When you are falsely accused of a drug possession charge, you must know that the question won’t be whether you can be convicted but whether you will be convicted. Suppose you are at a party, and unbeknownst to you, someone slips a drug into your pocket. The police arrive and search you and find the drugs on you. Subsequently, you are charged with drug possession.
What Exactly Is Drug Possession?
Now, if you are charged with a drug case, it is crucial to understand your options to get your case dismissed and off your record. So, the first thing to understand is what exactly drug possession means, especially regarding the term possession. You must know that when you are charged with drug possession, your state must prove “beyond any reasonable doubt” that you were indeed in possession of illegal drugs at the time of the charge.
It must be proven by the court that you exercised care, custody, and control over the drugs. More specifically, the state must prove that you intentionally exercised care, control, and custody of the drug in question. For example, in a case involving possession of a controlled substance, 1st offense in Nebraska, the court would need to establish that the accused knowingly had control over the drugs. This highlights the importance of having a specialized drug possession lawyer who can scrutinize the evidence and challenge whether the state has successfully met its burden of proving intent and control.
The Defense Lawyer will Question the Police Search
Getting a drug possession lawyer should be your top priority. The first thing that a drug possession lawyer will look at is the basis of why the police were at the party to start with. The drug possession defense lawyer will start with the police and ask questions, such as why the police were called to the house.
The typical questions will include why the police were at the house and how they legally got inside the house. It is important to mention here that the law might vary slightly from one state to another, which is why it is in your best interest to contact a lawyer from your respective state, such as the Pittsburgh Drug Possession Lawyer, if you live in Pittsburgh and were charged with a drug possession crime in Pittsburgh.
The Defense Lawyer will Look For Witnesses
Subsequently, the lawyer will look for witnesses regarding what you are alleging, such as that you had no drugs on you, but someone put the drugs in your pocket, unbeknownst to you. The lawyer will also look for whether or not the statement you made relates to the entire situation and what the witnesses say about what happened at the party.
You get the point: the lawyer will be looking at the entire situation from a couple of different angles, such as why the police were there and how the police got into the house. How did the police search you, and whether there are witnesses to someone putting the drugs inside your pocket as you claim it happened?
The lawyer will also investigate whether or not the drug was the drug that the police found on you, such as cocaine.
When it comes to witnesses, you can help your lawyer by providing them a list of people who were at the party or in the car with you. Jot down their number, email addresses, and addresses along with a summary of what they would tell in the court.
What Makes A Misdemeanor Charge
More importantly, the lawyer will do their research and look at the amount of cocaine that was alleged to have been found in your actual possession when the police came and searched you. For instance, if it is a relatively low amount, such as a purely usable amount and not possessed for sale, in which case, it will be a high amount. In this case, you are probably looking at a misdemeanour charge and not actually a solid drug possession charge with the intention of selling or distributing.
In this case, it doesn’t mean that you are convicted of it, and it doesn’t mean that you should be eager to be convicted of it.
These are the different factors that you need to know regarding evidentiary issues and search and seizure issues, which are the legal aspects that your lawyer will be focusing on more than you.
What Happens in the Case of Drug Possession in A Car?
Suppose you are in a car, and there are two or three other people in the car. In this case, just because you are in the car and drugs are found in the car, it doesn’t mean that your state will be able to prove that you were aware of or knew anything about those drugs at all. The state might not be able to prove anything at all.
You might already get the idea that a mere presence at the scene doesn’t matter. If you are only present at the scene of a location where drugs were found – it doesn’t in and of itself establish proof that you had any personal knowledge that the drugs were there. Your mere presence doesn’t prove intent, and your lawyer will use this as a way to beat the drug possession charge against you.
The state has to prove that you had knowledge of the drugs and that you knowingly or intentionally had drugs on you.
A Hypothetical Scenario
Let us say that drugs are found in the console or underneath the seat of your car or a car that you are riding in. You might be the passenger in the car, and other people may be in the car with you. The car is pulled over for speeding, and drugs are found in the centre console of the car. Now, the question becomes this: if that is where the drugs are at, and there are multiple people in the car – isn’t it just as likely that the other people in the car would have had knowledge or intent to possess or exercise care and custody of the drugs?
The point is that just being in the same car or at the same party where drugs were found doesn’t really mean anything.
Final Thoughts
You should know that whenever you are in such a situation, the police try to separate everybody in the car or at the party and ask everyone questions. It does you no good to try to speak or defend yourself. You should already know that everything you say can and will be used against you. The police are only trying to get someone to admit that they knew about the drugs. Your best bet is to call a lawyer and let them help you beat the drug possession charge.