Legal Questions, Marijuana Posession

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Legal Anonymous

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Please move this as an anonymous posting to the Legal Q&A Section.
Tonight was quite a night. Just off the bat, I live in NJ, USA, and I am a minor. This was my first run in with the law, ever. In fact, it was the fifth time I have smoked Marijuana in my life.

To start, I met up with a friend of mine (i'll call him Mike), who is also a minor, and his older brother (i'll call him Richard), who is not a minor, to pick up 60$ worth of weed (3 grams) which I had asked Mike to get for me. We were planning to go and see a movie. I wanted to smoke before going to see the movie, and they had already smoked before they picked me up, so Mike gave me a bowl and my weed, while Richard drove around and I took a hit. Almost as soon as I was done, we stopped at a stop sign, opposite a cop car parked in a grassy area off the side of the road. I'd like to point out that the cop could not see the bowl or the weed, as soon as I saw him I moved it from waist level onto my lap. After turning at the stop sign, heading back for the movie theatre, the cop pulled us over. I took my 60$ (3 grams) worth and the bowl and put it in my pocket, and I put the lighter in a cup holder by a pack of Marlboros. The cop approached the car, looked at Richard's licence and registration, and then asked him to step out of the car, as he was getting out, Richard asked what was wrong, and the officer replied that there was a broken tail light.

At this point the cop started talking to Richard behind the car, on the sidewalk. I overheard them talking about where we were going, when they had picked me up. He then told Richard to sit on the curb, got me out of the car, and asked me the same questions. His final question was "Do you have any drugs on you?" I answered no. He then asked the same of Mike, after sitting me back in the car. Mike then came back to the car, and the cop started talking with Richard again. They talked for a long time, about half an hour, at which point another officer arrived, in a K-9 unit car. This new officer spoke with the first, and then asked me to get out and said to me that Richard had already given them a bag of weed, and that this was my chance to "just tell the truth." Or, they said I could have the dog sniff me, possible biting me, and where I was sitting in the car, to see if it found anything. I was hesitant, I thought he might be bluffing, so I said nothing, but after about ten seconds he got Mike out of the car, told him the same story. At this point, Mike pulled out of his pocket a bottle of prescription Percacet, which had some weed in it.

I then decided I was pretty screwed, so I handed over the little baggie (3 grams, 60$ worth in NJ is nothing) and the bowl. He then told us both to sit down on the curb, at which point two more cops showed up, and the K-9 officer then used the dog to search the car. They then hancuffed all three of us, and told us that this was the smart thing to do and that it was good we had told the truth. They put Richard in a separate car while Mike and I were put together in one car and took us all to the station. They asked me to fill out a form giving my age, name, address, and parents phone number. They called my parents (It was 10:30 then, a great call for my parents to get) and asked them to come down to the station. About 45 minutes later my Dad arrived, and they brought me into an interrogation room where he and the first officer were sitting. The officer showed me a peice of paper that was all about my rights, waiving them, whether I was pressured into complying, Miranda stuff I assume. I thought about it for a while, asked my dad if he thought we should get a lawyer. My dad thought I should tell the truth, and I thought about it some more. I was really fucked up at the time, and I made the connection in my head somewhere that my dad would be paying for the lawyer and that he thought I should just tell the truth, so I did. I signed the paper about my rights, and my dad did also.

I told the officer we had met at a MacDonalds, just accross from the movie theatre, that Mike had given me weed I had paid him for, that Richard just drove us down the road and back again, and that I took a hit before seeing the police car. The officer wrote this down, calling it a statement, and then showed me another piece of paper which charged me with Possesion of Narcotics and Possesion of Drug Paraphenilia. I signed this paper, and so did my Dad. He then said we were free to go, that we would receive a notice for court appearance in the mail. We left, and I had a long talk with my parents when I got back home.

So basically, my questions are:
1) What kind of sentance am I facing as a minor?
2) Should I get a lawyer now?
3) Should I ever have taken the fifth, not shown the second officer my baggie, and asked for a lawyer?
4) Or is there something else I should have done?

Help greatly appreciated.
 
1) Most likely probation, fines, maybe community service, and possibly drug "education" classes. It's kind of done on a case by case basis. One thing that would really help is taking a substance abuse evaluation and passing it before going to court. That will go a long way as far as convincing the judge that you're a good kid who made a mistake, not some addict.

2) It always helps, but since you consented to the search and later confessed you have no chance of getting off. Still, a lawyer could be helpful in getting you the lightest possible sentence.

3) For future reference, you should remain silent except for giving the police "administrative" information-name, address, and all that stuff. They're going to bust you either way, and since the cops don't have much of a say in your sentence anyway, all that "Cooperate and we'll go easier on you stuff" is bunk anyway. They won't.

4) Well, there's alot you should have done differently, but it doesn't matter now. One thing that really stands out is that you shouldn't have said where you got it from. Your friend's brother is now probably facing felony distribution charges thanks to you.
 
Just a reminder folks, we are here to create a welcome environment for people to post genuine legal questions. Just because his/her behavior runs counter to whatever normative concept you've defined as acceptable, leave your mouth shut unless you have something constructive to contribute.
 
I wouldn't be concerned with what I should have/could have done. It's a very frigtening situation to be in...I remember the first time I was approached by the police when I was under the influence of drugs, and it was not pretty.

