LAW question!! I have a relative who was pulled over because cops said that they were trying to serve him with

Question

a warrant. This occured at night.On the video taped footage, the police officers arrested him because they said they saw him throw something out of the passenger side window which the driver denied(no mention of the warrant).The other officer went to pick up the "item " that was allegedly tossed.None of this particular action was seen except the 2nd officer putting something(drugs)on the trunk of car(end video tape).Long story short, relative went to trial was found guilty of "possession with intent to dist".Given 15 yrs sentence and to serve 10 of those.My thing is the officer said that he was stopped for a warrant which the defending attorney didnt ask to see.A couple of days After sentencing, we went 2 our county courthouse for a transcript of the trial.When questioned about a copy of the said warrant ,the warrant could not be found.So from my point of view it appears he was unjustly pulled over and "searched" and his rights violated.am i right and now what is the next steps to take

Answer 1

If his lawyer that saw all of the evidence and heard all of the testimony thought that he could beat this on appeal he would have mentioned it. Regardless if the warrant was valid, they saw him throw something out of the vehicle. That in itself gives them probable cause to conduct a search. Remember, his lawyer went to law school, he knows all of the technicalities.

Answer 2

My best guess is this:
The police saw your relative throw something out of the window, then had the dispatcher run the plates. The search came back that the driver had an OUTSTANDING warrant, and then when they searched the car and/or your relative, they found drugs.

They were probably acting on a warrant (outstanding), and that is why they were able to pull over the car and search it. An outstanding warrant on the owner of the car makes it a "good" search and does not violate 4th amendment rights.