The police have arrested you for the illegal possession of drugs with the intent to distribute. The quantity of substances that you had was so high that they believe you meant to sell them, even though they did not catch you in the act of doing so.
Prior to the arrest, officers conducted a search of your home. That is how they found the substances in question, which are illegal under state and federal law.
You do not necessarily argue that you had these substances in your home, but you believe that the police carried out an illegal search. How could this happen, and what would it mean for your case?
Did they have a valid reason to enter your house?
One key thing to remember is that the police must enter your home in a legal manner when conducting a search. They generally need to get your consent to come inside. If they cannot get your consent, then they usually need to get a search warrant.
If the police did not have a warrant and never got your consent, but they carried out the search anyway, then it may have been a violation of your rights. That’s because you have an expectation of privacy on your own property.
That can have a significant effect on what evidence the police can use against you. In fact, the illegal substances they found may have to be excluded from the case, rather than being used as key evidence, because they were only discovered during an illegal search.
You can imagine how this will have a major impact on your case moving forward. It is crucial that you understand exactly what legal defense options you have.