George "geohot" Hotz Arrested In Texas For Posession of Marijuana 578
n1ywb writes "Goerge 'geohot' Hotz, famous for being the first to jailbreak an iPhone and for his spat with Sony over PS3 jailbreaking, was busted for possession of a small amount of marijuana at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas on his way to SXSW. The shakedown goes like this: drug dogs are run around vehicles; when they signal, DHS searches the car and finds the contraband; DHS then turns evidence and suspects over to the local sheriff. Willie Nelson, actor Armie Hammer (who played the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network), and Snoop Dogg have all gotten in trouble at the same checkpoint under similar circumstances."
Im still wondering... (Score:5, Interesting)
A Pastor sued and won against the checkpoint (Score:5, Interesting)
Or possibly another one similar in design. The cops claimed the dog signaled the presence of drugs. The pastor knew that was a lie, and refused to exit the video, so the cops smashed-in the windows, drug the pastor out, and started beating him (the video is on youtube).
Later in court it was discovered via testimony that the dog had NOT signaled and the cops were lying. They were/are just using the dogs to perform searches without cause. So the charges were dropped, and now the pastor is suing the police for damages to his car and person.
According to several SCOTUS rulings, these checkpoints are legal but ONLY for the purpose of idenitfying illegals, or escaped criminals, but nothing else. And any contraband must be thrown out, since a judge-issued warrant was not obtained, and the search is unconstitutional. The cops are ignoring the justices rulings and arresting people anyway.
Re:Newsflash: they have drug dogs at Mexico-US bor (Score:5, Interesting)
I have never understood that myself. A few years ago, I drove through one of those internal checkpoints in northern New York. I'm Canadian, live in Canada, and have a Quebec-registered car. They didn't even want to talk to me. Though my evidence is anecdotal, It seems that these checkpoints have nothing to do with border security.
Re:"When they signal" is the important part (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep. I saw a drug bust once...cops had a car surrounded and brought out the drug dog. Basically went like this:
Cop points to the car and claps his hands.
Dog looks at the car, looks back at the cop.
Cop points to the car and claps his hands.
Dog looks at the car, looks back at the cop.
Cop points to the car and claps his hands.
Dog looks at the car, looks back at the cop.
After the third time, the cops go ahead and search the car, but I sure couldn't see any "tell" from the dog. Wish I'd recorded it with my cellphone and given it to the defense attorney, but 1. it was a night and 2. I had a really shitty cell phone at the time.
Re:A Pastor sued and won against the checkpoint (Score:5, Interesting)
My dad was pulled over the other day for talking on his cellphone. I was in the passenger seat and no one was using a cellphone, so it was clearly a bullshit stop. The cop looked the car over to find a reason to justify his search; he checked the registration sticker, the inspection sticker, the headlights, everything. My dad didn't have his driver's license at the time because the DMV lost it in the mail so the cop gave him a hard time about it. The cop then asked me for ID, so I handed him my business card. I'm a lawyer. The cop walked back to his car, came back a minute later, and said that we were free to go.
Seriously, folks, cops can do really shady things. Don't get me wrong, I love cops because they've saved my ass a few times, but there are some rogue ones who really should be slapped down. I mean, if cops can lie to get you into tickets, then what the fuck incentive do we have for doing the right thing (aside from doing the right thing)?
Re:Smart people can be dumb (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Smart people can be dumb (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a friend that lives in nogalas az, and he cant leave his own city without going through a checkpoint. Sure, the city is right next to the border, but it is in America, dammit. You shouldn't be subject to those intrusions everyday of your life just because of proximity to the border.
Re:You don't say (Score:4, Interesting)
I take it you are doing better than those people, because they are stupid and you are not?
Re:Smart people can be dumb (Score:2, Interesting)
You can get life in prison for a joint in Texas. Yes, life. Last year, there was a case where a guy was dumb enough to be smoking at a bus stop. The cop tackled him, the joint brushed the cop's arm then landed by the street.
