Car Searched on Suspicion of Home Made CDs

This is a court case from Virginia where officers searched a man’s car because they saw what appeared to be home made cds on the seat of the car. They then found marijuana and arrested the man. He appealed the decision and the eveidence of the marijuana was thrown out because of the unlawful search. What I find very interesting is the officers had “training from the recording industry in recognizing pirated cds.” What if the guy was a musician and it was his music? Talk about guilty until proven innocent. Where does the recording industry’s influence stop? They are conducting raids in foreign countries, training police here, what next? Their own terror squad?

Full Court Decision





  1. hellionshookup

    Or maybe you should get a hard drive built in your dask instead of wasting time and space with hundreds of cd’s ;)

    Reply · Jun. 08 2006 at 1:21 am
  2. DwarfBaby

    I suppose I might get death penalty in my state. No not for the dead bodies in my trunk but for the hundreds of CD’s I have in my “car book”. It holds something like 328 disks or something. Maybe I should be more careful and hide it in the trunk with the bodies.

    Reply · Jun. 07 2006 at 9:32 pm
  3. Burd

    Interesting. If these songs were in MP3 format and on an Ipod–but still bootleg copies–how would the cops know? I always have copies in my car. Only a fool would keep originals in there with all that heat and cold alternating. Treating C.D.’s like drugs. How fuckin’ ridiculous!

    Reply · Jun. 06 2006 at 8:29 am
  4. mcovey

    Carmas Jonah McLaughlin appeals his conviction for possession of marijuana with intent
    to distribute. He contends the police did not have probable cause to search the vehicle he
    occupied and that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. [bWe agree that the
    police did not have probable cause to search the vehicle. Therefore we reverse the conviction. [/b]

    Guys it’s no problem the judge wasn’t a total dumbass.

    Reply · Jun. 06 2006 at 3:28 am
  5. etabeta

    The MPAA and RIAA should be on the list of terrorist organizations.
    We must stiop them and to do so stop feeding them – don’t give them our money: I mean a TOTAL boycott!
    And DON’T vote for all those dirty corrupt politicians that side with them.

    Reply · Jun. 06 2006 at 1:03 am
  6. Psilaxs

    that… is…just.. FUCKING RIDICULOUS.

    Reply · Jun. 05 2006 at 9:20 pm
  7. tyhjus

    At least here in Estonia police is too busy to make that kind of stupid moves… Even if we just got our own FBI man to teach the police anti-piracy actions…

    Reply · Jun. 05 2006 at 2:32 pm
  8. cjules13

    Not only that half the time I get searched just because they feel like it with no probable cause at all…

    Reply · Jun. 05 2006 at 2:16 pm
  9. gumdrop ink

    wtf i dont even keep any originals in my car because they will get trashed all mine are burned.

    Reply · Jun. 05 2006 at 2:01 pm

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