Motions to Suppress Evidence for Fourth Amendment Violations

As events over the past decade or so have shown, the police are not the trustworthy community protectors that they try to make themselves out to be. Anyone who is even tangentially involved in the criminal justice system will be able to tell you that police officers routinely lie or exaggerate in order to justify their arrest or worse, justify their own wrongdoing. Criminal defense lawyers often joke that officers charge people with resisting without violence or battery on a law enforcement officer in order to explain why they beat someone up or put someone in the hospital.

The media often only reports on incidences of wrongdoing when it results in someone’s death. However, police wrongdoing is quite pervasive and results in many injustices outside of police killings. Police and other authorities have historically shown little respect for the constitutional protections that are in place to benefit all of us, and consistently try to undermine those protections and circumvent the constitution. Luckily, our court system still has avenues in place to challenge violations of constitutional rights perpetrated by police. If you believe that your constitutional rights have been violated in connection with a criminal investigation, you should not hesitate to contact a dedicated Sarasota criminal defense lawyer to help you assert your rights.

The most important constitutional protection for criminal defendants is created by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fourth amendment provides that: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Essentially, the amendment allows people in the United States to be free from unreasonable requests by the police. Thanks to this constitutional amendment, police cannot search you or arrest you without probable cause, a warrant, or an exception to the warrant requirement.

Now, the existence of the amendment itself does little to actually prevent police from violating your constitutional rights. In fact, police routinely violate the Fourth amendment and various other protections of the Constitution. It is left to the court system to hand down punishments for violations. If a police officer violates your Fourth amendment constitutional rights, your dedicated Sarasota criminal defense lawyer can file what is known as a motion to suppress. A motion to suppress alleges that evidence of the crime allegedly committed was uncovered in contravention of the provisions of the constitution. If a judge is in agreement with your argument, then some or all of the evidence collected against you may be thrown out and made inadmissible in court.

This situation comes up often when police pull people over in a traffic stop and end up searching the defendant’s car. If your attorney can successfully argue that the traffic stop was either unreasonable or outright illegal, then the judge will suppress any evidence found during the search of the car. And in cases where police obtain a search warrant, your attorney can present evidence that the warrant was obtained unlawfully, resulting in the dismissal of the charges against you.

The attorneys at Hanlon Law have years of experience identifying and litigating constitutional issues. If you believe that you were treated unfairly by police or that your constitutional rights to be free from an unreasonable search were violated, you should not hesitate to speak to a dedicated Sarasota criminal defense lawyer. We pride ourselves on achieving excellent results for our clients, and look forward to helping you achieve your goals. Call us today for a consultation at 941.462.1789.