Talking to police leads to 7 felony and 1 misdemeanor charges
If you get pulled over by police, do you know what to do? Although no one should ever be disrespectful or problematic when dealing with police, all criminal defense lawyers will tell you to never talk to police without a lawyer present. Even if it seems like a relatively minor situation that is based purely on a misunderstanding, trying to clear up the situation without a lawyer is just welcoming trouble.
One of the most important roles of a police officer is to collect evidence to be used against an individual. There is a reason why officers are required to administer Miranda warnings to arrestees — they want to make it clear that anything an individual says could potentially be used to convict him or her later.
So, when an Orlando man was pulled over by officers last month and told police that he had been smoking marijuana in his car less than an hour before he was pulled over, he provided police with substantial evidence that will most likely be used in his future criminal trial. Not only that, but by admitting to smoking cannabis, he gave the officers even more evidence to support a search of his car.
Police allegedly found cocaine, marijuana, oxycodone and a loaded gun. When he was taken to the Orange County Jail, they also found cocaine taped to his person. In total, he was charged with seven felonies and one misdemeanor.
Had he not spoken with police, it is possible that he could have avoided some of these charges, especially since he had been pulled over for a cracked taillight and an illegal window tint.
Source: Orlando Sentinel, “Strip search adds to Orlando suspect’s list of felony charges,” Henry Pierson Curtis, Oct. 8, 2013
