When Charged With a Crime ®

The use of social media and cell phone evidence in criminal cases is a major reason many people are convicted of crimes these days. The message from Managing Partner David P. Shapiro in this video is to be mindful of (a) what you post on your social media accounts, and (b) what your cell phone reveals about your actions and travels, including text messages. In the process, David provides a series of examples of how this information can negatively impact you in a criminal investigation and be used against you in court.

Sometimes of equal, if not greater, significance than what appears on your cell phone in the way of social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and text messages, is your phone’s ability to track your location. And while the fact that the location of your cell phone does not necessarily mean that you were physically at the same location as your phone, the information can be used as circumstantial evidence you were, in fact, with your cell phone at a certain location on a specified date and time. Conversely, the phone’s coordinates could place you at a distance from where a particular crime took place. As a result, your phone’s location could possibly provide exonerating evidence in support of your defense. But that should be presented to law enforcement and/or the prosecution by YOUR attorney, not by consensually turning over your cell phone to law enforcement.

The overriding message to remember is that what you put into your cell phone or computer can hurt you in a criminal case. In that regard, David points out that for many people charged with a crime, the most damning evidence comes not from eyewitness testimony, DNA, fingerprints, and the like – rather, it comes from the accused’s cell phone and social media accounts. Don’t be the source of the most significant evidence the prosecutor may have against you; be careful what you say and post online and on your cell phone!

We have all seen traffic stops on TV and in movies where the police use K9s – police dogs – to sniff out illegal substances, usually drugs. Let’s say you are stopped by the police, usually because you were alleged to have been speeding or committing another traffic violation. During the course of the stop, the police ask if they can have your permission to search your vehicle. You refuse. For one reason or another, the police decide that it would be appropriate to get a K9 unit on the scene to see if it alerts to the possible presence of drugs or other contraband. In this video, Partner Stefano L. Molea explains the ramifications of a K9 traffic stop.

At the outset, the courts have ruled that having a K9 sniff the outside of your car or truck is not a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. But there are issues that can be raised if you are charged with a crime after a K9 alert. The first problem is that most patrol cars do not have an onboard K9 unit. If one is called, and the process takes a significant amount of time – more, say, than it would take for the police to run your i.d. through the system and issue you a ticket for the traffic violation – then we would argue that you were detained for an undue period of time, and move to exclude any evidence obtained as the result of the search. If successful, whatever was found during the search would be kept out of evidence and could not be used against you.

The second issue comes when the dog alerts to a scent. In past times, this would ordinarily give the officers the probable cause they need to go into your car and search for the contraband believed to be in the vehicle. But this was before Prop 64 legalized the use of marijuana for those 21 and older. Assuming the K9 cannot distinguish between marijuana and other drugs, our position would likely be that the dog’s alert does not provide probable cause, and that anything discovered as a result of the ensuing search is inadmissible in your case. This is an evolving area of the law, and Stefano makes a convincing argument that it may invalidate a search based on at least some K9 alerts.

If you have been charged with a crime after a K9 traffic stop, we can help you regain control of your future, and can be reached at 619-295-3555.