Glenn, Thanks for those links. Reminds me a great deal of my first law professor. Got me all fired up again about being a lawyer. That was really great.
Glenn, Thanks for those links. Reminds me a great deal of my first law professor. Got me all fired up again about being a lawyer. That was really great.
So, I got stopped this evening. I was coming home from the British car club meeting, at which I drank WATER. I'm in the Rolla. Two thugs with guns are harrassing a tax paying citizen under an overpass. I see all the lights and of course I'm doing the speed limit as I go by. One of them takes off. I get off on my exit 2 miles later and he's behind me. Lights go on. License, insurance, registration. You were stopped because your muffler is really loud. Is it broken? (It is not a coffee can, it is the quietest thing I could find to fit on there.) I'm not going to write you a ticket, I'm going to give you a warning. Where do you work? Do you live at... Who is this (my holding company)? I'm thinking to myself, this would be the PERFECT time to ask "Am I free to go?" and I was this --><-- close to doing just that, but he had said warning and not a ticket, so I played along. But I was thinking about it....
My favorite cop story;
I-81 south of Harrisburg, PA. I was riding bi*ch on my friend's CBR1000. It was about 2am and we passed a cop doing about 100. He pulls out to pursue and my friend lets off the gas, flips up his visor, turns around to me and says, "reach around and bend up the license plate."
Long story short, that was the fastest I've ever been on pavement, and every exit was blocked. We had to go all the way to Maryland before we could stop.
My other favorite story was my buddy Doug peeing in a cop car's gas tank when he realized the cop was in the car.... with a prostitute :)
On searches: I said no to a search "request" once, in Illinois. The result was that i was dragged out of the uhaul (i was moving my moms things to storage and on a tight schedule) and arrested for running a stop light i had stopped at (had too, there was a convoy of trucks going by!) not wearing a seat belt i had on (they had to release it when they were pulling me out of the cab!) and driving with a suspended license that wasnt..Its important to note that i did not resist, and i was polite right up until they ripped me out of the truck (no, they never asked me to step out of the vehicle..) After they called me all sorts of bad things, and started searching the truck, they found my badge...i was active law enforcement at the time! at first they asked me who i stole it from, but after confirming it, got very polite all of a sudden, They were already committed though, and by that time i was done being polite. I beleive my standard answer by then was "f-off." They brought me to the station and tried to make the trumped charges stick (not the smartest.) i posted bail, lawyered up, and within two weeks one officer was "retired" and the second suspended. ofcourse all charges were dropped...never did get my bail money back though, apparently the check was lost in the mail several times, eventually i gave up trying.. sometimes no matter what you do youll run up against a-holes...
scotaku wrote: Obviously our slant has gone to speeding... so my best defense and best advice is to drive in a way that doesn't get you stopped to begin with. The easiest cop not to talk to is the one stopping someone else.
Doesn't always work either. Got pulled over on Memorial Day by a local that claimed I was going 54 in a 35. I was 2nd in a line of 4 cars. Since it was the wife's car, got the speedometer certified by a state inspection station and decide to take it before the district magistrate. The ticket came in the mail and the model of car was wrong as well as the time of the offense. Took my wife with me and the cop gave his testimony and I stated that my wife was my witness. The magistrate forced me to take the stand against my will. Told my story and the wife testified that we were going the limit. Magistrate said the cop was doing his job. Guilty.
you went after the wrong certs by getting the speedo certified. you should have gone after the officers certifications with the radar/laser equipment, when it was last calibrated(they're supposed to do it at regular intervals, because they're not that accurate in the first place). your tack needs to be not that the officer couldn't read the display on the radar gun(because we all know, they never make mistakes), but that the radar gun gave him incorrect info, and his (presumed) low score in radar certs would make it more plausible that he couldn't tell the difference between 35 and 55.
http://www.amazon.com/Speeders-Guide-Avoiding-Tickets/dp/0380807580/ref=pd_sim_b_5
The single greatest investment I have ever made. Written by a retired NY State Trooper.
