Slashdot Mirror
Driver Arrested In Ohio For Secret Car Compartment Full of Nothing
schwit1 writes about the hazards of driving through Ohio in a car with a secret compartment in the trunk. From the article: "Norman Gurley, 30, is facing drug-related charges in Lorain County, Ohio, despite the fact that state troopers did not actually find any drugs in his possession. Ohio passed a law in 2012 making it a felony to alter a vehicle to add a secret compartment with the 'intent' of using it to conceal drugs for trafficking."
This is the first person arrested under the strange law.
I know Florida has had a law on the books like this for a while and I'm sure other states do as well. I get why they think they need it but it's a serious abuse of our individual rights as it essentially makes it so you are assumed guilty.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Or is this another one of those BS laws where they bypass due process by stating in the law that "such and such" conditions are sufficient to establish it?
Does this law apply if you buy a used car and you don't even know about the hidden compartment? Surely this can't be Constitutional.
that this car is is prison.
Sent from my ENIAC
> a secret compartment with the 'intent' of using it to conceal drugs for trafficking
Your honor, I swear this was designed for my human trafficking only...
(From here, I can hear lots of of Ohioans happy that their porn was dematerialized...)
How do the LEOs know what someone's intention is? I could argue it is to store sensitive work material or items sought after by thieves. What is wrong with putting drugs in there? I have a prescription for Oxycodone before. There are plenty of junkies that would love to get their hands on that. So does this mean police can arrest someone because they think they might have intentions of doing something illegal? Are they going to compensate people for their time and legal fees for arrest based on nothing more than speculation? This is insane. I will admit I didn't RTFA.
It is in the constitution.
So he had vaccum sealed a compartment in his car? Could be dangerous...
Any lawyer worth half a shit will get this tossed out. It's a useless law for it's intended purpose, it's designed as a plea bargain tool. If they decide to use this particular case to test the legality of this law, they are going to be sorely disappointed.
I have a hidden compartment in my car it, came that way from the Factory, it were I store my spare tire and jack. So under this crazy law, would that be illegal too?
Seriously: "With the 'intent'?" Does Ohio have a concealed carry law? Just stuff a gun or a spare clip in there. Your 'intent' was to keep your weapon safe. Think of the children.
Have gnu, will travel.
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/October-2010/investigating-and-prosecuting-hidden-compartment-cases
One more thing...we call them the Fibbies for a reason.
Next step: seize all his assets now that he's a "drug trafficker"!
Such things follow a long established general pattern where possession of the tools needed to commit a certain type of crime plus intent to use them illegally is sufficient to obtain a criminal conviction.
The classic example of this is the possession of burglary tools - things like crowbars, lock picks etc.
The Ohio law reads:
prohibit designing, building, constructing, fabricating, modifying, or altering a vehicle to create or add a hidden compartment with the intent to facilitate the unlawful concealment or transportation of a controlled substance
So really there is little new here.
So, next up: A law that makes it a felony for using encryption to conceal evidence of terrorism.
Now they can nail you just for using encryption with your email.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
He could just have buy the truck without any knowledge of the secret compartment existence.
If it's empty, how can they legally prove he knew it even existed? It's "hidden" right?
And fire police.
I don't see how they prove intent here. Empty container -- I could store guns, money, drugs, or *any other valuable item* I don't want exposed and out there for someone to heist by smashing the glass in the vehicle. I don't suppose I have a right to secure my property in any way I see fit? Intent is missing here and the prosecutor is going to have to stretch the truth quite a bit to prove his case.
check to see if there are lots of laws whose only purpose is to make life easier for the police without any other reasonable purpose
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_SB_305
(I) This section does not apply to a box, safe, container, or other item added to a vehicle for the purpose of securing valuables, electronics, or firearms provided that at the time of discovery the box, safe, container, or other item added to the vehicle does not contain a controlled substance or visible residue of a controlled substance.
So it's OK to have a hidden compartment in your car as long as it does not contain a controlled substance or visible residue of a controlled substance. For the record, I still think the law is crap but it's not as bad as the article makes it out to be.
Unless there is dope residue in the car, there is no way that any prosecutor would ever charge this because there is no way they could prove the intent element.
Major constitutionality problems.
as all those stop signs on crossings where one can see traffic 1/2 mile each side.
Which leads to the question how much fuel is wasted bringing all those huge masses of big cars to a full stop, then accelerating again - all just satisfying the rules....
