The most litigated area of criminal law in South Florida concerns when a court should grant a South Florida criminal defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. Criminal law is mostly constitutional law: and the most focused constitutional amendment is the right to be secure in one’s property and to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. A search incident to an arrest and a search incident to a stop are different. An officer can stop and search an individual or a place when he has probable cause: the issue before the three panel of judges held in Fort Lauderdale concerned the issue of marijuana smells coming from a car and the legality of the search by a South Florida policeman who found cannabis in the car and in the clothing of the south Florida criminal defendant. The arrest for marijuana possession came after the officer searched the individual and found a plastic bag with marijuana in the defendant’s underpants. The area of law: search and seizure is fact specific: that means the actual totaltality of the circumstances are filtered through the search and seizure law as it currently exists. If you were arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Pompano Beach, Weston or any South Florida county (Palm Beach, Miami and Broward) speak to a South Florida criminal defense attorney and discuss your rights and your standing to object to the introduction of evidence obtained during a search. The area of law is very complex and the cases are constantly shaping and reshaping the law, so you must seek experienced criminal lawyers for advice on the current state of the law on search and seizure. Most South Florida criminal defense lawyers will give you a free consultation to discuss your rights if you are arrested for a possession of narcotics, possession of cocaine or possession of marijuana criminal charge.
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