Constitutional Issues in Maryland Prostitution Cases
Constitutionally speaking, there are always issues associated with search and seizure in these kinds of situations. If someone is suspected of engaging in prostitution, how that person’s room may have been searched is a very important issue when it comes to these kinds of cases. Oftentimes when rooms are searched at hotels or in other places by police officers who are looking for contraband associated with an investigation, these rooms are searched without a warrant and the officers have to identify some kind of exigent circumstances that made getting a warrant impractical and that makes it a necessary search without a warrant. Those things are difficult for officers to prove, so Fourth Amendment issues associated with searches of those premises are important.
Other constitutional issues that we find could be associated with stopping people who are exiting rooms that are suspected to have been used for prostitution. There are also issues that are constitutionally related to speaking with individuals and making them confess that we can identify to ultimately try to suppress statements that were made by parties or other evidence that might have been found on the scene. A Maryland prostitution lawyer can make sure your rights are protected throughout the case.
Constitutional Issues When Building a Defense
The first thing to do is identify what is in the officer’s police report, because generally the officer will testify about how or why a search was conducted. Once that is done, the client and any other witnesses that might have been there from their perspective as to whether what the officer wrote was correct or incorrect. Once I have a full version of the events, I apply that to the statute, the Fourth Amendment, or whatever other constitutional principles there are. I also identify any case file that might assist me in preparing for a motions hearing. At that motions hearing, I will present the arguments to the judge about why certain things should or should not be admitted into evidence based on the constitutional principles and case law that I was able to identify. Based on the judge’s ruling, I will make determinations about next steps in court.
Publicity of Prostitution Charges
When an individual is charged with any criminal offense in Maryland, other than a crime associated with a juvenile, the case will hit the Maryland Judiciary Case Search almost immediately upon the person being charged. The Maryland Judiciary Case Search is an informational website that includes a database of all criminal cases in Maryland, whether they are active or closed. The case will remain on that website at least until its resolution in the criminal court system.
If a person is found guilty, the charge will stay on the website in a closed status forever. There are methods to expunge these kinds of charges from the court system depending on what kind of disposition the court has offered. Those instances and situations are handled on an individual basis depending on the case and depending on the rulings that the court has given, but there are ways to seal those pieces of information from the public website.