Hello,
I was hoping to get some advice on a recent incident that happened to me while driving through Utah.
Last month some friends and I decided to take a last minute road trip to Vegas from Denver. When we reached Utah we decided to stop and rotate drivers. I took over the wheel at the rest stop, but before we took off, I grabbed a jacket out of the back of the suv we were riding in and while doing so, I managed to knock over a previously opened bottle of vodka causing it to spill a bit. I used a sweater in the truck to soak up what had spilt, the it in a grocery bag and thought nothing of it.
Not much later, I got pulled over for doing 10 mph over and as soon as the officer stepped up to the vehicle, the first thing he asked was which one of us had been drinking. I explained that none of us had been, told him the story, and willingly opened the trunk to show him what happened. He immediately started citing Utah law on out of state liquor and the penalties for bringing it into the state. He also stated that this have him sufficient cause to tear the car apart and search for "other open containers".
Having never given him permission, he began going through all four of our bags throwing clothes out on the highway and making a mess of everything. When his partner showed up and nothing was found in our bags, he began searching us individually, again not finding anything, and then preceded to search the front of the vehicle. While doing so, he did find a small Ziploc bag with a weed pipe and literally a bowl of pot.
The ticket I received was 10 mph over, drug paraphernalia, and possession under an ounce. My question is as a 27 year old, former military, and having never been arrested or a criminal record whatsoever, is there anything in my story that would warrant me hiring a lawyer and fighting this in court? Since this is my first time getting in trouble with the law, I'm unsure on what to do.
I did speak with an attorney in the county in which this happened, and they did a good job selling me on the idea of an illegal search. However, in order for them to represent me I will need to give them 1500$ flat-rate fee, which is all inclusive, even if it does goto trial. The ticket is also about 1500$, and I also bought a plane ticket to fly there on my court date which certainly was not cheap either.
When it is all said and done, I could potentially be out 3500$ (plus what Vegas beat me up on) and still have a record when this is all over. For me, that's an awful lot of money, so any and all advice would certainly be appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
I was hoping to get some advice on a recent incident that happened to me while driving through Utah.
Last month some friends and I decided to take a last minute road trip to Vegas from Denver. When we reached Utah we decided to stop and rotate drivers. I took over the wheel at the rest stop, but before we took off, I grabbed a jacket out of the back of the suv we were riding in and while doing so, I managed to knock over a previously opened bottle of vodka causing it to spill a bit. I used a sweater in the truck to soak up what had spilt, the it in a grocery bag and thought nothing of it.
Not much later, I got pulled over for doing 10 mph over and as soon as the officer stepped up to the vehicle, the first thing he asked was which one of us had been drinking. I explained that none of us had been, told him the story, and willingly opened the trunk to show him what happened. He immediately started citing Utah law on out of state liquor and the penalties for bringing it into the state. He also stated that this have him sufficient cause to tear the car apart and search for "other open containers".
Having never given him permission, he began going through all four of our bags throwing clothes out on the highway and making a mess of everything. When his partner showed up and nothing was found in our bags, he began searching us individually, again not finding anything, and then preceded to search the front of the vehicle. While doing so, he did find a small Ziploc bag with a weed pipe and literally a bowl of pot.
The ticket I received was 10 mph over, drug paraphernalia, and possession under an ounce. My question is as a 27 year old, former military, and having never been arrested or a criminal record whatsoever, is there anything in my story that would warrant me hiring a lawyer and fighting this in court? Since this is my first time getting in trouble with the law, I'm unsure on what to do.
I did speak with an attorney in the county in which this happened, and they did a good job selling me on the idea of an illegal search. However, in order for them to represent me I will need to give them 1500$ flat-rate fee, which is all inclusive, even if it does goto trial. The ticket is also about 1500$, and I also bought a plane ticket to fly there on my court date which certainly was not cheap either.
When it is all said and done, I could potentially be out 3500$ (plus what Vegas beat me up on) and still have a record when this is all over. For me, that's an awful lot of money, so any and all advice would certainly be appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
