Video – Attorney Regina Tsombanakis Discusses One Of Her Common Legal Defenses For Drug Arrests

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“What are some of the common legal challenges that you can raise in a drug arrest? That you seem to be able to raise with a certain degree of success on a regular basis?”

Regina Tsombanakis– Criminal Defense Attorney – Broward County, FL

“Well, one of the main ones is attacking the way the evidence was procured in the first place. And which is different from going to trial. That would be what we call a motion to suppress the evidence. That deals with police misconduct, or illegal activity by the police that led to them finding this evidence. Therefore, this behavior, being illegal, everything that they found is thrown out and inconsiderate…the legal term, ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’.

So, that’s one of the biggest. Did they have a right to stop you? And when they stopped you, what did they do? In Florida, you’re supposed to write…not supposed to hold anybody longer than it takes to write a ticket. That’s it. However, sometimes they stop you. They start asking if you have weapons, if you have guns, and then if you decide to say you can search, then they’re stopping you, then they’re tearing up your car, they’re doing all this stuff. That’s not legal.

You can’t just stop me thinking, ‘maybe that guy, he looks suspicious’. Let’s stop. And you know what? And it happens all the time. And, you know, because it’s hard to prove. Did I fully stop at a stop sign? That’s one of the things they say… the defendant came to a rolling stop. What is that? How do you combat that?”

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“That’s an oxymoron…rolling stop, I mean, seriously.”

Regina Tsombanakis– Criminal Defense Attorney – Broward County, FL

“You know, they don’t fully stop. And now you clearly know that the officer’s got to be one big pain…So…. he wanted to get into that car. He didn’t care about the rolling stop. Nobody cares about that… it’s a stop. And then they go quickly.”