Riverside Illegal Search and Seizure Lawyer
When you are faced with criminal charges, a Riverside illegal search and seizure lawyer at Milligan, Beswick, Levine & Knox LLP can help you to protect your Constitutional rights. Police often overreach in trying to collect evidence. If you were searched without a warrant or probable cause, the evidence obtained cannot be used to convict you. Your attorney can help you determine if your search was legal and can help you fight to keep evidence out of court.
When Can a Riverside Illegal Search and Seizure Lawyer Help You
The Fourth Amendment protects your right to be secure in your person and to have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Police cannot search you, your home, or your vehicle without probable cause. In most cases, an officer must get a warrant before conducting a search, although there are some exceptions for exigent circumstances. In every case, a law enforcement officer must act reasonably and not violate the Fourth Amendment.
Search and seizure issues arise commonly in DUI cases. If police pulled you over without justification or asked you to submit to a blood alcohol or drug test without reasonable cause to believe you were intoxicated, this is an illegal search. Drug cases and shoplifting cases are also other situations in which police commonly overreach and violate your rights.
If you suspect that you, your home, or your vehicle was searched illegally, you need to call a Riverside search and seizure lawyer for help.
How Can a Riverside Search and Seizure Lawyer Help You
A search and seizure lawyer at Milligan, Beswick, Levine & Knox LLP can review the circumstances of your search carefully to determine if police followed the rules. If you were searched illegal, your attorney can file a motion to suppress. This essentially asks the court to declare the search was inappropriate and to prevent any evidence obtained during the search from being used in court.
When a search is declared illegal, this decision has far-reaching implications. Not only is any evidence obtained during the search not admissible in a case against you, but prosecutors are also not allowed to use any other evidence obtained as a direct result of the initial illegal search. Any evidence that was ultimately collected because of the initial violation of your rights is considered fruit of the poisonous tree and is going to be suppressed.
Since prosecutors have the burden of proving the case against you, a lack of evidence can lead to a dismissal of charges or a not guilty verdict.
Contact a Search and Seizure Lawyer Today
Milligan, Beswick, Levine & Knox LLP has extensive experience representing DUI clients and other criminal defendants who were subject to an illegal search. Give us a call today to learn how we can help protect your constitutional rights while also assisting you in avoiding conviction for a criminal offense.
