Can A Passenger In A Motor Vehicle Face Drug Charges If Drugs Are Discovered In The Vehicle in Louisiana?
With the way, drugs are being moved in large number, and the high demand for drugs, it is common to see a lot of drivers being searched regularly, when the authorities suspect that the car might have drugs in it. When you are stopped, searched, and drugs are found itself, what happens? Can you say that you are merely a passenger? What of if everyone in the vehicles claims the same thing? What happens? Can you be prosecuted because you were in a car that has drugs in it, even when you were clueless about that? It doesn’t matter if you are in a vehicle that has an out of state plate or not, or if you were merely a driver that was contracted to carry some passengers, and you had no idea that there were drugs in the car. You may be penalized.
A passenger can be charged with a drug crime, as a result of the legal concept of joint possession. Legally, two or more people can possess the same drugs. For instance, if a large amount of cocaine is found in the console of the vehicle when there is a driver and passenger unless there is proof that it only belongs to one person, the officer will probably arrest both people.
Immediately you are stopped, the car you are in is searched, and drugs are found inside, it is advisable that you contact a criminal attorney in Baton Rouge. It is important that you make use of your right to remain silent as enshrined in the US constitution, and your right to a criminal attorney in Baton Rouge. Don’t go and say things that may be misconstrued. The truth is that a lot of officers are interested in drug cases because they are easier ways for them to climb up the ladder of success. The more drug cases they close, the faster it is for them to get where they want.
Everyone Can Be Prosecuted
If a vehicle is stopped, searched and banned drugs of any kind is found, be it meth, heroin, cocaine, and so on, every passenger, and not only the driver gets arrested. Not only are you arrested, but you are also charged with the crime.
What prosecutors and Police believe is that if a car has illegal drugs in it, everyone in the vehicle must know about their existence. No one is excluded. This is one reason that you contact a drug attorney in Baton Rouge immediately you are arrested. There is no need, trying to talk your way out of it, saying that you don’t know of the drugs. The Police may misconstrue your words, and use them against you. What you should do instead is to contact a criminal defense attorney in Baton Rouge immediately.
In some cases, everyone in the car may have known about it, and in other times, they do not. The latter scenario is usually more than the former, but a lot of officers and prosecutors do not care.
We have seen cases of those that were clueless about the illegal drugs ending up being arrested and charged with felony possession with intent to distribute. At the end of the day, they are spending years in prison for a crime they know nothing about.
That is the case of the judicial system. Don’t for a second think that justice will prevail just like that if you don’t have a criminal defense attorney in Baton Rouge that knows the in and out of the judicial system.
When you use a drug attorney in Baton Rouge that knows his or her onion, it is easy to prove that you didn’t know that the car had illegal drugs, neither did you have an intent to distribute those drugs. The law allows for this.
How Do Cops Find Evidence of Knowledge
The cops must prove that every passenger knew about the drugs in the vehicle before they can go ahead. This is a reason we earlier mentioned that you shouldn’t say anything to the Police immediately you are arrested. You may end up incriminating yourself without knowing. What you should do is to contact the drug attorney in Baton Rouge immediately.
The way law enforcement proves that you knew of the existence of the drugs is to try and get warrants for your electronic devices’ searches. They do this in a bid to show that the passengers knew of the narcotics in the car. Before they do this, they try to talk to those arrested, in a bid to get into their heads and make them utter incriminating words.
They try to talk to every passenger separately, trying to put them against one another. They tell one that the others have given him up, and say the same to the others, even when it isn’t the truth.
Sometimes, a passenger may end up saying that every passenger knew that the narcotics were in the car. In other cases, no one may bulge.
It becomes harder to prove your innocence when the law enforcement perceives the smell of the drug in the car or see them in plain sight, where everyone could have noticed them. Whatever the case may be, you need to contact a criminal defense attorney in Baton Rouge.
Defenses for Passengers
Do you know that according to the law, you, as a passenger in the car, can challenge why a traffic stop was made?
If the vehicle was stopped in an unlawful manner, you have the right to get the evidence suppressed. Do you see the reason we said you should contact a criminal defense attorney in Baton Rouge immediately when you are arrested? This prevents you from incriminating yourself.
Sometimes, the driver or another passenger may claim that he or she owned the drugs, and others had no idea about their existence.
How Can Carl Barkemeyer Help You?
Here at Carl Barkemeyer, Criminal Defense Attorney, we are a criminal defense lawyer in Baton Rouge who helps in protecting your criminal record as well to ensure you don’t get to go through all the troubles of finding a job or getting a scholarship. We are here to represent you in court in the most aggressive way possible and work towards giving you the best option you can get for your case.
We are a drug charge lawyer that cares about you as well and ensure you get the help you need if you are battling with addiction. We believe in transparency and work for hand in hand with you; therefore, you are always updated on your case.
We advise you to call us as soon as you’ve been charged as delay could be denial. So, if you are looking for a good criminal defense attorney or a drug charge lawyer in Baton Rouge, why not contact Carl Barkemeyer today?
When a drug attorney in Baton Rouge is contacted, he looks at the case, seeking for loopholes that can be used to your advantage. He tries to see if everything done by law enforcement was legal, and your rights were not violated in any way.
If you need a drug charge attorney for your drug charge in Louisiana, contact us at (225) 964-6720. We handle drug charges anywhere in Louisiana.
