Hamilton, MI Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

Generally, police officers may have the right to search your vehicle, under certain circumstances, such as: (1) When you consent. When an officer stops your car, he will likely ask if it's OK to search your vehicle. You're under no obligation to say yes. In fact, you may wish to remain silent; consent cannot be implied from silence. Or you could simply say no. But if you do say yes, you've just given the police officer the authority to search your entire car. (2) When the officer has reasonable suspicion, he does not need your consent to search your vehicle. Instead, if the officer has reasonable suspicion that you are concealing something dangerous or illegal, he is allowed to perform a search of the car. Typically, all the officer needs is a hunch that your car may contain illegal contraband or dangerous weapons to conduct this search. Because a car is so mobile, courts have routinely upheld warrantless searches of vehicles under an exception to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (3) When the officer has a search warrant. From an officer's standpoint, the "safest" method for searching a suspect's vehicle is to obtain a search warrant. In this case, police may detain you in the back of their patrol car and wait for another officer to show up with a search warrant. By doing this, the officer has the right to do a very thorough search of your vehicle. Of course, police need probable cause to obtain a search warrant.

You can request a continuance to find an attorney. Depending on the judge, charges, and circumstances the judge may or may not grant it. Generally speaking, a judge is not going to keep on granting continuances indefinitely, but it is likely that a judge would grant a short (for example) 2 week extension from first appearance to continue the arraignment for you to get an attorney. If you enter a not guilty plea and set a pretrial date, an attorney likely. Could sub-in at the next court date. Basically though, the sooner you get an attorney, the less complicated things will be for you procedurally. You will probably sleep better at night too if you hire a good attorney.

I would have to have the details, but most probably yes. I suspect that they enter the property on a reasonable suspicion that there was illegal activity taking place. However, the only manner in which a firm opinion could be formed would be to do a full investigation of all of the facts.