There is a truly bizarre case out of Ohio where Norman Gurley, 30, was arrested for having a hidden compartment in his car. However, there were no drugs or guns or anything illegal in the compartment. Indeed, there was nothing illegal in the car or on Gurley. However, just have a hidden compartment in your car can now be charged as a crime in Ohio. It is part of the expanding criminalization of America where virtually any act can be charged as a crime by police.
Once again, the fault for this arrest rests with legislators who give little thought to adding more crimes to their state codes, often at the request of police or prosecutors. In this case, the legislators added the following crime: “No person shall knowingly operate, possess, or use a vehicle with a hidden compartment with knowledge that the hidden compartment is used or intended to be used to facilitate the unlawful concealment or transportation of a controlled substance.”
Note that prosecutors already have criminal enterprise and conspiracy laws to nail people involved in the drug trade. This crime turns on the dubious distinction of an intention to use the compartment for illegal purposes. Moreover, it allows for the proliferation of charges in cases where drugs are found. Instead of just being charged with the drug possession, intent to distribute, and other conventional charges, the Ohio prosecutors can add a charge for the actual compartment in the car. Such proliferation of counts allows prosecutors to force people to plead guilty to avoid long potential sentences.
Lt. Michael Combs said that the officers stopped the car and then noticed “components inside the vehicle that did not appear to be factory.” That led to a full search and arrest. Combs insisted “The law does help us and is on our side.” I am sure that it does. But giving police a myriad of ways to charge citizens hardly helps society. It encourages pretext stops and allows for full searches if police spot things that “do not appear to be factory.” We have previously discussed the problem of such pretextual stops. For a prior column, click here.
Source: CBS
I have fun with, cause I discovered exactly what I was having a look for.
You have ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day.
Bye
So is it illegal to have a money belt….. How about a hidden compartment in a wallet…. Are you guilty of money laundering…..
Putin has a law like this in Russia. Anyone have a problem with OHIO doing same? Ding dongs in OHIO. Fly over and flush.
Hey dogs, it looks like you got your dogalogue (sp?) machine fixed. Good for you. 🙂
My half blind guy and I just left Target Store. We hide the credit cards in a secret compartment in the car. Why can’t we have a safe in our car
in O H I O? I blame Nixon. I blame Ford. Then Reagan. Then Bush I and Bush II. Hotsie Tot Sie, I smell some Nazis.
itchinBayDog here. Here are the lyrics from Ohio. Neal Young.
“Ohio”
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
This summer I hear them coming.
They’re probably on their way.
Gonna get down to it.
Solders are cutting us down.
–Four Dead in O Hi O.
As I suggested before. Someone needs to place a copy of The Pentagon Pagers in one of those hidden compartments and then drive through Ohio and get pulled over. You then sue the igPays for abridging your First Amendment Right to Petition Your Government for Redress of Grievances. You could also put a copy of the Constitution in there.
Can Ohio charge me with a criminal act by merely reading about this? Or, wondering where would be a suitable location in my own car for a hidden compartment?
Because I haven’t done either.
Thankfully, DUI roadblocks are unconstitional here. It sure opens up opportunities for abuse it seems elsewhere.
CITY OF SEATTLE v. MESIANI
randyjet
1, December 19, 2013 at 10:31 am: “I think that some of the more rabid PC women would like to see that restored too. (southern visual rape laws to persecute black men.)
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Right, just like some men will go out of their way to perpetuate rape culture today:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/mens-rights-occidental-rape-reports_n_4468236.html
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As to the actual news item IMO under normal circumstances the ‘state’ would have a hard time making its case unless clairvoyance and prognostication is now a recognized proof of guilt.
Reblogged this on The Grey Enigma.
On the matter of a private corporation pulling folks over for cheek swabs, there’s more to it than collecting dna. Here’s the story from Fort Worth
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/North-Texas-Drivers-Stopped-at-Roadblock-Asked-for-Saliva-Blood-232438621.html
excerpt:
But a Fort Worth attorney who is an expert in civil liberties law questioned whether such stops are constitutional.
“You can’t just be pulled over randomly or for no reason,” said attorney Frank Colosi.
He also noted the fine print on a form given to drivers informs them their breath was tested by “passive alcohol sensor readings before the consent process has been completed.”
“They’re essentially lying to you when they say it’s completely voluntary, because they’re testing you at that moment,” Colosi said.
Those officers would go into overload on any summer Saturday evening on our main street if they are looking for something “non-standard” as grounds for arrest.
Years ago, one of the local drive-in restaurants had a “1950s Night” promotion. A few 1955, 56, and 57 Chevys and Fords showed up. The car owners started getting together and formed the Carter County Car Club. It just grew, so now the entire downtown is closed off and customized rides show up from all over the area, just for bragging rights. Link is to a recent cruise-in (photo heavy). Eye candy for all the gearheads:
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=375684&page=2
Good point Darren. I do not understand how they get past the intent issue. Unnecessary law. I guess we should all stay out of Ohio if there are any non-factory installed accessories in out cars.
It is very simple, read the law again.
“No person shall knowingly operate, possess, or use a vehicle with a hidden compartment with knowledge that the hidden compartment is used or intended to be used to facilitate the unlawful concealment or transportation of a controlled substance.”
Let these cops and prosecutors “prove” that this man had knowledge that this compartment was “used or intended to be used” to facilitate the unlawful concealment or transportation of a controlled substance.
This country is out of control. It really is only a matter of time before a few, then many, will head the words of Jefferson and refresh our liberty with new blood.
The backlash against those who are todays current “Red Coats” will be furious when the first few citizens say enough is enough.
Stephan Gregory Patterson
I notice he is black. Knowing how racist this country is I suspect this has something to do with it like Black + Secret Compartment = Probable Cause for Illegal Drugs. Either way, its pretty evil. Maybe you want to stash money in there according to your Magna Carta Rights that were apparently suspended by the NDA Act Jan 2012. I had a cop ‘smell drugs’ & ask to search my van, parked for selling rugs 100 feet from the road. I let him & he talked me into getting in the back of his cruiser while he looked. (a touch of guilty-before-proven-innocent as the back of a cop car is a mini jail) I immediately smelled what he had smelled in the back of the cops’ car! (there were two of them) The investigating cop did not find his meth lab in my van. They went on their way seemingly disinterested in my solving their problem by locating the actual source of the smell! (I’m Anglo Saxon White so I suppose I was cut some slack!)
Dredd wrote, “And as you say, from the facts in the case how do they have probable cause to arrest absent a confession?”
Try these two scenarios on for size.
1. The cop excites his dog to declare the smell of drugs. Happens all the time., or
2. Cop asks you to stand outside and because it appears that you are holding your buttcheeks tightly together that you must have drugs stuck up you arse. So its only logical then to assume that at some time in the past the drugs must have been in the concealed compartment.
Oh you don’t recall the case about the buttcheeks and the exploratory surgery to find the nonexistent drugs, well it was posted on this blog sometime ago. Maybe somebody has the link.
Listen when people are insane enough to believe they have the authority to initiate violence against others under color of government (statism), why would you think that probable cause would be hard to dream up?
@ Lrobby, whats more unfortunate is the fact that there aren’t more people like u and i who are aware and honest enough to laugh. People are deluded into believing their free and so our laugh makes them mad. When it becomes too late for the Honest to exhibit our laugh then get ready to swim in the river of tears. In the meantime, Honesty is the best policy.