NJ Search and Seizure Defense Crimes Lawyer

How We Can Protect You from Illegal Search and Seizure

The Constitution protects you from unreasonable search and seizure, and police in New Jersey are trained as to what is and is not permissible. But illegal searches lead to improper seizure of evidence and faulty arrests every day.

You will never know whether your rights were violated or be able to challenge an illegal search without the assistance of a criminal defense attorney experienced in New Jersey courtrooms. Prosecutors are in business to obtain convictions. They, as well as judges, have little interest in a defendant’s protestations about fine points of Constitutional or case law pertaining to search and seizure rights in New Jersey.

Pagliara Law Group can protect your right to privacy and freedom from unreasonable intrusions by the government via police searches. 

When a violation is evident, we can move promptly to petition the court to suppress relevant evidence or drop charges. The sooner we can get involved in your case, the better we can ensure the courts uphold your rights.

A law enforcement officer can make a search of a person and their immediate surroundings (clothes, car, etc.) subsequent to an arrest. It is also legal to conduct a search without a warrant if the officer has permission (consent) of the person or property owner, or has probable cause to believe that:

• A crime has been committed, is being committed or is about to be committed
• An individual is in possession of a dangerous weapon
• A person is in danger (known in New Jersey as the “community caretaking” exception)
• The officer has reason to fear for his or her own safety
• The search is of an area to which no constitutional privacy protection exists, including abandoned property
• Contraband, evidence of a crime, or items otherwise subject to seizure is in “plain view”
• Exigent circumstances will make it impractical to preserve evidence if required to undergo the hardship of obtaining a search warrant

Search and seizure issues are often described as among the most fact-sensitive aspects of a criminal case. When a search or seizure is challenged by a defendant through a motion to suppress at the trial court, the burden is on prosecutors to establish the constitutionality of the search.

Once you hire us we will obtain your side of the story and statements from witnesses, and otherwise investigate your arrest. Based on the evidence, we will subject the validity of the search and seizure in your arrest to thorough questioning. Among our questions is always whether racial, ethnic, socio-economic, gender, or other bias played a role in you having been stopped and frisked, searched, and arrested.

There is voluminous case law in New Jersey pertaining to search and seizure issues, and as challenges continue, judicial interpretation of the standards may be narrowed, broadened, eliminated or created anew. There is always reason to review the circumstances of an arrest that involved a search and seizure of evidence.

We can make sure prosecutors answer questions about search and seizure issues surrounding your arrest and/or the evidence against you. And we can stop prosecutors who don’t answer adequately.

Let Our Attorneys Examine Police Search and Seizure in Your Arrest

Our attorneys have the knowledge, experience and standing in New Jersey courtrooms to ensure that your constitutional rights are not lost to the interests of the police. Our defense team can make sure evidence against you obtained through an illegal search and seizure is disallowed, and move to have related charges dropped or downgraded.