Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon & Possession of Marijuana – Dismissed

Our client was a young African-American male who was charged with carrying a concealed deadly weapon and possession of marijuana. At around 2:00 a.m., in what the officers described as a “high crime area,” a police officer on routine patrol saw a car legally parked in front of a residence. There were 5 people in the car. When the police approached, two of the male passengers, one of whom was our client, got out of the vehicle and walked towards the house they were in front of. The other individuals in the car confirmed that they were dropping off the two individuals. The police officer approached our client, who was walking towards the residence, and said something to the effect of “I get a lot of people over here doing shady shit, so I figured we’d make sure everything was cool”. The police ended up detaining all 5 individuals, and discovered guns in the car. Our client had marijuana on him, and was charged with carrying a concealed deadly weapon based upon a handgun that was concealed in the vehicle, near where he had been sitting.

We filed a motion to suppress, arguing that the detention of our client was not supported by reasonable suspicion, and was therefore illegal. A hearing was held in the district court, and the judge ultimately agreed with our motion. As a result, both charges against our client were dismissed. The moral of the story is that just because you are a young African-American male in a high crime area, those facts do not amount to reasonable suspicion for the police to detain you. If you are charged with a criminal offense as the result of what you believe to be an invalid traffic stop or illegal detention, contact Baldani Law Group. We will take the appropriate steps to see that the violations of your constitutional rights are vindicated.

Charges: Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon & Possession of Marijuana

Kentucky State Court

Lead Attorney: Russell J. Baldani