If I were you, I would find a lawyer who does free consultation for criminal cases. Meet with the lawyer, ask him/her all of the questions you posted here and then determine if you need a lawyer or not. In most cases, such as this, you will get a minimum sentence, being a first offense. A question you need to ask, though, is what is New Jersey's Policy on the amount of pot you possess in comparison with the intent to sell. A lot of states, to my knowledge at any rate, are lowering the amount. I don't think you have to worry about it with 3 grams...but it's another question for a lawyer.

I really don't think that you need to hire an attorney, but I would DEF meet with one before you go into court!!!

Keep your head up...stuff like this happens to the best of us. Just make sure you learn from your mistakes...and deal with the situation. GOOD LUCK
 
Legally, the best thing to do whenever you have a run-in with the law is to remain silent. You should provide only your name, address, and age. If you are carrying something you shouldn't be, do not consent to a search.

However, in some instances, cooperating with police officers may prevent you from being arrested, whereas being tight-lipped will almost always get you arrested, because officers do not like to feel that you are not respecting their authority. Although WNB said that cooperation will never help you, this is incorrect. WNB is correct in stating that police officers have no role in sentencing, but the truth is that judges are more lenient on cooperative defendants than they are on rebellious defendants. So it's a delicate balancing act. If you cooperate, you might walk and avoid court costs and headaches. However, if you do talk and are overly-cooperative, you could be hurting yourself legally.

The way that i have always handled it has been on a severity scale. If my potential offense is very severe, I will do what will best serve my interests in front of a jury. However, if my potential offense is minor, I might try to wiggle my way out of it.
 
quick question relating to the situation.

say same circumstances. my friends and i are in a car.
one of them gives up something in their pocket.
is that probable cause to search me, now that someone else in the car/house or wherever has something?
 
autopilot said:
However, in some instances, cooperating with police officers may prevent you from being arrested, whereas being tight-lipped will almost always get you arrested, because officers do not like to feel that you are not respecting their authority. Although WNB said that cooperation will never help you, this is incorrect. WNB is correct in stating that police officers have no role in sentencing, but the truth is that judges are more lenient on cooperative defendants than they are on rebellious defendants. So it's a delicate balancing act. If you cooperate, you might walk and avoid court costs and headaches. However, if you do talk and are overly-cooperative, you could be hurting yourself legally.
Click to expand...

This is VERY BAD ADVICE. If you want to cooperate, you can always do so AFTER you get a lawyer.

There's a big difference between cooperating with the POLICE and cooperating with the prosecutor/judge.

Talking with the police before you get a lawyer is simply asking for it. They're not under any obligation to go easy on you, even if they promise to do so. The only person who has the authority to cut a deal with you is the prosecutor.

I've seen many many clients who "cooperated" with the police before they got a lawyer, and they got absolutely screwed.
 
Or, they said I could have the dog sniff me, possible biting me,
Click to expand...

So they told you that they would have the dog sniff you, and possibly bite you, if you didn't give them what they wanted? I think that would scare almost anyone into giving themselves up. Of course the police would lie about saying that if it came up in court, but it's still shitty.

Given that you are a minor, you will probably recieve a light sentence. I wouldn't suspect you would get anything greater than probation/community service/court costs. The best thing you can get from this, is the valuable lesson you have learned about cooperating with the police.
 
don't listen to Mahan Atma.

As many people who get screwed by cooperating with police get screwed for not cooperating with police. Being cooperative with police is often looked upon by judges as a mitigating factor. I'm not saying you should incriminate yourself, i'm just acknowledging the fact that an officer who gets pissedat how your dealing with him can arrest you even the charges are weak, because there is no consequence for him when he arrests someone who later is found to be innocent. Thus, if you're being an asshole to a cop, he can arrest you and put you through the trouble of court and paying court costs. It's happened to me. Twice. I could have avoided a hell of a lot of trouble by simply being more cooperative, which is what my friend did, who was allowed to walk away, while i was arrested.
 
plus, look at mahan atma's picture in his profile. you really want to trust that guy?
 
Yeah, but here's an example: let's say you are walking through a park at night and a cop stops you. He uses his legal ability to pats you down, and suspects that you have a bag of weed in your pocket, which you do. He asks to see. A cooperative person would pull it out, and go to jail. But if you say, "I know my rights, and I don't have to do that," then the situation is resolved without you going to jail.

Let's say that he illegally forces you to show him the weed. A cooperative person would answer all their questions and enable them to build up a bullet-proof case against you, ensuring your guilt. An uncooperative person would refuse to speak without a lawyer, be damned how it looks refusing to talk to the cops. Now they have nothing on you except evidence which was illegally siezed. You are off.

He doesn't mean be uncooperative with the police, he means that you should exercize your rights. A judge can't hold your silence against you because it is your right to be silent.
 
i'm saying that if you have a fake id in your pocket and you get stopped to be questioned, if you just answer the questions, they might let you go on your way, whereas if you are difficult, they might arrest for obstructing official business and then search your wallet, find the fake id, and bam you're busted.

which is exactly what happened to me.
 
Ya, let me just say from experience..Not being a dick ie only giving your name etc and not answering any other questions will get you a guaranteed ride in the back of that car. I didnt bullshit on what I had when I got caught, told the guy where my shit was, and he let me go just because I was honest with him.

Its a fine line you have to walk when it comes to giving info to the police. There is no cookie cutter advice.
 
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