I get stopped more than most, but rarely get ticketts. I like cops, I apprecaitte the job they do and show it. Active military doesn't hurt. LEOs are a cross ection of society just like anything else and are going to have their share of jerks, napoleons and good folks that are just having a bad day. But these folks suit up evey day with a bulletpoof vest, and it ain't becuase they are comfortable. They are one of a handful of professions that can be killed doing their job eveyday.
I never make them chase me, I am usually stopped before they get turned around, sunglasses off (int light on at night), hands on the wheel and make eye contact in the rearview mirror. These three simple things alone get me out of more tickets than I have a right to.
Strangest stop I ever had was on I-95 in southern VA, middle 80's. I had gotten a ticket for 60 in a 55 about an hour earlier in North Carolina and was pissed about that, and was religeously watching my speed, 55mph, period. Went under an overpass and went by a silver Dip, dog dish hubcaps, multiple radio antennas, obviously an unmarked cop. I'm doing 55, cars are flying past me and the cop was on my bumper. I'm concentrating on him a little too much, speed went to 57. Bingo, lights and sirens. I pull ove, furious. Two cops get out with heavy plastic clipboards in front of them and guns drawn. One hangs back on the right, the other comes up to me, still 15 feet away, asks for license and registration. I had it handy, held it out to him and asked, rather forcefully, why was I stopped. He said I was speeding. I responded "BullE36 M3, cars were passing me constantly". Silence. He asked if they could look in the trunk, I said "Sure". I was on a camping trip with my two kids, 8 and 10, nothing there but camping stuff. He looked, talked to his partner, then said that we could go. Now I'm enraged, and demand to know why they stopped me. After some hemming and hawing, he said we matched the profile for drug runners. 83 Buick Century 4-door that I had bought from Avis, looked like a rental. Florida plates. Low in the rear. But, white guy with two little kids in front. Took me a long time to cool off, that could have gone really bad with one bad move.
You know, it is really amazing how much freedom we have lost under the banner of "war on drugs," "war on alcohol," etc. Every excuse for tossing a Bill of Rights portion out the window is "Drug dealers use that." Can't have useful (or any) guns: Drug dealers use them. So-called "no knock" warrants where the police bust down your door and kill you dead, then plant drugs if they can't find any: Drug dealers might flush their 300 lbs of pot down the toilet. Can't buy nasal decongestants: Drug dealers make meth from it. Thugs stop you and ransack your vehicle (me, CWH, 924guy, and that's just a few citizens on this little corner of teh intr4w3b, yo): They're searching for drugs. The militarization of our police force: Drug dealers. On 9/12/01, I sent an email to W telling him to legalize or decriminalize drugs and remove a major source of the Pavement Challenged shiny happy persons' money supply, and free up the popo to actually look for Pavement Challenged shiny happy persons. I eventually got a canned response of "he's busy." We are at a point where 3% of our population is under the criminal justice system. Prisons are a growth industry. The majority are there for drugs or drug related crimes. When I was a prison doc, I saw them. They are just mostly criminally stoopid. Our drug laws are doing more harm to our society than the drugs. If someone is stoopid enough to want to do that to themselves, what do I care? Why should I pay to lock them up for several years or have decades of "supervision"? Give them the stuff and let them go kill themselves with it. Problem takes care of itself. When prohibition was repealed, was there suddenly a huge problem? Well, yeah, but the huge problem was that the Kennedey's money source dried up and they had to go into politics.
Dr. Hess wrote: You know, it is really amazing how much freedom we have lost under the banner of "war on drugs," "war on alcohol," etc. Every excuse for tossing a Bill of Rights portion out the window is "Drug dealers use that."
+1
Legalize it.
Hess, you are an interesting dude.
seconded.
The good doctor is interesting because he makes you think, something far too few accomplish.
