I was at a friends home when a search warrant was being executed
there.  I was detained for 2 hours before an officers asked to search
my vehicle.   I said ?no? they responded with ?we will get a search
warrant for it then?.  I was arrested for possession of illegal
substance and paraphernalia found in my vehicle.  I retained a lawyer
who told me that my detention was illegal.  The day of the pretrial I
was offered 5 years deferred sentence and 1000 dollar fine.  This
offer came before we entered the court room.  I responded with 2 years
deferred but they came back with an offer of 3 years.  At this point I
was undecided what to do and set a new date for the pretrial.  My
question is should I take the 3 years or should I go thru with the
preliminary hearing and try to get the evidence suppressed?   The DA
must realize that the search was an illegal one or he wouldn?t have
made such an offer at all and would have gone ahead with the pretrial
right then.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 22 Oct 2006 14:32 PDT

You will note our disclaimer that prevents us from giving legal
advice. I can however give you my opinion based on my 20+ years of law
enforcement and court experience as to what I think you should do
(based on what little we know about the situation). Would this be
acceptible as an answer in lieu of actual legal advice?

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by whattododo-ga on 23 Oct 2006 08:26 PDT

Since posting question I have been back to court for the pretrial
hearing.  At which time the goverment came out with an even lower
number of years of a defferred sentence.  I was orally promised also
drug and alcohol evaluation, fines and court cost.  So happens though
after givng my plea in the court room and signing my rights to the
pretrial the judge says that I have to go thru an LSI.  This was not
the deal struck outside of the court room.  My attorney has really not
been much help in explaining the difference between and LSI and Drug
and Alcohol Evaluation.  The fact that the agreement was changed
bothers me most.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 23 Oct 2006 08:50 PDT

Is that your question now; "What is the different between and LSI and Drug
and Alcohol Evaluation?"

If my attorney said s/he believed an officer's actions were illegal
and then said to cop a plea to charges based on those illegal actions,
I'd consult another attorney fast.

I would settle out of court for the best deal that I could negotiate.

Good Luck!

Bryan