Defense for Drug Possession and Distribution Cases

Answer:

When we have a client come in who’s been arrested and charged with a drug crime, which can vary from a simple possession to selling or trafficking drugs, we have to advise them of everything. We’ll tell them what the possible sentences are, what the possible sanctions are, we can go over what the prosecuting authorities will look for, we’ll go over what to expect during the entire process, and very importantly, we’ll go over what defenses, how can we help you go through this case, how can we help you keep your freedom, regain your freedom, or minimize the impact that a criminal case like this can have on you. There are several defenses that can be used.

The first and foremost is, again, this goes back to if you’re driving or if you’re in a vehicle or if you’re in a home, how did they find the drugs on you? Look to that first. Did the way that they find the drugs, did they comply with all laws and regulations? Was the search of you or your vehicle or your home or anything, was that legal? Did they do that properly? Did they have enough probably cause, reasonable suspicion? All of these things that we look for at the very beginning to see whether they even had the right to talk to you, to look in your home, to look in your pockets to find drugs. If we can get answers to those questions, then we can stop the case there. Then the case will be resolved in your benefit because law enforcement didn’t have the authority to look for the drugs or to stop you or to access any of that.

If that’s the case, that is usually the best place to look. Many times, law enforcement will just try to get an arrest or they’ll try to do an investigation without following these procedures. If you find an attorney that is knowledgeable in dealing with these procedures, have dealt with these cases, they know exactly what to look for, and that can be a big help in getting your case resolved, it’s a big help in getting your case dismissed or not prosecuted. At the end of the day, that is a great success for the client. Other things, other defenses aside from stopping it from the beginning, such as the search and seizure is possession. Maybe they found drugs, but they were in the back seat of the car you were in. They’re not on your person. They’re outside of your reach. Why are they saying that they’re your drugs? We can use these defenses. That’s called constructive possession defenses. Maybe they found the drugs on the side of the house, on the street, by your feet, there are many different ways that we can attack the possession drugs.

Knowledge is also one. Maybe you’re wearing someone’s jacket, and unbeknownst to you, they have drugs in there. All these little details and all these defenses are really only going to be known and they’re able to be articulated by an attorney who’s knowledgeable with this who has the experience to deal with these types of cases. It’s very important to get an attorney involved early on so we can pinpoint and set the tone for and set the support for and find the evidence for these defenses, which at the end of the day, could be critical to your case. If you have any other questions about any of these defenses for drug crimes or any other crimes, please call the Victory law firm.