another question

"In the situation I explained earlier I never showed fear. I told the cops exactly what I was doing and that it was none of their business."

you told them it was none of thier buisiness- and then answered the question?

"I let them know that I wasn't doing anything wrong, and I told them that the pipe was mine and I used it to smoke tobacco(LOL), which was funny because I was wearing a hat portraying a potleaf at the time."

Do you think they're stupid? All you did was insult the man's intelligence

"I told them that they had no reason to pull me over and abssolutely no reason to search me."

you talked WAY too much- but you never declared your intenton to leave and not cooperate

"But like I said, if I showed too much resistance I would have just got arrested and it would have been just a huge hassle."

Resistence? you've got it all skewed- refusing to cooperate or incriminate yourself is NOT resistence in America. It's your right under the 4th.

resisting is refusing to cooperate with being arrested or the terms of a warrant- not refusing to cooperate with illegal harrasment

"I am, in no way, afraid of the the cops and would have gladly stood my ground had I had the financial security to afford the fines that would come along with it."

You've already convicted yourself-you start out resigned to defeat- and that's fear.
there would be no fines, as ther would be no conviction, and probably no arrest.

" Around here, the cops don't give two fucks about human rights,"

no cops, ANYWHERE do- so what?

" and if you take it to court the judge will most likely side with the cops,"

if this were true_ i'd be on the back side of two quaters.

On legal issues, judges side with the law- not the cops.
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I'm afraid TNS has his heart set on defeat. But for the rest of you:

I know judges_ I doubt anyone on hipplanet (and few elsewhere) has stood before them more often than I.

Judges want Those before them (wheather accussor, witness, or accused) to

1) respect the court

2) accept the fairness of the court

the judge is fully aware that cops lie. but so does the accused.
so DON'T lie in court. If you don't wish to answer, than stand on your right (5th) aginst self incriminationm. No judge will hold this against you b4ecause he respects the law.

$5,000 worth of advice (that's what it cost me_ but it works):
dress in a tradional formal manner (suit and tie or a dress)
Stand before the court in humility- stand up straight, hands behind your back. Speak only when spoken to. If the judge is talking to you, or you are answering him, look him in the eye. otherwise, keep your gaze in his general direction, but don't stare.
if some one is testifying, watch them the entire time. NEVER look around the room.

and if convicted_ admit it, even if you really are innocent. Judges want to sleep at night, and they don't like to think that thier court has fostered a bad descion and jailed an innocent.

 

PS

I think aesther can confirm that I know whaT I'm talking about.

 

All I'm saying is that cops and judges and local judicial systems in general vary from place to place. Not the laws themselves, but the people enforcing the laws. Just because you can get away with certain things in certain areas doesn't me I can get away with those, or even less serious, offenses in my area. If I chose bring to light the fact that I was mistreated or harrassed in any way, it's very unlikely that it will be looked into by anyone of authority to see if I was, in fact, mistreated. The point I was originally trying to get at is that pressing the matter of harrassment or profiling will result to nothing more than a waste of time as I would not likely recieve any compensation for my troubles. Nor would the cops be reprimanded. Everyone would just break even and the cops would go about their business of fucking up people's lives. No good would come of it.

 

do you know what they would do exactly if you use that in court? would the officer get like a penalty or something?

 

TNS, you never even tried though, you're just assuming the system is crooked at all levels and always works against you, and that's not true. You do have rights guaranteed by the consitution. Sometimes they are trampled, but usually not, not in court at least. Cops don't give a shit about rights, it's not their job; their job is to catch bad guys by any means possible. Well, not ANY means but often they step outside the law...which can work in your favor in court. Still, most cops will not openly break the law when they see the suspect knows his rights. If you refuse a search without a warrant, the cop is likely not to search.

Geck, when you say "if you're convicted, admit it" are you saying I should say, "you're all right, I was actually guilty"? Wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting perjury, that you lied and claimed innocense? Also, what if you want to appeal?

 

TBMT,

no. The plea is not "innocent"- it's "not guilty".

And indeed, you ARE not guilty (the Constitutional presumption of innocence) until proven so. Remember, Judges respect the Constitution- all of it, including the Bill of Rights.
So "not guilty" in american courts has the legal meaning of "prove it beyond a reasonable doubt".

Once it has been proven, then, and only then, are you guilty. At that point you must demonstrate that you respect the court's descion by discarding all pretense (the judge would call it "accepting responsibility for your actions"- the first step in "rehabilatation).

 

An appeal is a different animal altogether.

It bassically means "screw this court- it fucked up". But it doesn't matter, becuase if you win the appeal, the case is thrown out "with or without prejudice".

"With" means you're released and it's finished.
"Without" means you may be re-tried, but it will not be in the same judges court. If by some chance it was, a judge would almost surley recuse himself becuase if he doesn't you've probably got grounds for another appeal.

 

HAHAHAHA
"officer, you can search the car but for the love of god dont search the trunk!"

It already happened down here, but with an assualt rifle. Over stolen property,rookie cops and the mans paranoia of his grow op and his "hate for cops" or something like that Im sure you heard of it hahaha. Im not saying it should of happened but they made more fuss about these officers than any murder victums that werent cops....oh well It was bullshit that it happened tho.

 

I hate that shit. Thay always make a big fuss when cops die and automatically give the killer the death penalty. But when some sweet old lady gets killed they only give a person 25-life. It's just fucked up. Cops are no better than the rest of us.

 

I can definately vouch for geck as I've run into a few legal troubles the last 2 years and he helped me with each of them. my questions ranged from probable cause to drug testing in court..

Hey geck, all that you said about rights make me want to fully use them next time I run into a situation with a cop...but I feel like if i were to say that the cop would just arrest me or something. do you think that most of them just say that? or that i would get locked up and then it would get thrown out later...because im sick of getting caught up.....it just happened again recently at a camping trip with a federal forest ranger..we ended up each getting fines of $700+ for weed and alcohol. he got probably cause from someone going inside the tent and the officer went in the tent and saw beer. so at that point we decided to cooperate fully.

 

Free Americans must face the fact that sometimes they get thrown in jail in violation of law.

HOWEVER, had your friend refused the search, and been searched and arrested anyway, he probably could have beat the rap in court-but at what expense?

It would probably have cost far more than $700 to win_ but, on the other hand, it wouldn't have cost you any cash it didn't cost you anyway had you stood loudly on your rights.

If it were simply a moral issue...
But it's not. It's financial.

Now had you been facing years for your activities, than damn the money and FIGHT.

Personally, I always stand on my Constituional Rights- they're free!
And if the phrase means anything, "It's the right thing to do".