As bad as the law is, according to the law's language itself, he shouldn't have been arrested. Here's the last section of the law:
(I) This section does not apply to a box, safe, container, or other item added to a vehicle for the purpose of securing valuables, electronics, or firearms provided that at the time of discovery the box, safe, container, or other item added to the vehicle does not contain a controlled substance or visible residue of a controlled substance.
Only one section of the law mentions the word "intent" and that's in reference to actually building or installing the hidden compartment. So unless this guy also had a prior drug felony, or unless they could show he installed the compartment himself, there's no real case against him. I'm guessing he has a record though, which is why the went forward with the arrest.
Dateline did a story back in 1997 on the I-10 corridor in Louisiana. http://fear.org/tourist1.html
there were wires involved.
Sent from my ENIAC
I didn't think intent mattered any more, it specifically does not in California.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
Thugs with some Invasion Act in hand will come and get you.
You never know.
Why stop with just hidden compartments that drug runners use? I happen to know (meaning I've seen it on TV) that drug dealers keep drugs in safes, so we should outlaw those too. And safety deposit boxes too. And don't even get me started on those tricky boxes that stage magicians have, they might be used to conceal something.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Many photographers have lock boxes for their expensive gear. Why? Well, you try walking around with three flashes and some stovepipe lenses all day long.
I put that label on everything. It's meaningless your honor.
From Wikipedia:
"A hate crime law is a law intended to prevent bias-motivated violence. Hate crime laws are distinct from laws against hate speech in that hate crime laws enhance the penalties associated with conduct that is already criminal under other laws, while hate speech laws criminalize a category of speech."
It's not so much about the abstract thought of hate, but that your hate motivated the crime in question. The reason for the stiffer penalties is to discourage the behavior or to lock up perpetrators longer. They came about in the American South because when one KKK guy lynched a black man it encouraged others to do it when they saw the 1st guy get away with it.
Intent to Distribute is just a formal way of saying somebody had more pot than they could ever smoke.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
They see me rollin they hatin, patrolling they tryin to catch me ridin dirty
So they get behind me tryin to check my tags, look at my rearview and they smilin
Thinkin they'll catch me on the wrong well keep tryin
Cause they denyin is racial profiling
Lorian, OH you can check my tags
Pull me over try to check my slab
Glove compartment gotta get my cash
Cause the crooked cops try to come up fast
When they realize I ain't even ridin dirty bet you'll be leavin with an even madder mood
I'mma laugh at you then I'mma have to cruise I'm in number two on some more DJ Screw
You can't arrest me plus you can't sue
This a message to the laws tellin them WE HATE YOU
I can't be touched or tell 'em that they shoulda known
INAL but when police search you for drugs and find none there not supposed to be able use anything else they found against you. That comes under illegal search.
The guy got in trouble for not having any drugs in his secret compartment. Next time the guy will be smart and put some in there.
God spoke to me
That link....
Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent - Harvey Silverglate
From the Amazon synopsis
The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
As the law states, for the purpose of concealing drugs. If no drug residue is found in the compartment, no case.
Even though Obama doesn't follow the law, it won't fly for the littler turds and after ruining his life by financial ruin
this worthless law will have no impact.
Han: It's not mine, I'm holding for the wookie!
Chewie: Rraaaaawwwrrrr!
Once you talk about making extracts (hash, hash oil, etc.) from your pound of weed, you move from "possession with intent to distribute", to "manufacturing of a controlled substance", the same charge that running a meth lab would get you.
Since you are now manufacturing, and not simply presumed to be selling, you move to the top of the food chain, and will make a great trophy for some ambitious narco-swine.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
(2) This section does not impose a duty on a licensed motor vehicle dealer to know, discover, report, repair, or disclose the existence of a hidden compartment to any person.
(I) This section does not apply to a box, safe, container, or other item added to a vehicle for the purpose of securing valuables, electronics, or firearms provided that at the time of discovery the box, safe, container, or other item added to the vehicle does not contain a controlled substance or visible residue of a controlled substance.
The laws are screwed up in a number of places, and often written solely to favor law enforcement.
In Iowa, you can be arrested for public drunkenness with a 0.00 blood alcohol level, if you are perceived as being drunk. So, if you happen to have MS and walk in a drunken manner, you can be charged with public drunkenness.
I thought those GOP freedom fighters were the ones who don't like government interference? They want the government out of their lives...except for abortion, religion in public schools, and secret compartments in your car.
