Challenging a traffic stop can be tough. Because of Interstate 80 (I-80), the state of Iowa has pursued an absolutely extreme volume of drug cases involving the transportation of motor vehicles, and although you may really feel helpless, there are actually several and reliable methods to challenge traffic stops. This is certainly true in the latest circumstance of I-80, as Iowa State Patrol, and other law enforcement agencies, franticly stop countless vehicles, making plenty of problems and constitutional violations in the process.
Challenging a Traffic Stop: Reasonable Suspicion
Challenging a traffic stop generally starts by attacking the core of the proof that you owned marijuana, cocaine or any other unauthorized narcotic. If drugs were identified in your automobile, there are still many ways to fight the charge, usually on the grounds of whether the stop and search were constitutionally allowed by the Fourth Amendment.
An officer must first have a logical suspicion that you were or were about to break the law, which means that one could challenge the officer’s conclusion that a traffic violation was certainly committed. Many times officers stop a vehicle on fictitious reasons: GPS device on a windshield, unsafe following distance, illegal lane usage, speeding 1 or 2 miles per hour over the speed limit, etc. Upon stopping the automobile, the officer actually has no right to order you from the car, and if you were commanded to do so, you may be able to have the evidence of drug possession excluded because of this unconstitutional act. The officer should have merely issued you a ticket, and allowed you to leave. At times officers will direct the driver to get out of the vehicle and wait while a “warning” is being released; the right time to begin questioning that person about drugs and other illegal activity.
Challenging a Traffic Stop: Probable Cause
This procedure is used to look for one indication of criminal activity, often calling in the drug-sniffing canine, to push you into consent or to have probable cause to search the vehicle. You should never ever say yes to the search of your automobile, even if it does not contain contraband. Make the police develop sufficient evidence of potential reason. If you say yes to a search then your attorney can not contend the probable cause defense later in court when you are dealing with drug transportation charges.
Challenging a traffic stop will be a lot easier to fight for if there was no probable reason for a search. If you have been profiled and targeted by Iowa cops, and they have found drugs in your motor vehicle, consult with a criminal defense lawyer as quickly as possible.
