Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant Can I fight this Motion to Revoke warrant for my arrest?

[DazedMonkey]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas

I'm a quadriplegic and use medical marijuana for extreme muscle spasms because it is the only thing that saves me without really bad side effects of pharmaceuticals. A small town sheriff has harassed and slandered me for 12 years until I finally gave in and stupidly accepted 6 months deferred adjudicated probation on a class B misdemeanor which started Nov 2nd. This gave them the ticket to come after me. They didn't need a search warrant to give me a probation visit. On Dec. 22nd, 4 sheriff cars came to my house and ransacked it while I wasn't even there. My probation officer didn't come with them and wasn't even aware the sheriff came to my house. I was in bed with the flu at my mother's house next door where I sleep every night. The house they raided was my office\day house caretaken by renters. There was 2 people in my house during the raid. They kicked in the doors and said to the 2 people that they smell smoke and asked them where my office was, then they searched the whole house, kicking in doors to renter's rooms also. Then they left without arresting the 2 people present who was accused of the smokey air. The sheriff didn't come get me at my mom's next door or contact me, so I assumed my house\office was clean. I informed my probation officer of the raid, and he said he would let me know if they found something. I went to my final probation visit today April 15th (6 months and 13 days after it began) and received a motion to revoke probation because of an arrest warrant for shavings of pot found on my computer desk on Dec. 22nd. So, they took me to put me in jail. Ironically, I had rubbed a pressure sore on my leg because of extreme spasms due to not smoking pot, and have been under doctor's care to not sit in my wheelchair for over 2 hours at a time until I heal. So, I was let go until I heal and then I'm supposed to turn myself in for arrest.

Here are my questions?
1) Was the warrant-less probation visit (house ransacked) legal without my probation officer knowing and me not being there?

2) If the 2 people that were at my house\office had access to my computer area and the sheriff proclaims to smell smoke upon entering, why were the 2 not arrested if they found shavings of weed.

3) They were ready to put me in jail with nurse care. On a motion to revoke warrant with deferred adjudication, can't I still be bonded and get out?...or is it up to the judge?

4) I haven't been officially arrested, so can a lawyer approach a judge now and defend me and get the motion to revoke reversed?

5) When rights reserved to the states, such as medical marijuana laws, create an extreme difference of inequality among citizens, isn't it an attack on the basics of civil rights? In Texas, I'm judged as a criminal for just stopping my pain and the sheriff wants to put me in prison. In california, no pain and no fear. I want to take this civil rights issue to the supreme court.

Reply here with any advice you have.

Thanks and God Bless.

C.

 

[jharris352]

1) Was the warrant-less probation visit (house ransacked) legal without my probation officer knowing and me not being there?

I do not think any police officer can search your alleged residence when you are not there without a warrant and have anything stand up.

2) If the 2 people that were at my house\office had access to my computer area and the sheriff proclaims to smell smoke upon entering, why were the 2 not arrested if they found shavings of weed.

You would have to ask the Sheriff. That is really the wrong question. How do they pin the Marijuana on YOU if they were in the house and you weren't? That's a much better question because that one gets you off.

3) They were ready to put me in jail with nurse care. On a motion to revoke warrant with deferred adjudication, can't I still be bonded and get out?...or is it up to the judge?

I don't know.

4) I haven't been officially arrested, so can a lawyer approach a judge now and defend me and get the motion to revoke reversed?

If a warrant has been issued then your lawyer can get a probable cause hearing and defeat the charge that way.

5) When rights reserved to the states, such as medical marijuana laws, create an extreme difference of inequality among citizens, isn't it an attack on the basics of civil rights? In Texas, I'm judged as a criminal for just stopping my pain and the sheriff wants to put me in prison. In california, no pain and no fear. I want to take this civil rights issue to the supreme court.

You should live in California. Texas gets to make their own laws.

 

[mightymoose]

The terms of your probation dictate who can search and when. It is not always necessary that you be there, but usually the PO is notified prior. The fact that they showed up to search is not necessarily a problem, but the scope of the search once they came in might be. Kicking down doors, if that is in fact what they did, is a problem.

As for your friends, they were not in possession of anything that would cause them to be arrested. Perhaps if they had it in their pockets we would have a different situation. The shavings were found in a common area of YOUR residence. Your friends obviously disowned the weed, which means that it is YOURS. It will be up to you to convince your PO or a judge otherwise... but be warned that excuse has never worked for anyone before.

