Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant Unjustifiable Arrest?

[ji22my]

Hi. I have a question if this is a unjustifiable arrest.

I live in illinois.
I have had my license suspended and received a probationary license from the sec. of state. No restrictions. So driving home one day, with my seat belt on, a State cop pulls beside me then pulls me over. He comes up and says that I wasn't wearing my seat belt. I told Him that I was, but he did not care. Anyway, when he asked for my license, I told him the story how it is suspended but I have a Probationary permit. He tells me he has never seen one before and my license is suspended and arrests me. Before they tow my car, the search it and find Under 2.5 grams of weed. So, I was arrested for under 2.5, and driving under suspended. Also, car was towed.

The next day I called the Sec. of State and made sure I was ok. He said that it never should have happended, and I was ok to continue driving. I wanted to make sure, so it would not happen again.


So, it happended again. I called the Lieutenant in charge. He said that they would take care of it. They didn't, and I went to court, and they didn't care. All they wanted to know was guilty or not guilty.

So my Question is, What the hell is going on?

But really, since they had no reason to arrest me the under 2.5 should get thrown out, right?

Any help on what to do.

 

[army judge]

Hi. I have a question if this is a unjustifiable arrest.

I live in illinois.
I have had my license suspended and received a probationary license from the sec. of state. No restrictions. So driving home one day, with my seat belt on, a State cop pulls beside me then pulls me over. He comes up and says that I wasn't wearing my seat belt. I told Him that I was, but he did not care. Anyway, when he asked for my license, I told him the story how it is suspended but I have a Probationary permit. He tells me he has never seen one before and my license is suspended and arrests me. Before they tow my car, the search it and find Under 2.5 grams of weed. So, I was arrested for under 2.5, and driving under suspended. Also, car was towed.

The next day I called the Sec. of State and made sure I was ok. He said that it never should have happended, and I was ok to continue driving. I wanted to make sure, so it would not happen again.


So, it happended again. I called the Lieutenant in charge. He said that they would take care of it. They didn't, and I went to court, and they didn't care. All they wanted to know was guilty or not guilty.

So my Question is, What the hell is going on?

But really, since they had no reason to arrest me the under 2.5 should get thrown out, right?

Any help on what to do.

First of all, there no unjustifiable arrests in legal parlance.

There are illegal arrests.

Yours doesn't appear to be one, as the officer will claim he acted reasonably and had probable cause.

You might have a case against the trooper.

You should consult with an attorney in your area and discuss a civil suit.

The trooper may be immune, if he acted properly under color of law. Conversely, the reverse could be possible. That is what you should discuss with a couple of local attorneys.

The "weed" is another problem. It is an illegal substance. The officer will claim that he wasn't searching your car. He was merely inventorying it, prior to the tow and concurrent with your arrest.

The trooper is required by law to seize contraband. He did. You were charged.

You'll need a defense attorney to assist you with defending those charges. At this point, only the court can dismiss the charges. The prosecutor can recommend their dismissal.

Ask the court to appoint an for you, if you can't afford your own. Only discuss this with your attorney. Plead not guilty and offer no statement. You are in a good position, but it could be better.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mightymoose]

It sounds like you should be able to easily defend yourself against the suspended license charges.
You likely won't have as much luck fighting the marijuana charge since the search of your vehicle was legitimate.... however if you make enough noise over twice being arrested when it appears you should not have been, you might be able to get the whole thing dropped.
If you are able to hire on an attorney to represent you it will probably help to make it all go away.

 

[tpajet]

Maybe this is an Illinois thing, but if you have a probationary license, don't you have it as a physical license to hand to the officer? Or is it only in the computer?

When you went to court and they only wanted to know guilty or not guilty, keep in mind that was just an arraignment. That was not the time to fight this. Hopefully you pleaded not guilty. When you go to court the next time, that is the time to bring this up. If you have nothing in writing now (no physical license, etc) then call the secretary of state and BRIEFLY explain what is going on and that you need a letter sent to you verifying that you do in fact have a probationary license. That way you will have something as evidence in court.

 

[CdwJava]

If the court finds that the officer's observation of no seatbelt is valid, then the detention is good. If the detention is good, and the state DMV record shows the license was suspended, then the arrest for that charge is good (assuming this is an arrestable offense which I imagine it is). If the arrest is good, then the inventory of the vehicle prior to impound is proper (and there may be other legal justifications as well, such as searching for paperwork).

In any event, you need an attorney. I suspect a plea deal is in your future unless your attorney can get the officer to admit on the stand that you MIGHT have had a seatbelt on.

 

[looplaw]

There are a lot of good responses on here.

There must be "probable cause" (pc) to pull your vehicle over in Illinois. Without it everything, including contraband and statements made are "fruit of the poisonous tree" (legal jargon for whatever is found is not admissible becuase it was obtained improperly).

However, as another poster has stated, the way the officer writes up his report will often be skewed in the Officers favor so that the traffic stop is valid.

I recommend you hire an attorney. The way the Arresting Officers narrative is important to your case.

 

[ji22my]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to talk to a lawyer in a couple days since the court date for the second arrest is tomorrow.

I have a little more info to add......

After the first arrest, when I called Springfield to talk to them I also talked to a sargent in the state police district that arrested me. I gave him the name of the guy in springfield. He called him and called me back and told me I was OK to drive, and he was gonna send a memo to all state police of what happend. I should not have an issue again.

When it happend the second time it was a differant cop that pulled me over, but the first one showed up. He was being a an ass. Asking me what I was doing driving, was I stupid, blah, blah.... I asked him if he got the memo and that I spoke with his boss and he told me I was good. He called me a liar becouse I could not remember his name. So that time I posted $100 bond on the spot and they let me go, but towed my car.


The next day I talked to the lieutenant. He told me that the arresting officers would talk to the States Attorney and see if I would even have to show up for court. I recieved a call from the first officer, he apologized and said sorry for any inconvience that occured. said he would be in touch with me. The next time I herd from him was the day before court. I missed his call from a restricted number and he left a voice mail saying to get ahold of him and left no way to contact him back.

So after I got out of court, I called the lieutenant back and asked him what happend. He got upset with the officers and told me he will make sure that they would talk to the states attorney. That night I had 3 missed calls from a restricted number, but no voice mails. He could at least leave a message with a way to contact him. Since I have to do sidework after work to pay for all of this, I rarely can ansewer my phone and have to call everyone back.

I am done talking to them and am going to let the lawyer take car of it all.