Long Key, FL Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

No, you may not record the phone call just because the business announced at the beginning of the call that it is recording.  You have an option of terminating the call upon learning it is being recorded.  If you also want to record the call, you must inform the person on the other end of the call before you begin recording so that party also has the option of hanging up rather than being recorded.

Yes. The Fourth Amendment does not apply to private citizens. But search and warrant questions are VERY fact specific, so your attorney is going to have to examine everything to see if there were violations. If the citizens were acting as an agent of the police, then the Fourth Amendment protections would apply, for example.

Normally your taking responsibility for contraband will not get the charges dropped for your friend. The definition of possession is to have the ability to exercise control over the substance. If your friend was aware of the "weed" and had control over it, or the ability to exercise control, such as having the ability to hold, touch, smoke, or otherwise have dominion over the weed, then he or she possessed it under the legal definition of possession. That is why both of you were charged.  I had a similar case that went to trial, both people in a car were charged, and at trial, one offered to take responsibility for the pot, and even said that the other was not allowed to touch it.  However due to the location in the car (on the dashboard in plain sight) the passenger was found to be in possession, and had the ability to exercise dominion and control over the contraband. He was found guilty by a jury and got 6 months jail.