| I recently represented a client charged with, amongst other things, possessing cocaine in sufficient quantity to indicate an intent to distribute, a felony under Maryland law, punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment. To make matters worse for my client, because he already had a prior felony drug conviction, he was facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years, without parole, in this new matter. However, I was able to get the State's Attorney's Office to dismiss all the drug charges against my client, as a result of an illegal search of his residence. Specifically, the police were called to the client's home after his girlfriend alleged he had struck her. The police arrived and and spoke with the girlfriend, who told them her boyfriend had a gun in the house. Meanwhile, my client, who was present at the home, was arrested and taken away from the location. The police proceeded to enter the house, without a warrant, and conduct a search. They did not find a gun, but did find drugs. I advised the State's Attorney's Office of my belief that the search of the home was illegal, as there did not exist any emergency situation to have permitted a warrantless search. In other words, since my client was no longer on the scene, all the police had to do was go to a judge and get a search warrant for the home. But, when they skipped that step and simply went inside and searched without a warrant, that was a 4th amendment violation. The State conceded the point and dimssed the felony drug case against my client. | Topics
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The Law Office of Flynn M. Owens
200 E. Lexington Street
Suite 1300
Baltimore, MD 21202
200 E. Lexington Street
Suite 1300
Baltimore, MD 21202