Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

When arrested or charged with any crime, the proper questions are, can any evidence obtained in a search or confession be used against you, and can you be convicted, and what can you do? Miranda rights only have to be 'read' after arrest before questioned for a confession. TV cops shows do not teach 'good law'.

The honest answer is that no attorney can predict the outcome, nor even give an intelligent opinion, without reviewing and knowing all the charges, evidence, police reports, testimony, priors history, etc. If charged as a misdemeanor, with no priors, he may be able to avoid jail time if handled right.

Raise all possible defenses with whatever admissible and credible witnesses, evidence and facts are available for legal arguments, for evidence suppression or other motions, or at trial. You can hire an attorney, who will try to get a dismissal, diversion, reduction or other decent outcome through plea bargain, or take it to trial if appropriate. If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me.

Without being able to speak directly with your son or review the reports, here's an overview of what issues he may have:

First - the search of his car. You don't say how they gained access to his car. On a simple traffic stop, they would need to justify how they did a search of the car. Bad search = evidence suppressed.

Second - the Miranda issue: Miranda rights only come into play if he is in custody (not just detained) and being questioned. If there was a Miranda violation, it would only invalidate the statement, but not necessarily the entire case.

Third - the item itself. Do they truly qualify as metal knuckles? Are they just decoration and not intended to be used as a weapon? That may give him an argument in his favor.

Possession of metal knuckles is a "wobbler" in California, meaning it can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. What he faces and what he may get depends on whether or not he's convicted of anything and what his attorney can work out for him.