Good thing we have a party that wants to keep the government out of our lives or things would really be messed up.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The planet Vulcan is the American future.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
that the driver is black
I'm certain Ohio's freedom loving Republican Governor will take care of things.
Because the Republican's are all about freedom, I know, I heard it on Glenn Beck!
Seriously? He made a "secret compartment" yet couldn't be bothered to hide the wires leading to said compartment?
The stupidity is strong in thus one.
A fascinating and somewhat related article from Wired about a man that built some of these hidden compartments:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/03/alfred-anaya/all/
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
No, legal fees are not 'taken care of if you win'. The system doesn't care if you are innocent, the system cares about the system, and obviously anyone who ends up in court has to be a scumbag, right?
For criminal defense cases, you may choose to be represented without charge by an overworked, underfunded public defender who has every interest in resolving your case as quickly as possible via plea-bargaining... regardless of guilt or innocence.
Or you may hire an attorney who is actually being paid to represent your interests, where the cheapest option available is typically in excess of a thousand dollars, substantially more for serious charges or if the case actually goes to a jury trial.
The vast majority of defendants in the American legal system do not have the financial resources to hire an attorney, which is why the vast majority of all criminal charges are settled by plea bargain. Prosecutors have every incentive to pile on the threat of every imaginable charge and use the uncertainty of the outcome of a trial as leverage to coerce a plea bargain, guilty or not, because it works, and because they are almost never held responsible for their unethical conduct even when they commit egregious acts like concealing evidence that would exonerate the accused.
Add in unconscionable levels of police malfeasance and corruption on nearly every level, and the result is a criminal justice system that is anything but just. Unless you've got plenty of money. Which is kind of the point.
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
This law is supposed to defeat drug traffickers, however it will do nothing when the man is the one running the dope. Seriously the population with the greatest drug availability is the U.S. prison population. The only reason this can be is because the prison officials are profiting of the prison drug trade, and allowing it to occur. Similarly, the cops and big corporate interests are profiting off the U.S. drug trade that is why it is allowed to continue. They will arrest the stoners driving away with dope in their 74 pinto, but they will ignore the gang stars sellen the dope. If there is a war on drugs why don't we have the CIA launching hellfire missiles into crack houses from predator drones. The reason is we don't have a war. We have a cartel. Just like DeBeers controls the scarcity of diamonds the U.S. governments limits the supply of drugs to keep prices and profits high. The U.S. government controls and profits from the numbers racket (lottery), the drug and alcohol trade, cigarettes, and guns.
Fuck the law, and the corporate interests that control the U.S. If your kids get hooked on drugs thank a cop. If you don't want your kids hooked on drugs then kill the faggot selling drugs on the corner. The cops will try to arrest you, but at least your kids will have a future.
.. Imagine if his defense lawyer would argue that this was, in fact, a secret compartment, meant to smuggle unicorns into Ohio. Offer to plead guilty to attempted unicorn-trafficking but deny the drug charges.
The book of Mormon would be illegal.
... moderated the parent post to +5, Insightful?
There will be a day, hopefully very soon, where I no longer have the "news" of the USA shown to me.
Whether this is by filter, a firefox plugin or simply from the fact the entire county has imploded financially or due to stupendous idiocy - it matters not.
I am tired of seeing stupid stories like this and the incessant barking of either the "left" or the "right" as to the right/wrong of the latest endemic self created stupidity.
I am tired of the unrelenting hate, the spite, the fear mongering, the insults, intolerance, racism, loathing and viciousness that spews out. Build a GIANT WALL and imprison yourselves. Let the rest of the world enjoy ourselves.
Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
So... if I have a hide-a-key compartment under my fender, and I drive through Ohio, I would be guilty of breaking this law. Those boxes are big enough to "smuggle" drugs, certainly, though only in "criminally" personal amounts.
Wow.
I'm a fan of secret anything. Secret pockets, secret compartments, secret secondary basement etc... The government is allowed secrets, why not us? They should fear us even if we pretend we have things that we don't really have. What bothers me is how big brothers is becoming more and more intrusive. They now can barge into your house without a warrant, they can give you a cavity search whenever they damn well please and if you don't like it they can throw you into a detainment camp (or kill you). They are logging every damn thing that's going on, on the internet, radio etc... Cameras are being installed on every intersection (at least here), and you're not guilty of thinking of a crime, not actually committing it. So if you posturize a scenario in your head, even if you say it's for a script, if they don't like you, they will prosecute you for your "thought crimes" as long as you admit to them. But of course, thought crimes can be as simple as posting on facebook and them using an algorithm to figure out whom are threats, since well... The IRS fiasco against conservatives/libertarians was proven to be true. Medical records are now going to be used against you as well with obamacare whom are centralizing everything and new laws such as gun bans are being put into place for people that have recorded anxiety issues and such. Everyone has anxiety issues!
