This is simply a ficticious story that I needed advice on if it were to occur. Ok, myself, and 2 of my friends were out on a Friday night. It was approximately 12:35 a.m. and 2 of us had not yet started drinking. We arrived at our first club of the night. I was driving and I had one friend in the passenger seat and one in the back seat in the middle. I backed into a parking spot sort of behind a building (storage facility) located about 20 or 30 feet adjacent to the nightclub we were to attend. Club goers do park in this lot too though. One of the guys in the car had about a gram of what they said was cocaine and wanted to do it before entering the club. While the passenger was dividing the substance on a CD case on the front center console of the car with the doors closed and the lights off, he handed me the small pack of substance and I saw an unmarked car driving slowly about 30 feet away in the direction of the club's parking lot. They were looking at my car and may or may not have seen some suspicious movements by the other 2 members of my group while in the car. I told everyone to get out and we would enter the club. The unmarked cop car made the round through the club's parking lot slowly. While I was out of the car, the passenger in the car did one of the lines and then supposedly dusted the rest off but left the CD case on lying on the center console. We went into the club and stayed for about 5 or 10 minutes. The passenger wanted to get some money from the bank so he and I began to leave the club and walk back to my car. Upon turning the corner to arrive back to the location of my car, the narcotics officers' car was parked 2 cars down from my car and were walking towards us saying that they needed to talk with us. I put my hands into my pockets to get my keys to get ready to leave the lot. He told me to get my hands out of my pockets. They then told us both to come to their car and put our hands on the hood. They said they saw residue on my seats from cocaine. They then began to ask us if we had anything in our pockets. I said I had my keys and my phone and some money. They searched us and found about 6/10 of a gram pack of powder in my front pocket with my keys and phone. They then asked me if they could search the car or if they should get the dogs over. I said they could search. They swabbed the seats with a cutip and the tip turned blue and they charged my passenger with possession of cocaine. Since the other guy wasn't with us either, they swabbed the back seat and charged me with another count of possession since he wasn't there to claim it. The officer did not impound the car. They let my girlfriend come and pick it up. They gave my girlfriend the money ($200) that was found on my person to allow me to post bail and they gave her my cell phone also.
My questions are:
Is this a legal search and seizure being that the officers couldn't really make our identities out enough in the dark from about 30 feet away. And do they have the right to search us being that we were walking back towards the location of the car but had no cut and dry proof that we were the same people that they thought they saw previously involved in the suspicious activities?
Also, I was on probation at the time but neither of the officers knew of this as represented by them asking permission to search the car but they never asked permission to search my person. Also, I told them that I was on probation without any questioning on their part. But I told them this after we were in custody and in their patrol car (approximately 30 mintues after everything was over). I know I don't have rights as everyone else does if they knew I was on probation but being that they didn't know, is this a legal search?
Also, as I understand it, if they allowed us to enter a dwelling after the suspicious behavior was occurring and then come out after the behavior is over, they don't have the right to search us after the fact, do they? They actually let us enter the night club and then waited for us back at the car. Any advice is much appreciated and any pertaining questions I can answer to help with the answering of the post, I will provide quickly. Thank you.
My questions are:
Is this a legal search and seizure being that the officers couldn't really make our identities out enough in the dark from about 30 feet away. And do they have the right to search us being that we were walking back towards the location of the car but had no cut and dry proof that we were the same people that they thought they saw previously involved in the suspicious activities?
Also, I was on probation at the time but neither of the officers knew of this as represented by them asking permission to search the car but they never asked permission to search my person. Also, I told them that I was on probation without any questioning on their part. But I told them this after we were in custody and in their patrol car (approximately 30 mintues after everything was over). I know I don't have rights as everyone else does if they knew I was on probation but being that they didn't know, is this a legal search?
Also, as I understand it, if they allowed us to enter a dwelling after the suspicious behavior was occurring and then come out after the behavior is over, they don't have the right to search us after the fact, do they? They actually let us enter the night club and then waited for us back at the car. Any advice is much appreciated and any pertaining questions I can answer to help with the answering of the post, I will provide quickly. Thank you.
