There are thousands of people arrested on drug possession charges every year. In many of these instances, the charges are related to very small amounts of controlled substances and have led to an almost routine behavior surrounding how drug possession defendants are treated and sentenced. This doesn’t mean that you need to just accept the sentence, though. It is possible to fight these charges and achieve a more favorable outcome.
Evidence Weakness
A drug possession lawyer is going to be able to poke holes in the prosecution’s case. Even if the stop was legal, the subsequent search that led to the discovery of the drugs may have lacked probable cause as well as a search warrant. While the officer may have asked for your permission to search the vehicle, often he or she does so in a way that implies you don’t have a choice. Another example of weak evidence in the prosecutor’s case is when something is deemed to be in your possession even though it may not be yours. An example of this happening would be if you borrowed a friend’s car. If the police found a drug in the center console, there is no proof it belonged to you and not to your friend.
Creating Headaches
While some people just accept the drug charges at face value, you can often reduce your sentence or eliminate the sentence altogether. A drug possession lawyer in Beaumont, Texas is going to know how to pick at the weaknesses of the prosecutor’s case. One of the first thing that your lawyer is going to do is request that the drugs that were found are produced at trial. When drugs are seized, they are transferred several times before they end up in an evidence locker. Sometimes things happen and by the time a trial comes around the evidence can no longer be accounted for. Without a drug possession lawyer, you are almost guaranteed to be found guilty. With one, you have a good chance of facing reduced charges.