Udonis Haslem, a professional basketball player, was finally exonerated of all charges in his marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia case. Police arrested the Heat star on August 15th after they allegedly stopped his car for having illegal tints. Police officers wrote in their reports that upon approaching Haslem's vehicle, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana. The odor of marijuana is enough to give officers probable cause to search a vehicle without a warrant under the automobile exception. Upon searching the vehicle, officers discovered the marijuana in pill bottles in two separate bags. The passenger in the vehicle admitted that the marijuana belonged to him and one of the bags belonging to the passenger contained a plane ticket in his name. Haslem has from the beginning denied any knowledge that his automobile contained marijuana. The Miami criminal lawyer representing Haslem has proclaimed his client's innocence since the arrest.
The case has been open pending the results of the fingerprint analysis of the four pill bottles. Once the results came back from the Miami-Dade County Crime Lab showing that Haslem's prints were not on any of the bottles, the state attorney's office no actioned or denied filing any charges against the defendant. The only prints that were able to be matched on the bottles belonged to the passenger. While the criminal attorney representing Halsem proclaimed that the arrest should have never been made, the prosecutor claimed that officers had probable cause to make the arrest because the marijuana was found in the defendant's car, the defendant was driving the car and the marijuana was near the defendant.
Many times in this county, arrests are made first with the investigation to follow. A better practice would have been to gather the lab evidence prior to making an arrest. Although the defendant in this case had significant assets to defend the case, regular citizens may not have the means to post a bond and hire an attorney to defend the charges. Once the arrest is made, money has to be spent that will never be recovered. The police should complete their investigation prior to making an arrest to be fair for a variety of reasons. Once a person has been arrested and the charges have been dropped the case and the arrest will show up as a matter of public record. The only way to remove the record is go through the expungement process which is a costly and lengthy process. Why should a person have to post a bond, hire a lawyer and then expunge the record if the police have not completed their investigation? The answer is, they shouldn't. That being said, nothing will be done to improve the system.
In all cases involving marijuana or cocaine possession or trafficking cases where the evidence is found in the car, knowledge of the presence of the illegal substance always has to be proven. These cases often arise when the driver is not the owner of the car or there are multiple passengers in a vehicle. Without being able to prove that the defendant had knowledge of the presence of the illegal substance the state will not have case. The strength of the defense will depend on the ownership of the vehicle and most importantly where the drugs were found and how they were packaged. Of course, all bets are off if anyone arrested for this types of offense feels the need to provide the officers with a statement. In order to give your criminal defense lawyer the best opportunity to defend your drug case, invoke your right to a lawyer and never talk to the police.
State Drops Pot Charges Against Miami Heat's Udonis Haslem, The Miami Herald.com, September 16, 2010.