So sorry for wanting one little thing that can be considered privacy Mr. Government but that's how it is. We don't want your nose in our business and we don't buy the whole war on drugs thing, war on terrorists, or war on pedophiles either. They are all labels that you use to pass undesirable laws, but now people like me are considered an undesirable since I'm quite loud with my voice and that's a crime in your agenda. Sorry, but every time I hear "think of the children" I think about how great children would be at being politicians compared to you scums that use children, drugs, and fabricated truths to get what you want. Get over yourselves, the majority of the US is waking up. More and more people will be getting secret compartments from now on whether it's because they want to have some privacy or they are taking part of the new rise in the blackmarket thanks to your shitty administration. Yes, I will say this quite clearly. Obama's administration has destroyed the country in a way that it can no longer be reversed even if you have a libertarian in charge that reduces government overhead by 90%. There is absolutely nothing that can be done and we all have to wait it out until foreign nations get tired of us taking out loans. We cannot pay our debt, and there's no way around it besides forfeiting the nation to a bigger one, willing to tackle our debt.
I know it's a rant that's partially irrelevant but it's relevant to the fact that the government have gone way out of line and even the police aren't there for the people anymore.
All you have to do is fill the compartment with tools, blankets, water, and similar emergency materials. If you get pulled over and they find your "compartment" you're clearly not intending it for drug use, because it's clearly IN USE for legitimate purposes. The compartment is one thing, but intent is another, and intending to keep emergency materials at hand in a car is actually a GOOD THING, and having a compartment for it means you're not sacrificing trunk space.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
The US has more prisoners per capita and also more total prisoners than any other country on earth. This is a huge drag on the economy. Not only is there a massive cost for keeping all of these mostly non-violent people imprisoned, we are also deprived of their contribution to the economy. Locking someone up often destroys not just their life but the lives of their children and other family members.
Passing more laws against non-violent crimes to lock up more non-violent people is going full tilt in the WRONG DIRECTION!
FTFA:
"We apparently caught them between runs, so to speak, so this takes away one tool they have in their illegal trade. The law does help us and is on our side," says [Lt. Michael Combs with State Highway Patrol].
Lt. Combs is delusional if he thinks his "side" can possibly win their war on drugs. It is possible that outlawing secret compartments is a natural extension of the war on drugs but that just shows how idiotic and insane the war on drugs is. Even if they took away all of our remaining civil liberties, the war on drugs would still be unwinnable. How much more must the American people sacrifice for the sake of this unwinnable war?
OTOH, Mr. Gurley is lucky he was not pulled over in the state of New Mexico where at least two different people have been forced to undergo enemas, colonoscopies, and anal probing based on acting nervous after a routine traffic stop:
After Eckert was pulled over, a Deming police officer said that he saw Eckert "was avoiding eye contact with me," his "left hand began to shake," and he stood "erect (with) his legs together,"
We are wasting billions of dollars; we are destroying millions of lives; we are militarizing our civil police departments; we are trashing our civil liberties; and we are destroying at least one neighboring country all in the name of a war on drugs that is impossible to win. It is stupid, it is sick, it is insane. It must stop.
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
Not to diss your points, but I feel the need to point out that in places without private prisons you still generally have a lobby pressing for much the same thing in the form of the lobby of the prison guard union.
As for Ohio's contract, I'd love to see the officials who signed the contract fined and fired for exceeding their authority, and the contract ruled null and invalid due to containing invalid clauses.
I don't read AC A human right
How will they establish "intent".
Does merely having a compartment establish the intent?
Usually, such circular logic does not hold up well in highre courts.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Hey, we just the prints of your vacation pictures. You can come pick them up any time.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
The urge to start killing dumbfucks and purging the stupid from the gene pool is as overwhelming as it is constant.
The better part of me says "this is not the way"...until nobody's looking, then it just nods and mutters that, actually, it is, but it's still figuring out a way to maximize the impact once the dumbfucks catch wind of it and hunt me down.
