Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: “Can I represent myself on a traffic ticket?”
Driving without a license is a serious offense in North Carolina. That is why it is vital to contact a criminal defense lawyer if you get pulled over without a license to avoid getting into trouble.
Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: “What am I obligated to do if I’ve been pulled for Drinking and Driving?”
Most of the time, a person’s only interaction with law enforcement is during a routine traffic stop. It is not unusual to have a cop pull you over at least once during your lifetime, whether justified or not. Traffic violations are relatively tame on the spectrum of criminal activity, but did you know that you have certain rights in North Carolina that are inalienable no matter the circumstance?
Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: “Can the police search my car without a warrant?”
In most instances, police officers are required to have reasonable suspicion when they conduct a traffic stop. Speeding, swerving in and out of lanes, using a phone while driving, or other traffic violations give an officer reasonable suspicion to pull a car over and investigate what is happening. When an officer conducts a traffic stop, he or she usually asks for your license, registration, and insurance, and then runs your information through their system to check you out. However, what happens if the reason the officer conducted the stop, providing reasonable suspicion, disappears? Can officers still conduct the traffic stop and ask for your license? The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently ruled on this issue and found that yes, an officer can continue the traffic stop even if the cause for the stop disappears.
Charlotte DWI and Criminal Defense Attorney J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can the police search my car without a warrant?”
At around 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of February 21, Natali Castellanos-Tyler, a 30-year-old married mother of two small children, was driving home from a birthday party in her 2002 Ford Explorer. Castellanos-Tyler’s three-year-old daughter, Elisa, was riding in a back passenger seat.