San Diego Criminal Lawyers Blog
Detainment by the police is not an ideal situation; it can come with excessive distress and angst. The important thing for anyone who is pulled over by a California law enforcement officer is to know that cooperation is key to preserving your legal rights, civil liberties, and freedoms. Regardless of your connection with a crime, becoming aggressive and uncooperative with law enforcement will almost always result in an unfavorable legal outcome for you.
There are several reasons why working with a San Diego criminal defense attorney is beneficial for defendants. A skilled and tactical California criminal defense attorney is immensely helpful for defendants when they are detained by ensuring police do not unfairly question them and bully them into self-incrimination. The advantages of working with an attorney do not end there. Your legal counsel will know how to comprehensively evaluate your criminal situation and extract any incidents where there was misconduct on the part of authorities. If there is evidence of inappropriate or unlawful behavior by law enforcement, you can have the evidence they collected against you either be thrown out or you could potentially have your charges completely dropped.
David M. Boertje has dedicated his life to protecting the rights and liberties of individuals arrested for crimes in Los Angeles. He has a thorough knowledge of California criminal laws and keeps up to date on all changes that transpire. He knows about the programs and alternative options that individuals arrested for crimes have available to avoid prison time and to beat their charges.
When Can a California Police Officer Engage in Stop-And-Frisk Actions?
It is legal for a California police officer to pat you down. An officer can pull you over or stop you if they have some amount of suspicion that you were involved in a crime. If they have a valid court-ordered warrant, they can come to your home and make an arrest. If you are only detained for a short amount of time and not patted down, then this is known as a Terry Stop. However, if the police think that you have weapons on your person, they can then elevate a Terry Stop to a stop-and-frisk where they can physically inspect your body to feel for potential weapons.
You have rights too, though. The 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution protects you from being victimized by unreasonable search and seizure actions against you by the authorities. If you were illegally stopped and frisked by law enforcement in California, this is a breach of your civil rights. When this type of behavior happens, the information collected, or evidence against you will be invalid with respect to supporting your criminal charges. Continue reading