case strategy session.