Robert Rosado has been out on a fifty thousand dollar cash bail since 2009 for charges of Possession of Marijuana, Cocaine Trafficking, Resisting Arrest and Assault and Battery on a Police Officer. Last week a Massachusetts State Police Officer pulled Rosado over on Route 24 for “excessively tinted windows”. Upon making contact with Rosado the officer smelled marijuana. That made him suspicious as did the fact that Rosado was wearing boxer shorts depicting a marijuana leaf. The officer also claims to have seen unspecified drug paraphernalia. Compounding matters was the fact that this officer had arrested Rosado in the past. The offIcer called for backup. A drug sniffing dog signaled the canine officer and in a concealed box officers found seventy eight grams of cocaine and ten thousand dollars cash. Rosado has been charged with Trafficking Cocaine in Excess of 28 Grams. The case is pending in the Taunton District Court. The case will ultimately be tried in the Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River.
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Bristol County Drug Trafficking Lawyer, Cocaine and Marijuana Charges
This case raises some interesting Fourth Amendment issues. Tinted window, while arguably sufficient to justify a traffic stop does permit the police to do more. Nor for that matter does the odor of marijuana allow the police to continue their search of the vehicle. This is particularly true now since the decriminalization of possessing less than one ounce of marijuana came into effect. Obviously the officer did not believe that Rosado was operating under the influence of marijuana. Had believed that he undoubtedly would have charged Rosado with that crime. This raises another interesting question. If it is not a criminal offense to possess limited quantities of marijuana is it a crime to possess materials, i.e. “drug paraphernalia” to smoke the substance. It seems to me that Rosado’s Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer has plenty of ammunition to fight the stop through a Motion to Suppress.
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