Texas fans of rapper Young Thug may be aware that he was indicted on a number of drug-related charges in September 2018. However, the rapper said there was improper conduct in the case, and when he appeared in court on March 21, a judge reportedly agreed.

Three law enforcement officers appeared in the courtroom with their evidence after Young Thug entered a motion to have certain evidence in the case suppressed. One law enforcement officer said the traffic stop that led to the charges against Young Thug was initiated by the fact that the tinted windows on his vehicle violated the law. However, the judge ruled that there was no violation and that the rapper’s rights had been violated.

As a result, the stop was considered to be an illegal search and seizure. The order said that any drugs, firearms, statements or other evidence related to the stop could not be used in the case. While this represents a win for Young Thug, the case might still go trial, and the penalty could be several years in prison.

Examining the legality of how evidence was obtained is one tactic an attorney may use when working with someone facing drug-related charges. The concept of illegal search and seizure rests on the idea that there must be probable cause for law enforcement to search a person. Laws around search and seizure during traffic stops have often been interpreted to be less strict than those around searching other pieces of property, such as a person’s home, but as this case demonstrates, this approach may still sometimes lead to the dismissal of evidence. An attorney might also look at whether the person’s rights were violated in other ways when the person was taken into custody.

Source: Hot New Hip Hop, “Young Thug Gets Key Evidence Tossed In Drug Case: Report,” Aron A., 3/22/2019