Defense Lawyers

TIP: You are never required to consent to a search of your vehicle. Of course, a police officer is not obligated to advise you that you have the right to refuse consent to search. The only rights the police must advise you of are your Miranda rights. You must be aware of your Fourth Amendment rights and take the appropriate measures to invoke them when confronted by law enforcement.

If you do not wish to consent to a search of your vehicle, you should make two things clear to the officer. First, that you do not consent to a search of your vehicle, and second that you will not physically obstruct him if he believes that he has probable cause. This is so because even if you refuse consent to search the officer might search anyway. If the officer searches your car without your consent he will have to justify to a judge why he thought he had probable cause to search in the event contraband is discovered. If you are charged with a crime based upon items seized from the car, your lawyer may be able to challenge the admissibility of this evidence with a suppression motion. Had you consented to the search then this potentially valuable defensive strategy would not be available to you.