If you are ever charged with a crime that you did not commit, you should know how to tactfully navigate the criminal justice system and how to manage encounters that you may have with the police.
You should also know how to defend criminal charges. On that note, you should also know how to beat drug possession charges in court.
Keep reading.
Understanding the Potential Issues of A Drug Case
Generally, there are four typical issues that you can use to challenge the prosecutor’s case against you.
You should always discuss everything with your criminal defense attorney. If you reside in Pittsburgh, you might want to hire one of the Pittsburgh Drug Charges Attorneys to represent your case in court.
Your lawyer will give you the very best chance possible to beat your drug charges in court.
The Issue of Possession
In a drug possession case, possession is typically defined by the state law. Usually, drug possession is defined as exercising care, custody, control, or management over the drugs.
If there is any reasonable doubt about whether or not the accused person exercised care or control over the drugs, a not-guilty verdict will follow.
A common application of this offense might occur in a situation where drugs were found in your friend’s car or a roommate’s room.
So, if the prosecutor cannot prove clearly that you had access to the car or the room, they will be hard-pressed to prove to the jury that you actually exercised custody, control, care, or management over the drugs.
The Issue of Identity
When it comes to all criminal prosecutions, it is the responsibility of the prosecutor to prove the identity of the alleged offender.
On that note, drug possession charges are no different. Simply put, the prosecutor must prove in court – beyond a reasonable doubt – that you were the person who possessed the drug in question.
The potential issue of identity often arises when there is no direct evidence of who possessed the drug.
This is specifically true when there are other people in the case that you can potentially blame. For instance, it can be another passenger in the car where the drugs were found.
It could also be one of the guests at a party where you were a guest, too, where the drugs were located by the police. You get the point – in any case, any reasonable doubt about the potential identity of the person possessing the drug will lead to a not-guilty verdict from the jury.
The Issue of Knowledge
Another key element in the prosecutor’s case against you is their proof of your knowledge. Not only must the prosecutor prove that you possessed the drug.
They must also prove that you knowingly
possessed the drugs that they have charged you with in court. For instance, a knowledge defense might potentially include the following: you let your friend borrow your car to make a quick trip to the grocery store. Along the way, without your knowledge, your friend left a bag of cocaine in your glovebox.
The next day, you are driving your car to the grocery store. Things unfold, and you get stopped by the police for speeding. Also, you mistakenly give the police permission to search your car, who then happens to find the cocaine in your glovebox. Naturally, they arrest you for cocaine possession.
In this example, even though you exercised care, custody, control, and management over the drug in the glove box, your lack of knowledge would be a legitimate defense to prosecution in that type of situation.
The Issue of Search & Seize
Also, beware of the issue of search and seizure in a drug possession allegation. Even if the prosecutor can show beyond a reasonable doubt that you knowingly exercised care, custody, control, and management over a drug – if the drug was seized as evidence in violation of your Fourth Amendment Rights, then that evidence will not be admissible in court.
You will win, nevertheless. In general, if the police do the following, any evidence they seize as a result will not be admissible in court:
● Illegally detain you
● Search without probable cause
● Search without your valid and voluntary consent
● Search without a valid search warrant
If you look at things closer, you see that you are covered and protected under the rights that the state law gives you.
What Does A Lawyer Do to Help?
The first thing that the lawyer does is to order the police reports and disclosure, as they need to get all of the evidence that the police gathered. They will be accumulating any documentation, surveillance wiretaps, surveillance videos, analysis of the drugs – you name it.
Go Through the Documentation
The packages can go on to thousands of pages, and the crown attorney is required to give your lawyer all of the documents or the disclosure of the drug charge that you are actually facing. Your lawyer will go through all the documentation thoroughly to formulate a legal opinion about the potential strengths and weaknesses of your case.
Look for Mistakes in the Charge
The lawyer will assess whether or not the police made mistakes regarding the search and other issues.
There is a host of potential defenses to drug charges, which is why you should hire a drug charges attorney over a general attorney. The drug charges attorney understands the legal system and knows how to set up things in your favor to get you acquitted of the charges as soon as possible.
The lawyer will be seeking flaws in the case that they can then approach the crown attorney to try and drop the charge. So, the lawyer receives your full background, and it is always advantageous when you have no criminal record and you are a person in a good society.
Get You Acquitted of the Charge
On that note, the lawyer might spend a few hours getting your life history as they will be reviewing it with the crown attorney. This aspect indicates why and how a drug charges attorney can help you get acquitted and get back to normal life after you have been charged with drug possession.