Anne Arundel County Police arrested two people on Thursday after a search of their car revealed over $10,000 worth of cocaine. What I find of interest is why did they search the car? According to the news article, "Officers approached the vehicle and arrested Johnson on charges that he was driving on a suspended license." Upon checking his vehicle, all of the evidence was found. Another question I have is "when you say 'checking' do you really mean 'searching'? Or did the police see all of the evidence sitting in plain view on the backseat?"

As a defense attorney, I hope the police only found the evidence after searching the car and the justification for doing this without a warrant is "search incident to arrest." If that is the justification for searching the car, all of the evidence should be thrown out of court if the only basis for the arrest was for driving on a suspended license.

Previously, "search incident to arrest" was one exception to the law requiring a warrant before conducting a search. It allowed police to search a person during or following a lawful arrest. With regards to vehicle stops, it allowed police to also search the passenger area of the car if the person arrested was in the vehicle.

That all changed in 2009 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Arizona v. Gant. In that case, the defendant was arrested for driving on a suspended license and argued to the court that there was no reason for the officers to search his car following his arrest. He was handcuffed and sitting in the back of the patrol car when the police searched his car.
The court agreed and decided that because he was not presenting a threat to the officers, not within reach of anything in his vehicle, and searching his vehicle would not produce any evidence of the crime for which he was being arrested.

This case severely limited the powers of police. The "search incident to arrest" exception was something that police used very often as a reason to search the entire passenger area of the car. Now, once the defendant is secure and away from the vehicle, the only way the police can legally search the car is if they have reason to believe there is evidence of the crime in the car. And it must be a search for evidence of the crime that allowed the arrest.

Police can no longer search the car under the guise of a "search incident to arrest" for arrests for driving on a suspended license, driving without a license, driving uninsured, etc. These two individuals in Anne Arundel County are going to need an effective Maryland criminal defense attorney to challenge the serious felony charges they are facing.

Written by Colleen Kirby.

Recently, I have been dealing with more and more domestic violence cases. If you read my last blog about how easy it is to file charges against someone, you will understand why there is such a large volume of domestic cases. Domestic violence is a widespread and critical problem. Legitimate victims need the time and attention of the criminal justice system. They are being deprived of that by the large number of false accusations being filed by angry and emotional individuals at the commissioners' office.

While I understand the importance of legitimate victims seeking justice, I more often find myself working very hard to defend and protect individuals against false accusations from an angry ex. Most of these individuals have never had any contact with the criminal justice system and are understandably terrified. I put every effort into resolving the case so that my client can walk away with a clean record....whether it be convincing the state to dismiss the charges, or taking it to trial.

Either way, it all begins with one person deciding to go to the commissioner's office and file criminal charges. There may or may not have been an actual crime committed. However, one common theme seems to run throughout all of these cases - inflammatory statements. The person filing is emotional and upset and seems to think that "if I convince the court that he/she is a terrible person, a harsher punishment will result."
These inflammatory statements are almost always 100% irrelevant as to whether there was a crime committed. I have accusations such as: he has a history of abusing drugs, he previously broke my jaw bone, he was violent with his last girlfriend, etc. And please disregard my usage of gender because I have seen these allegations from both men and women alike.

In some cases, the person filing charges may or may not even be the real victim. They are just the one that was angry enough to try to get the other person sent to jail. Either way, if charges are filed, the person who is accused of committing a crime is now a "defendant" and needs to hire a competent criminal defense attorney to compile a defense. That involves not only time and money, but more importantly the stress of having to go to court and face the allegations.

Here is the main problem with this system: the real victims of domestic violence get lost in the mix. Domestic violence is a very serious issue. Victims require the appropriate attention and protections of the criminal justice system. However, because of the ease of filing charges and the volume of cases, it is difficult to distinguish the legitimate claims from the false claims. The people filing false accusations are doing a grave disservice to the individuals that have legitimate claims and need protection.

Based on all of my experience in dealing with these cases, a better screening system needs to be put in place. There should be a difference in how cases are handled. For example, when there is an allegation of a real threat, it should absolutely be taken with all seriousness and every resource should be used to ensure the victim will remain safe. Compare this to an allegation that someone was the victim of telephone harassment, when the evidence shows fewer than 5 calls were made on one day and one day alone. Should that person have a warrant for their arrest issued and sit in jail for those phone calls? I suppose it depends on the context of the calls and the reasonable likelihood of the person calling causing any harm.

This blog post was written by Maryland Criminal Defense Lawyer Colleen Kirby.