I am a student living in the dormitories at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. The other night, my friends are I were in my room watching television and talking with a very normal level of loudness. A knock came at the door, and my friend took a look our the peephole, only to see four police officers. About 5 seconds after the knock, the police use their key to open the door and come in screaming at us about a noise complaint. I immediately told the officers that they must have had the wrong room and that we were not loud, and that my friends would just be going home if we had been loud without our knowledge. The sergeant then instructed another officer to search me. I asked on what grounds they were searching me and was screamed to shut up by the officers. I then said that I did not consent to a search of my person, and was again told to shut up. The police never gave reason for the search, but did it anyways after my inquiry and protest. They found marijuana, a scale, and baggies on me and instantly arrested me. I figured i'd share the story, copied it from my yahoo questions thing because ive been typing it out to people way to much, trying to figure something out. Somebody had to have tipped them off, and I'm SO FUCKED now. Already on probation, ,getting kicked out of school and campus housing...and my parents won't let me live at home. No money for lawyers fees either and homeless.
Their case should not hold up in court. Police officers are bound by the exact same laws as you and me. You might be interested in this movie. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2029073635097751015&hl=en
i would imagine when he signed the agreement to live in the dorm he gave up his right to refuse consent to a search as its considered campus property. in fact id be willing to bet on it.. that being said he is also on probation. i would imagine his probation officer will be informed long before it goes to trial as is usually the case so at the very least he will probably be slapped with VOP and sent to jail no matter what.. so yeah like he said,he is pretty much fucked..
yeah i found this,dorm rooms you give up your 4th amendment right just as i thought.. http://www.cwsl.edu/content/deKoven/DormSearchLegalResearch_F07.pdf welcome to college life kids..
Yeah, but did they search his actual person? Regardless, your own body is your goddamn property. He couldn't consent to a search of the room, maybe. However, regardless of what the law says, your body should be your property. I'd fight it, but that happens to be my own opinion. Oh, and some advice. Don't keep pot in a dorm room... It's a baaaaaaaaaad way to push your luck. Good luck, man. Hope those iggy:s go down, man.
On the contrary, you are chattel of the state, and they practically own you. That is why you have to go through the DMV to operate a car. Check out this website. www.thinkfree.ca Robert Menard has a very interesting story, he is a Canadian who had one of his children taken from him by social services, with them practically blackmailing him and saying he has no right to his children. He is a great crusader for the Freeman's and Redemption movements.
i'm not a lawyer, but i'm pretty confident they don't need your consent to search your body on the grounds that it is just a basic weapons search. anything on you is fair game for them to find whether you like it or not. as someone else said in another post, this doesn't take effect until the new year. and even then, weed is not LEGAL in MA, it has just been decriminalized. it means that possession is no longer a criminal act. you will still get cited for possession, weed confiscated, go to a civil court and be charged a (relatively) small fine. in other words, it's a civil violation, like a speeding ticket. nothing goes on your permanent record, and you wouldn't be required to tell employers when applying for a job, etc. any lawyers out there feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm pretty certain this is how it will be.
Is this your first offense? Im in a similar situation right now. What were your charges. How strict is your school and a heads up they cant search you. When I got busted 7 bags a scale all sorts of paraphernalis and the joint in my pocket was fine. You sign your rights over for your dorm but you dont sign your human rights over. but they never searched me and got the joint in my pocket that i cut up and GB'd when i got home from the station, theres nothing like a fresh couple bowls after your nerves are on edge like that. It sucks waiting. My advice is to retain the best attorney you can, thats what I did 2k bill for a poss and poss of paraphernalia. Also your shit is now decriminalized so..... Basically they cant search you they never searched me they were nice i cooperated so they did too. The most important thing is get that attorney he will make you feel a lot better.
dont worry about having a place to live. Since you can't afford a decent lawyer you're going to jail. enjoy.
People! Come on now, he is fucking innocent in my opinion... Damn those American laws! MJ isn't something people should go to jail for