In spite of billions spent, the war on drugs has failed; the US still consumes more of that illegal stuff than any other country. Legalization would simultaneously lessen the financial burden on the prison system and increase federal tax revenues.
As noted, most criminal are stupid, and we all know you can't fix stupid. However, Mother Nature, ala Darwin, does that for us.
And the Kennedy reference is spot-on; the wrong brother lived!
"Sorry officer, I thought you wanted to race!"
The war on nasal decongestants is a war that could actually be won. Methamphetamines can only be produced in relatively high tech laboratories unlike cocaine and heroine. If we were willing to settle for less effective nasal decongestants and stop the international production of methamphetamines then meth would go the way of the Quaalude. When was the last time you had freaky disco sex on ludes? Been a long time? That’s because there are no longer any major manufacturers of them.
Of course doing that would only make a lot of people more miserable when they had a bad cold and the meth heads would start using cocaine or heroine.
oldsaw wrote: Legalization would simultaneously lessen the financial burden on the prison system and increase federal tax revenues.
That's just it, they don't want that at all. Once prisons were privatized, they became businesses. The more people in there, the more money for the people that own the prisons.
Dr. Hess wrote: You know, it is really amazing how much freedom we have lost under the banner of "war on drugs," "war on alcohol," etc. Every excuse for tossing a Bill of Rights portion out the window is "Drug dealers use that." Can't have useful (or any) guns: Drug dealers use them. So-called "no knock" warrants where the police bust down your door and kill you dead, then plant drugs if they can't find any: Drug dealers might flush their 300 lbs of pot down the toilet. Can't buy nasal decongestants: Drug dealers make meth from it. Thugs stop you and ransack your vehicle (me, CWH, 924guy, and that's just a few citizens on this little corner of teh intr4w3b, yo): Their searching for drugs. The militarization of our police force: Drug dealers. On 9/12/01, I sent an email to W telling him to legalize or decriminalize drugs and remove a major source of the Pavement Challenged shiny happy persons' money supply, and free up the popo to actually look for Pavement Challenged shiny happy persons. I eventually got a canned response of "he's busy." We are at a point where 3% of our population is under the criminal justice system. Prisons are a growth industry. The majority are there for drugs or drug related crimes. When I was a prison doc, I saw them. They are just mostly criminally stoopid. Our drug laws are doing more harm to our society than the drugs. If someone is stoopid enough to want to do that to themselves, what do I care? Why should I pay to lock them up for several years or have decades of "supervision"? Give them the stuff and let them go kill themselves with it. Problem takes care of itself. When prohibition was repealed, was there suddenly a huge problem? Well, yeah, but the huge problem was that the Kennedey's money source dried up and they had to go into politics.
+1 million
Honestly, what harm are these people doing, so long as they stay out of motor vehicles and heavy equipment, and aren't doing other things that we already have laws against?
