David had a criminal record from when he was young and was regularly under preliminary investigations by the local authorities. One winter evening, he arrived with some friends at a restaurant at which some police officers were eating. Our client and his friends parked the car and entered the restaurant and were seated at a table. The officers made an initial inquiry of our client about what they were doing and what they had in the vehicle. Our client and his friends stated that they had some cleaning equipment in the car and were going to work.
The officers suspected that the response was not genuine and called for a drug dog unit to come to the restaurant. It was snowing and with this excuse, the officers opened the back of the SUV without permission from our client or his friends, to shield them and the drug dog from the snow. The drug dog entered the back of the car and discovered some drugs hidden in the cleaning equipment.
Following this incident our client was arrested and charged with drug trafficking due to the large quantity of cocaine found in the car. Attorney FitzGerald believed that the police conduct was improper, as the police did not have the lawful authority to open and enter the car without permission of its owner or a court order. He filed a Motion to Suppress Evidence with the Superior Court. After an Evidentiary Hearing, the Judge granted attorney FitzGerald’s motion and ordered that the drugs illegally recovered from the car could not be used in court, and as a result the drug trafficking charges were dismissed.