Rights During an Anne Arundel Drug Arrest

At the time of a drug-related arrest in Anne Arundel, a person has the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney which are an individual’s two most important rights. In addition, an individual possesses a number of other rights, each of which may impact an individual’s Anne Arundel drug arrest. In order to ensure that your rights have not been violated and that you were not unlawfully arrested, it is important to consult with an experienced drug lawyer.

Consenting to a Search

The contents of the vehicle are incredibly important in an Anne Arundel drug arrest. If a person is pulled over and law enforcement approaches the vehicle and smells the odor of marijuana, alcohol, or a similar element that gives them cause to search the vehicle, Maryland allows that search of the vehicle without a warrant.

The police officer does not have to advise a person of their Miranda rights at this stage, and is allowed to search the vehicle under the circumstances of the law.

However, if a person just happens to be standing with their car next to them and they are not driving it in any way, shape, or form, and an officer searches the vehicle, the defense attorney will bring that search into question.

An attorney can argue that the vehicle was not in motion, and will question how the vehicle is part of the investigation. If law enforcement can obtain a warrant they can search the vehicle, however, if they do not have a warrant, it is against an individual’s rights during the Anne Arundel drug arrest process to search the vehicle.

The warrant is incredibly important. If the vehicle is off, has not been observed in motion whatsoever, and the person is not in it or in any compartment or truck, law enforcement will need a warrant to search the vehicle.

Constitutional Issues in Maryland Drug Cases

Constitutional issues that come up in drug cases are almost always focused on search and seizure, what happened, and why the officer searched the individual, their vehicle, or their home. Those are almost always the constitutional issues as well as how Anne Arundel County officers are going through their investigation and information they were relying on. Did they rely on that information to get a warrant?

As far as how these constitutional issues impact cases, is the need to direct a judge to exactly why a person says a warrant was obtained illegally or without good faith, and the warrant was presented in an inconsistent way or the warrant was executed inconsistently but was within the constraints of the actual search itself. If it is not reasonable, then it is not reasonable. Constitutional issues in drug cases involve looking at the execution of warrants within the rights of the person being served witht them and the execution of searches on vehicles and why they are stopped.

Right to Remain Silent

A person should avoid discussing everything but their name during the Anne Arundel drug arrest process. The individual should make no statements whatsoever, because as soon as an individual invites conversation, they may start getting overly comfortable with the officer.

An individual may believe that the information they divulge will not be used against them, however, they may give information to the officer or the state’s attorney, and they will still be handed charges. Therefore, it is an individual’s right during the Anne Arundel drug arrest process to remain silent and not divulge any unnecessary information.

Next Steps

If someone is arrested for an Anne Arundel drug charge, they will most likely be committed to the local jail at which time they would be given a bond. If someone is available, the individual would get a phone call and if someone is able to bond them out, they will be able to bond out. However, if they cannot and it is a weekday, then the individual will have a bond hearing the next day.

Most of these cases are done on closed-circuit television. If it is a Friday, there will not be any hearings until Monday. An individual will have to spend the weekend in jail. If there was a bond hearing, it would be up to a judge to either raise, lower, or dismiss the bond in its entirety. That is why if someone is arrested, they should enlist the help of a lawyer as soon as possible. An attorney can help determine if an individual’s rights were violated during the Anne Arundel drug arrest process.

Bond Hearing

District and circuit courts began transporting people from the jails to the courthouse for bond hearings. However, it started to become too expensive and took too much time. To solve this issue, the courts agreed to install a closed-circuit television system between the courts and the jail.

This way, an attorney, the judge, and the state’s attorney could be in the courtroom while the individual could remain in jail. Through this system, an individual’s attorney could argue for their release on bond without having to be present in the courtroom.

If a person has been charged before, that can play a role in how the judge assigns bond. The bond should be held at a reasonable amount so that the individual can actually make bond and be released on their own recognizance. That way, an individual would not have to stay in jail until their court hearing.