We keep getting these jackasses shooting up schools and QuickeeMarts. They're just too dumb to understand who the REAL enemies are.
Oh! Too soon?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Fuck it. If they're gonna shit all over the constitution might as well just put a bullet in their pig heads.
The compartment was loaded with bitcoins. Once they pushed the button to open the door, poof went the wallet.
> Given this is the first arrest, you have to wonder how
> the courts might view a law making it a felony to alter
> a person's own property for reasons that have
> nothing to do with actual public safety.
Some fairly massive parts of the vehicle and traffic codes have nothing at all to do with public safety; and are often even counterproductive to public safety and even the environment (Window tint laws, for example.). They're just there to give the cops a way to raise revenue by writing tickets or as an excuse to pull you over if they decide they don't like the looks of you.
Imagine all the people...
How does stuff like that continue? If a cop did that to me I'd kill him and his family. Would take a few years of planning but worth it. How can the abuse so many people like such animals and nobody puts them down?
If I modify my haversack to include a secret compartment and carry it into wal mart, would I be facing charges of shoplifting?
All I have to do is open the hood and I'd be arrested for the "frunk" storage area. Some people look at me strange when I open the hood to put in groceries and whatnot rather than the rear trunk. It's easier for me to take the groceries out of the front in my garage.
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
I think I agree with you, but I might be missing the point.
Was I missing a "because, Free Market" in there, or "because, Corruption," or a "because, Constitution" somewhere?
Kid-proof tablet..
In some states you can't even get the overworked and underpaid public defender at all unless you are indigent. The courts won't concern themselves with such petty matters as innocent people being rendered homeless or unemployed. It is, after all, the just us system.
I can well remember about 20 years ago I drove from Holland to England by way of the Channel Tunnel in a large rental van I had hired to pick up a suite of furniture that my in-laws in England had generously said they would to give to me. The French Customs stopped me at the entrance to the tunnel and asked me what I was transporting in the van, to which I innocently replied "Nothing". They took a look at the empty van. Next thing I knew there were about 14 gendarmes inside and outside the van going over the vehicle inch by inch knocking on every panel to find the secret compartment. It was good half an hour before they gave up trying to find the non-existent drugs. The air of mystification on their faces was a joy to behold when they let me go. I swear some of them still believed I must have filled the back of the van with drugs in gaseous form.
No left turn unstoned.
Jefferson is a hypocrite who talked about opposing the slave trade while keeping slaves. Compared to him ANY modern legislator is an icon of virtue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_slavery
He also opposed the practice of slave masters freeing their own slaves as he believed this made slave uprisings more likely.
This is your example of liberty?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Looked at the jeep cherokee recently and was surprised how insistent that the sales
person made absolutely sure I knew about the secret compartment under the front
passenger seat. It's definitely drug related because it's sized just right for a pizza,
box included.
Seriously, this is Ohio - where possession of a single j***t will result in a life sentence.
People have to remember to insist on a trial by jury for even the minor-ist of offences.
Jury trial in the U.S. are unique in the world - no other country has them (some in name
only); the founders understood that power corrupts absolutely which is why there are
four branches of the government - yes, a jury is the forth branch of the government.
CAPTCHA = 'swords'
He must have had a shitty lawyer. The intent to commit a crime is usually pretty hard to prove, despite the millions of comments to the contrary above. If they proved that, maybe he really did have intent or maybe he had a public defender that abdicated immediately.
Imagine if you weren't allowed to use roads because a bus company complained about your driving 3 times. --skunkpussy
"Then again, we have another law that lets women go topless on hot days."
You need a law that let you do things?
That is scary.
America's drug laws became gateways laws for a complete Nazi style fascist police state.
That's not good either. Just because you don't like someone's perfectly legal job is no excuse to make them an outlaw that the State can just steal from without consequence. A government agency should have to show beyond reasonable doubt that money is proceeds of crime before taking it away like that.
Their 95 Taurus wagon (and others too I suspect) have "hidden" storage for both a normal and full size spare tire. No one needs the use of both so one of those is obviously used to smuggle drugs!
For criminal defense cases, you may choose to be represented without charge by an overworked, underfunded public defender who has every interest in resolving your case as quickly as possible via plea-bargaining... regardless of guilt or innocence.
You may only choose to use a public defender if you can demonstrate that your income is below 125% (varies by state) of the poverty level (ie, $14k for single, $30k family-of-4). Most states will also make you document lack of savings before letting you coast through on one of those overworked, underfunded "free" lawyers.
