obstruction and resisting

Auburn, WA Viewed 175 times. Posted about 1 year ago in Criminal Defense

I was pulled over the night before I had court in a case involving the officer in question. I had filled a complaint about this officer the first time I came in contact with him. As retribution he pulled me over and asked me to give him information or he was going to take all my money and take me to jail. He did and he lied in the police report. Charges were filled against me and i obtained a lawyer, it was in this case that i was scheduled to appear when the same officer pulled me over again and i was charged with obstruction and resisting. My husbands car was impoundeed and a detective told him he could come get it if he let them search the glove box. My lawyer advised me to have my husband send someone with a notorized letter to get the car so they could not hassle him with searching it. They would not release the car and are now threating him with obstruction. They also wont let me get any of my personal belongings like my purse house keys id credit cards court clothes makeup etc.
How long can they hold the car if they are unable to obtain a warrant - Is this your question? Add additional information

Answers (3)

Anthony John Colleluori

This attorney is licensed in New York. Posted about 1 year ago.

It sounds like they are already holding the car for too long. It seems to me that you need to ask your lawyer to get more aggresive with this police force and you might want to hire a civil rights lawyer who is from out of town to start a law suit and start issuing subpeonas. A suit against the department for conversion may also work with an order to show cause demanding return on the vehicle.

Alexander Thomas Henderson

This attorney is licensed in California. Posted about 1 year ago.

Your question contains a tautological ambiguity which makes answering difficult. It is not clear whether your husband's car was impounded in the first instance or the second. Depending on the circumstances if the car and its contents are considered "evidence" in a criminal prosecution against you or if it is subject to forfeiture proceedings for its alleged use in facilitating a crime you may encounter difficulty getting it returned until the criminal proceedings are concluded or until it is determined to not be subject to forfeiture. If the police have sought and failed to secure a warrant for searching the vehicle then that tends to weigh against any argument that the car and/or its contents are evidence.

If, as you indicate, the officer detained you "as retribution" for your having filed an administrative complaint against him then this would certainly constitute a violation of your civil rights as well as constitute an unlawful seizure of your person and vehicle subjecting any evidence thereby obtained to suppression (being ruled inadmissible in any case against you) assuming no independent probable cause to stop you existed.

ghostofcwheeler

Posted about 1 year ago.

I love it "tautological ambiguity", those is sum ten dollar words. If you were arrested and charged and the car impounded the police have already searched the car. The reason is your arrest, when arrested they can search without a warrant. When impounding, they search an item, for their own safety, you know, you might have planted a bomb in the trunk. So they already have searched, which means that they wanted your husband downtown for some other reason. What might that be? Might be to arrest him, or maybe to get evidence against you. Cops are sneaky and dont play by the rules, especially if they are in the wrong. Be carefull this is a no win situation.