Can I be chaged with a possesion of a narcotic if a police officer searched my person without a warrant?
Question Details: My finace and I were living in the woods in a tent when officers arrested him on a vprobabtion violation. We both were outside our tent and an officer went inside our tent with out a warrant and started searching my back pack and purse which were zipped and closed. He found narcotics in my purse and I was charged with possesion of a narcotic.
Officers have a right to perform a "stop and frisk" of a person if they believe that a crime has been committed or that a person may be armed and dangerous. Although the police tend to take extreme liberties with this stop and frisk law, by your fiance having a an arrest warrant out due to the probation violation, and you being with him in an undisclosed area (tent), the officers will always claim that there safety was in question and that they performed both searches to be sure you and your fiance were not armed prior to them making the arrest in which the narcotics were found. Most Judges will find this type of search reasonable given the circumstances.