"Criminals and drug dealers are using the same roads you use every day" - pray for us now....
Ohio should really be arresting everyone who is now and also has been polluting every lake, river and stream for decades as part of their every day normal commerce in this awful state.
... it sounds like, "I have it to conceal poached game", might be a successful defense.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/18/1027775/-TSA-Arrests-Me-for-Using-the-Fourth-Amendment-as-a-Weapon-Tales-from-the-Edge-of-a-Revolution-2#
http://www.infowars.com/new-jersey-woman-arrested-for-reciting-constitution-at-tax-meeting/
apparently cops consider the 4th amendment to be roughly equivalent to yelling "ALLAHU AKBAR!!!"
Unconstitutional is the least you can say about this arrest....that is all.
The real problem is this country's insane War on Drugs. The logic for it is truly perverse:
1. People who use drugs are often willing to commit crimes to feed their habit such as theft and robbery.
2. Therefore, we'll clamp down people selling drugs.
3. But people who exhibit behavior X tend to be drug dealers so we'll clamp down on behavior X.
4. But people who exhibit behavior Y tend to exhibit behavior X so we'll clamp down on behavior Y.
5. None of this is working, so we'll use SWAT teams and Dogs and Really Harsh Sentencing for people who exhibit behavior Y.
Meanwhile, when someone steals from me or robs me the cops tell me, "There really isn't much we can do about it so I hope you have insurance. We are much to busy catching drug dealers to worry about minor crimes like this."
this signature has been removed due to a DMCA takedown notice
Sounds like he got busted for having a secret compartment full of nothing. But doesn't that mean that nothing is illegal? And that implies that everything is legal. Therefore, the state must release him forthwith. Ha! Hoisted on their own petard! For my next trick I shall prove that Alexander the Great never existed and that he had an infinite number of limbs.
I just searched through the entire Ohio Revised Code and did not find a single reference to "trap car" anyplace.
What the story did not cover (half baked), is the prior history of the driver. Did he/she have any prior drug traficking related convictions? If so, then it's technically a valid arrest (although I think the code should not exist). But if he does not, then it's case of false arrest, and the jury and/or judge need to do their duty and find him innocent.
This sounds like the old joke about being jailed for having "instruments of rape"
they would have to prove state of mind(mens rea). this is hard to do unless they wiretapped him saying he was going to pick up a kilo. the state/officer must be under the assumption that hidden compartments can only be used for controlled substances.
"(C) No person shall knowingly operate, possess, or use a vehicle with a hidden compartment with knowledge that the hidden compartment is used or intended to be used to facilitate the unlawful concealment or transportation of a controlled substance."
"(I) This section does not apply to a box, safe, container, or other item added to a vehicle for the purpose of securing valuables, electronics, or firearms provided that at the time of discovery the box, safe, container, or other item added to the vehicle does not contain a controlled substance or visible residue of a controlled substance."
I would demand a jury trial asap.
you would be arrested for brandishing the weapon, right?
Is this like Pavlov's Dogs? Instead of ringing a bell, its approaching a car, and instead of salivating, its the smell of marijuana?
good luck proving intent, even a retarded jury should be able to see what's going on here
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=138271836246162&id=100001900386765&set=a.101984716541541.3177.100001900386765&source=42&__user=100001920476177
They found a compartment with wires running into it. You mean like the empty CD Changer compartment in my wife's old Mazda?
No trips to Ohio for me.
You never really know how close to the edge you can go until you fall off.
He might have been arrested, but how is the court going to prove he intended to put drugs there?
Arrested for having AIR in his secret compartment?? OMGoodness! Next, I*ll probably get arrested for having AIR in my head :( How strange??
My car was broken into a year ago and ever sense then I have created a secret compartment to put all my valuable. No drugs or weapons just my wallet and cellphone for when I go mountain biking. I hate to live in a world were we are always guilty.
Unless they can prove beyond reasonable doubt he intended to use it, he is going to walk
What if you bought a used car that, at one time, had been used to smuggle drugs?
You would have no idea the compartment even existed, let alone have the intent to smuggle drugs in it.
Of course the cops just want to fill out the jails so your innocence wouldn't matter to them.
God bless merka.
Don't pucker up your hieney. It may be considered a hidden compartment.
Public defender can cost you money, too. They aren't necessarily pro bono. In at least some jurisdictions, there is a means test to determine if/how much you should pay for the services of the public defender.