Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant Were the officers right??

[Juwlz125]

The state or country I am talking about is: Long Island, New York

I was pulled over friday night after leaving a "drug house". The two people in the car with me were automatically taken out the car and searched. I was told to get out and then patted down. They proceeded to search my car even though i argued because I didn't understand why I had anything to do with this. They found a small baggie of cocaine under the passenger seat... my "friend" who was the one that it belonged to played stupid and said it wasn't his.. since no one would confess to it, they arrested all three of us... but NEVER read us our rights. Were they wrong for that? Now I have to deal with "possession in the 7th" criminal charge... and Ive never had any legal probems EVER. I've never even gotten a ticket. Some advice please? Thanks

 

[NYClex]

It is a little naive to say you don't know why you should have anything to do with this if you say first that you pulled away from a "drug house."

Given the few details here it sounds as if all of it was perfectly legal. The "rights" question often is misunderstood, the reading of the rights under Miranda has nothing to do with the legality of the arrest. Failure to read the rights only means that nothing you said to the cops can be introduced as evidence. But the arrest and especially the hard evidence found are not affected by this.

Under New York law a driver/owner of a car can be held responsible for contraband found in the car, depending on the measure of control over it etc. This is something you should discuss with your attorney.

 

[Juwlz125]

lets try this again

I'm sorry I should have been clearer in what happened. I did not have any idea that we were at a drug house. It was the first time I met one of the guys I was with and the other guy was someone I only hung out with twice before. So I am not naive. Anyway, I was just curious if what the police officer said was correct. He said since this is my first offence, that it might get dropped down to disorderly conduct. Can you explain this? I am very confused.. thank you... I live in NY, by the way.

 

[NYClex]

Well, if you can get the prosecutor to "drop" the charges down to a disorderly conduct charge you will be very lucky, because this is much better than having a drug arrest record. You realy should discuss this with a criminal defense lawyer