Search & Seizure

Protecting Your Constitutional Rights

If you believe that law enforcement officials overstepped their legal boundaries during your arrest or while you were under investigation for a drug crime, it’s crucial that you seek representation from a Plano drug crimes defense attorney to defend your Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights. If the Zendeh Del Law Firm, PLLC, successfully argues that law enforcement has violated your rights, any evidence obtained from that illegal seizure cannot be used against you at trial.

Fourth Amendment Rights In Plano

As citizens, we have a constitutional right against unlawful search and seizure. The fourth amendment states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

In other words, in order for law enforcement officials to legally search your person, home and (with few exceptions) your vehicle, they must have:

  • Voluntary consent to the search;
  • Legal search warrant; or
  • Probable cause;

What Are My Search And Seizure Rights?

Illegal searches have been known to occur when law enforcement officials seize cash or property after mere allegations of drug activity. Many times law enforcement attempts to skirt Fourth Amendment rights by tricking or intimidating people into providing “consent” that is actually uninformed or involuntary for the purpose of searching an individual or the individual’s property. If a law enforcement officer asks you if he can search your car or look in your trunk, you have a right to simply say “no.” Many times, officers will then threaten to get a warrant or try to coerce you by saying that they will call in a search dog. Regardless of such threats, you still have the right to say “no.”

You need a trial-seasoned defense attorney to help ensure that your rights are protected and that any evidence obtained as a result of an unlawful search and seizure is determined to be inadmissible in court.

If you believe you have been subjected to an unlawful search and seizure, or if you have been charged with a drug crime in Plano, contact the Zendeh Del Law Firm, PLLC, to speak to a Plano drug crime attorney today!