Result: Three felonies. Assault on a peace officer (the lit joint contacting the cop's arm), obstructing justice, and attempted destruction of evidence (since the perp let go of the marijuana as he was taken to the ground.) With TX's three strikes law, that is an additional 20-life. Said guy got convicted on all three counts, and now a TDCJ "guest", whose only purpose in life is to ensure a dividend for the private lockup he is now at.
Been to most counties in Texas? Most judges outside of Austin, Houston, or Dallas will rubberstamp the max penalty of law every time. Heck, Williamson county north of Austin will arrest and book people if they run a light (and have won Supreme Court cases on that.) This is because virtually all prisons and jails in the state are privately owned, and that a judge will not be re-elected if he doesn't "show he is tough on crime", (i.e. make sure he gets the lobbyist campaign contributions from the prison companies.) So, it is common for someone who got busted with a joint to find themselves in a private county cooler for a year, or a "guest" of TDCJ for 2 years.
Geohot's sentence is all dependant on how much cash he gets for a defense team. If he was someone who needs a PD, he will be a "guest" for at least a year, perhaps more.
Slippery Slope (Score:5, Interesting)
These checkpoints represent the epitome of the slippery slope.
I travel on this section of I-10 quite frequently driving from Scottsdale, Arizona to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There are two permanent checkpoints on this stretch of I-10: just west of Las Cruces, New Mexico and east of El Paso (about 100 miles east). The U.S. Supreme Court held in U.S. v. Martinez-Fuerte that these permanent checkpoints were constitutionally reasonable seizures because they were minimal in scope and time. When stopped, the border patrol agent will ask if everyone in the car is a U.S. citizen.
Then the slippery slope began and the border patrol started deploying drug detection dogs at the checkpoints. The dogs aren't generally used to do a walk-around of each vehicle. Instead, the handler and the dog are stationed down-wind of the vehicle. If the dog alerts while the occupants of the car are being asked about their citizenship then the handler and the dog will approach the car and attempt to do a more thorough check and/or search.
Checkpoints to check for illegal drugs have already been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. This type of hybrid check has not been challenged at that level yet.
This is a classic example of a slippery slope where the government justifies an action for one reason and then starts piggybacking on top of that action.
If any of the Supreme Court justices had actually driven through one of these checkpoints they would probably not have concluded that the stop was minimally invasive.
It is outrageous to me that anyone driving down the highway in this country can be stopped, interrogated and searched.
A side note: On my last drive through the checkpoint near Sierra Blanca, Texas on I-10 the car in front of me was released after answering the citizenship question. The drug dog and handler were next to my car, about 30 feet behind the car being checked, and the dog alerted. The border patrol called to the car to stop and the handler and dog approached the car. The dog immediately took a left turn and stuck his nose up the tailpipe of a border patrol pickup truck and either refused or couldn't extricate his nose. We had to wait a few minutes while they got the dog free from the pickup truck.
Re:You don't say (Score:4, Interesting)
Yep, there is. Kinda. Called the "hearsay rule". Doesn't block all anecdotes, but at least tries to keep them first-hand only.
Hearsay is second-hand evidence, not anecdotal evidence. The admissibility of anecdotal evidence is governed by the rules on relevancy and, if applicable, expert testimony.
Re:Effective at what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well yeah - exactly what I've been saying for years. The only way to win a war is to KILL, so a war on drugs should put all users and dealers to death. Draconian, yes, but that is how you win wars. I personally favor decriminalization and free treatment, but I don't run the country, idiots do.
Re:You don't say (Score:4, Interesting)
While I'm a 'legalize it' kind of guy, I have to call you on the inflammatory rhetoric. I checked the map and none of the checkpoints are anywhere near the middle of Texas. The checkpoints all look to be in reasonable proximity to the border.
None of the permanent checkpoint on the maps you can get on the web, you mean... As far as the roving checkpoints, look at this map. http://www.aclu.org/national-security_technology-and-liberty/are-you-living-constitution-free-zone [aclu.org]
Also, to me a border checkpoint is at the border. Not an hour away. I need ID to go from one central town to another... (McAllen to San Antonio) Really.