Californication

[MSTRUST]

I was pulled over in July in Riverside, CA.
I asked the officer why? He said,"Your tags are expired." I replied, "Don't you see the big red #7 (temporary reg.) posted in my window? He said,"Anyone can have one of those." I gave him my license and explained how a person has to pay ALL their fees and have insurance before a temporary can be issued. He went to his car and ran me. When he came back he asked me to exit the vehicle. I complied. At that point he started questioning me about prior arrests/ convictions, etc. I figured he must of saw a 1993 drug conviction on my record. I was not on parole. He asked if he could search my vehicle. I said,"If you have to."
He did...and subsequently he found a controlled substance and I was arrested, and taken to county jail. My dilemma is...
After he found I had avalid license and vehicle reg. etc... and no warrants or parole or anything...shouldn't he have let me be on my way? Why did he ask me to get out of the car? I wasn't given any kind of citation for a vehicle violation and my vehicle was not impounded.
What are my rights here?
Was this illegal? Thanks!

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

I see what you are saying. But you have two strikes against you:

1. An officer has a right to ask you out of your vehicle and has a right to ask to search your car, especially if he has reasonable suspicion. Which he did here.

2. You gave the officer CONSENT to search your car.

3. Now as to your legal rights, you can try to get a lawyer to argue that it was based on unreasonable suspicion and therefore, the search was invalid and any evidence found should be thrown out or excluded. A very hard argument to make, but a good lawyer can try to argue it successfully.

Hope this helps.