MISSING LICENSE PLATES POLICE STOP

Many Los Angeles DUI investigations start from a police traffic stop.  The police can pull over a vehicle for a moving violation, such as speeding or weaving outside of a lane, or following too close.  Also, the police can stop your car for non-moving violation, such as non working light or missing license plate.  Here, he discuss what happens if your car has only the license plate in the rear.  Certainly, not having licens plate can result in you being pulled over by LAPD or CHP or other police agency in Los Angeles and eventually result in a Los Angeles DUI arrest.

MOTION FOR SEARCH AND SEIZURE

If you are pulled over in Los Angeles, call Los Angeles DUI attorney to get a free consultation how we can help you.  If many of our cases, Los Angeles DUI Attorney file a motin for search and seizure.  If Los Angeles DUI Attorney files a motion for search and seizure, the police officer who pulled you over and arrested you for a DUI in Los Angeles, have to show to court and testify about the way he pulled you over.  The reason the police officer has to show up to court has to do with a burden of proof regrding proper reason to stop, approach, or arrest a driver and to startt a DUI investigation.   This motion for search and seizure is based on the legality of the stop or arrest and is rooted in the 4th amendment to the US Constitution which protects the public from “unreasonable searches and seizures” by police.  Los Angeles DUI lawyer specilizes in motions for search and seizure and once the motion is granted, your Los Angeles DUI case will be dismissed.

The motion is a written document that needs to be typed up by a lawyer and filed with the court.  After the motion is filed with the court, it has to be served on the district attorney hadeling this case.  The clerk of the court will calendar the motion at least 10 courtdays after filing/service so that witnesses can be subpoenaed to court.

ISSUES AT THE MOTION FOR SEARCH AND SEIZURE

Most often, in Los Anges DUI case litigation, Los Angeles DUI attorney chalanges the legality of the stop rather than the legality of the arrest.  That’s because most people drive better than they perform on the field sobriety tests.  That is also because the field sobriety tests are very subjective and hard to challange.  Lastly, some case law allows officers to arrest defendants only because they smell of alchol.  After all, even sober people can fail some field sobriety tests, while impaired drivers often drive without violating any laws.  But even a person who drive without violating any law can be arrested and convicted of a DUI because impairment is not required for a Vehicle Code 23152(b) prosecution, since it is based on the alcohol level, i.e, you can be sober but over the limit of .08 and therefore guilty of a DUI in Los Angeles.

When the stop of your vehicle that resulted in your Los Angeles DUI arrest is based on a bogus or questionable reason, you will need the help experience DUI Lawyer Los Angeles to win your case.  Los Angeles DUI Attorney will argue during the motion, and after police testifies that the stop of your vehicle is a violation of your rights under the 4th amendment to the US Constitutio.  Here, we are addressing one type of a 4th amendment litigation, to wit, when the traffic stop of your car was based on a missing front license plate.  If a motion to suppress the evidence of such a stop is granted and the judge decides that this stop is illegal, your DUI case is likely to be dismissed. Once Los Angeles defense attorney raises “search and seizure” issue in his motion, the prosecutor have to justify the stop and the arrest because any warrantless search or stop is presumed unreasonable.

In most Los Angeles DUI investigations, if there is a good reason to stop a car and approach a driver,  the subsequent arrest is justified based on the driver’s failure to perform the field sobriety tests as demostrated and explained and based on the presence of objective signs of intoxication such as the smell of alcohol, red watery eyes, etc.  If the stop is considered legal, most Los Angeles DUI cases have to go to trial to have a winning chance.  Also, since to justify an arrest, the police officer only needs probable cause, it can rarely be used successfully as a basis for a search and seizure motion for a DUI prosecution in Los Angeles.  Instead, DUI attorneys in Los Angeles, in litigating search and seizure motions, mostly focus on the legality of the stop.  It depends what is the basis for a stop.  Some traffic stops, such as runing a red light, are easily justified as legal by police, while others, such as missing front license plates, are not.  We do encorage you to call our Los Angeles attorney DUI to determine if the traffic stop in your case is illegal and if we can help you get your DUI case dismissed or criminal case dismissed.

Case Law In Support of Wining A Motion When Front License Plates Are Missing.

In California, when a vehicle is missing a front license plate, the police officer is justified in stopping your car. However, when the vehicle plate is issued by a different jurisdiction where one license plate is only required, the officer’s stop is invalid even if he believes that all jurisdictions require two license plates.  This line of reasoning is known as “mistake of law” and it is a great way to get your case dismissed by showing to the court that the stop was illegal.  There are several relevant case law from Federal and California jurisdiction with one of the best cases being People v. Reyes, 196 Cal . App. 4th 856.  Here is language from Reyes that can be used to dismiss your DUI case.

“We . . . note the fundamental unfairness of holding citizens to `the traditional rule that ignorance of the law is no excuse’ [citation] while allowing those `entrusted to enforce’ the law to be ignorant of it.”

In addition to this, if police believes that your new car did not receive the license plates yet, they have to justify the stop.  During the motion, you can also quesiton how the police was able to observe missing license plate and if he cannot do that, your Los Angeles DUI case or Los Angeles Criminal case will be dimissed.

For a free consultation about your case please contact Attorney DUI Los Angeles through our website or call us directly at (818) 921 7744.  DUI attorneys in Los Angeles are ready to help you win your case and can do so at an affordable rate.