I think anything that has to do with the status of the warrant will be an issue for the judge that issued it.

Your constitutional question is not thought out well. Your problem is with state law.

I'm just going out on a limb here, but I can only wonder why the local law enforcement would be so fixated on someone that is quadriplegic. Having you in custody has many difficulties such as providing you medical care and having to tend to special needs that other inmates don't have. I have to guess that they suspect you are selling marijuana or doing something more than self-medicating. It's the only thing that makes sense that might cause them to come and search and pursue any of this.

 

[jharris352]

Moose, I'm glad you think that the excuse of having someone else in your common area has never worked before but it does. Either of those people could have thrown that weed down and he is not in possession of anything unless it is in a place where he has exclusive control over it. You should know that, you're a cop. If he isn't stupid and tells a cop who asks him if it is his dope, he can easily beat it. Generally you guys get people to tell on themselves. I'm sitting watching a cop show right now and I am screaming at the television "SHUT UP" JUST SHUT THE HELL UP! I'm amazed how much you guys get perps to talk.

When a cop asks you a question, just give your name address and id and SHUT UP. There is a reason that Miranda rights say:

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say CAN AND WILL BE HELD AGAINST YOU IN A COURT OF LAW. It doesn't say, if you say something dumb, it says ANYTHING you say CAN AND WILL be used against you.

Anyway, my rant is done. Stay safe Moose.

 

[mightymoose]

Well... I am assuming that the desk was in a common area... it might not have been. However, the fact that he is on probation complicates things. We don't know the terms of the probation.
Anyway, we are talking about a quadriplegic here. In terms of exclusive control he couldn't really be held responsible for anything in a strict sense. The fact that it was present, or that he associates with people that brought it into the house, are likely valid reasons to violate his probation (again depending on the terms). Perhaps its not enough to charge him with a new offense... but enough for a probation violation.
Somebody has to purchase and prepare this weed for him... just because someone else is handling it for him (because he can't) doesn't mean that it isn't his.

 

[jharris352]

Very Good my dear Watson! You are very correct!

 

[army judge]

Dazed Monkey, Texas has no provision for medical marijuana.

I'm not sure why you believe you can use any kind of marijuana in Texas?

I've practiced law in Texas for many years, and never heard this defense.

If you want to use medical marijuana (an oxymoronic term), go west to California.

As far as the search, you were on probation.

In Texas, they can search your home 24 times (or more) a day without a warrant.

Your medical condition notwithstanding, deferred adjudication is great if you keep all the terms.

If you mess up, you'll do some serious time.

I suggest you engage an attorney of your choosing, because you are in some deep caca!

Texas has been a staunch opponent of any marijuana use for many, many years.

What California or any other state chooses to do is up to the legislature of that state.

Texas' people are very clear when it comes to any drug use, we are against it, and have tough laws to curtail it.

I suugest you get your affairs in order.

You may be taking a trip very soon and you could be away a very long time.

As far as the Feds are concerned, you do know that the national government has also been a staunch opponent against medical marijuana, too.

 

[DazedMonkey]

More info

The search was because I've been harassed for 12 years. I'm in the news a lot for testifying for medical marijuana in front of committees at state congress in Austin, and the local sheriff doesn't like me putting the county in the news. Last year, there were 20 instances of the sheriff pulling my van over or my friends and family leaving my house without finding anything. One night, a sheriff came on my porch without a warrant just to give me a piece of his mind. In this small town, me and the sheriff are the only ones with the same last name but not kin, and I've been told that he isn't gonna stand for someone with the same name hurting him politically if voters think we are kin. I found out that in my file, they spread to all deputies that i'm a suspected crystal meth ringleader. And I was told that they upped their nursing facilities in the jail just to show me being a quadriplegic won't save me.

Before you judge me, I was valedictorian of my class in this small town and I have an engineering degree. Maintaining my health is major to me. It's tough surviving as a quadriplegic, and I don't want to harm my body. Marijuana stops my extreme muscle spasms and allows me to balance in a wheelchair and work. I've tried every drug prescribed possible. Baclofen and flexiril cause accelerated heart rate and shortness of breath. Soma muscle relaxers build a tolerance requiring more and more, and they turn me into a drooling idiot. Valium won't stop the spasms unless high dosage is used which causes major memory loss for me.

My only hope for future arrests is use Texas Penal Code 9.22 which is breaking the law due to medical necessity. A medical marijuana user used it last year in Texas and was acquitted by a jury in 11 minutes.