Ocean City NJ Marijuana Charges Dismissed
I recently represented two co-defendants charged with marijuana possession under 50 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia in Ocean City Municipal Court. These two young men had no prior criminal record and waived any conflict of interest in the firm representing both co-defendants.
Upon receipt of the discovery package it became very clear that there was an issue with the search. The police report narrative stated that the officer was on traffic patrol when he saw the driver go into the Sunoco station and leave very quickly without buying anything and then when the driver came out of the store he was looking around like he was looking for someone when he observed the officer across the street. At this point, the driver returned to his vehicle and began driving toward the exit of the city. The officer then stated that he noticed the driver was not wearing his seatbelt which was the probable cause to pull the vehicle over. Once the stop was initiated, the officer smelled marijuana inside the vehicle and the driver consented to a search of the vehicle which led to the seiizure of marijuana and possession charges.
However, the probable cause for the stop was questionable at best. If there was no reason for the officer to pull the vehicle over then any subsequent search or violation must be suppressed based on the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine. Moreover, although the probable cause for the stop was the alleged seatbelt violation, the officer failed to issue the driver a summons for this violation. As a result, after a conference with the municipal prosecutor and a potential motion to suppress the illegally seized evidence on the table, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the charges based on the questionable nature of the search and the lack of probable cause for the initial stop.
This was a great success for the clients who were able to avoid a criminal charge on their record along with the six (6) month driver's license suspension that accompanies these charges.