OK, lets spot what the Rapper from Russellville did wrong: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67606/
Rap band members try to stop forfeiture of $114 K BY SCOTT F. DAVIS Northwest Arkansas Times Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Several members of the rap band Lockboyz are trying to stop the forfeiture of more than $ 114, 000 in cash that police believe are proceeds of drug sales. Two investors filed affidavits on Monday in the case claming that they have loaned the Russellville-based band more than $ 70, 000 in investment capital. The state of Arkansas initiated forfeiture proceedings against Joseph Neal Stueart, 22, after detectives with the 4 th Judicial Drug Task Force on June 4 found more than $ 114, 000 in a safe at a residence where he was staying. The detectives were assisting the Washington County Probation and Parole Office with a home visit at 4190 Zion Valley Drive in Fayetteville when Stueart consented to opening the safe, according to police reports. Stueart was arrested after officers found a. 38-caliber handgun on a nightstand near a bed in the home. He has been charged as a felon in possession of a firearm. Stueart told police officers the money was leftover from when he got arrested in Russellville for selling marijuana, according to the complaint for forfeiture filed by the state. Police also seized ledgers and logbooks from the safe. Russell Wood, a Russellville attorney representing Stueart, said the gun was found in the nightstand in the room of his client's roommate and that it did not belong to his client. The band members and Stueart are all related, he said. Wood said police officers seized the money "with no evidence of illegal activity." "They have no credible evidence to support the seizure," he said. "They simply took the money because they believed that they did not think they should have that much money in a safe." "The money is owned by the band," Wood said. "It's loaned money from investors." Seven petitioners- Jason Butler, Ray Smith, R. J. Vanhook, Mike Fresh, Tracy Stiger, Tristian Stewart and A. J. Lewis - joined Stueart in an answer filed Monday saying the wrongly seized money belongs to the band. In the answer, they also accused task force detectives of "fabricating statements "attributed to Stueart. Channing Butler, the owner of Hogg Wild Entertainment, said in an affidavit that he has invested more than $ 40, 000 with the group and that he has the band under a five-year recording contract. Butler is employed with the Red River Army Depot and currently stationed in Iraq. Shelia Butler claims in an affidavit that she loaned more than $ 30, 000 to the band. "I have personal knowledge that Jason Butler and the (others ) have been collectively saving their money since high school to support their musical aspirations and to ensure sufficient capital to buy recording studio time and press CD's should they be dropped from their label," Butler stated in the affidavit.
I'll start: "Stueart consented to opening the safe."
Dr. Hess wrote: OK, lets spot what the Rapper from Russellville did wrong:
Well how about the obvious:
Stueart told police officers the money was leftover from when he got arrested in Russellville for selling marijuana, according to the complaint for forfeiture filed by the state. Police also seized ledgers and logbooks from the safe.
Salanis wrote:Dr. Hess wrote: OK, lets spot what the Rapper from Russellville did wrong:Well how about the obvious:Stueart told police officers the money was leftover from when he got arrested in Russellville for selling marijuana, according to the complaint for forfeiture filed by the state. Police also seized ledgers and logbooks from the safe.
Im guessing thats the part the lawyers say the task force is fabricating.
Datsun1500 wrote: You guys are starting too late in the story. The first issue isSeveral members of the rap band
Are you suggesting that a rap group is probably dealing drugs or that the police assume that a rap group is dealing drugs?
geowit wrote:scotaku wrote: Obviously our slant has gone to speeding... so my best defense and best advice is to drive in a way that doesn't get you stopped to begin with. The easiest cop not to talk to is the one stopping someone else.Doesn't always work either. Got pulled over on Memorial Day by a local that claimed I was going 54 in a 35. I was 2nd in a line of 4 cars. Since it was the wife's car, got the speedometer certified by a state inspection station and decide to take it before the district magistrate. The ticket came in the mail and the model of car was wrong as well as the time of the offense. Took my wife with me and the cop gave his testimony and I stated that my wife was my witness. The magistrate forced me to take the stand against my will. Told my story and the wife testified that we were going the limit. Magistrate said the cop was doing his job. Guilty.
That's pretty much been my experience.
Dr. Hess wrote: ...Russell Wood, a Russellville attorney representing Stueart, said the gun was found in the nightstand in the room of his client's roommate and that it did not belong to his client....
That one ranks right up there with: "swear to god doc, I have no idea how it got up there"
Although I must say (unfortunately) another "rule" in a legal situation seems to be: Deny Everything. There seems to be almost no downside, and it works great if you have any kind of lawyer (money) backup. Ask OJ, he has been denying so long he even believes it himself now.
Dont deny anything unless you for some reason have to. If you deny something and they find you were lieing it will destroy your credibility in court and they will use it to crucify you. Exercise your right to remain silent. If anyone is going to deny anything let it be your lawyer.
OK, good clarification. I guess a better way to put that (and along the lines of the title of the thread): Don't admit to anything wrong (illegal).
Of course that effectively means denying, but is more "legalese".
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