Resolving Enhanced Drug Possession Cases

These cases usually include drug-free zones and drug trafficking matters. Most enhanced possession cases, like most other criminal cases, settle out of court. However, a favorable out-of-court settlement is not a matter of raising a white flag or accepting the first offer. Instead a successful out-of-court settlement, like a successful trial outcome, is a process, not a result. In many respects, the plea bargain preparation process resembles the trial preparation process. One of the biggest differences is that attorneys often have several months to prepare for trial and several weeks, at most, to prepare for plea bargain negotiations.

A Leesburg drug crime lawyer never settles for anything less than the best possible result under the circumstances. At the same time, a good lawyer understands that a bird in the hand is always worth two in the bush. In other words, a favorable plea bargain agreement is always better than the possibility of a better result at trial. Attorneys take this same approach in post-trial matters, such as probation revocation, probation modification/discharge, and record expungement or sealing.

Laying the Groundwork

Procedural defenses are available in many drug cases. Police officers, like Leesburg criminal defense lawyers, must use a certain process to build cases against defendants. When police officers take shortcuts, the charges usually don’t hold up in court.

Unreliable informants are a good example. Frequently, especially in drug trafficking cases, police officers over-rely on paid informants. Usually, these people provide information in exchange for leniency in another matter or a large cash payment. Many people will say almost anything for love or money.

Just like guilt is irrelevant, the tip’s accuracy is irrelevant. Only reliability matters. A broken clock is accurate twice a day, but a broken clock is unreliable.

Peeling away the extra layers of a drug trafficking charge is usually the next step in the preparation process. Undermining the enhancement forces prosecutors to fall back on simple possession, an infraction with fewer direct and collateral consequences.

Drug-free zones may be the most common drug crime enhancement. Under Virginia law, all of Northern Virginia is basically a large drug-free zone. Legally, these zones extend 1,000 feet from a prohibited place, like a school, park, or “other public place.” So, even though the prohibited place is invisible, almost every street corner in Loudoun County is in this danger zone.

The drug-free zone prohibition is an unfair blanket enhancement. Trafficking enhancements are usually supported by weak circumstantial evidence. Baffies, guns, cash, and other circumstantial evidence is often compelling in civil court, because the burden of proof is lower. But in criminal court, it’s usually not enough to convince jurors to vote guilty. The burden of proof is too high.

Plea Bargaining

Good plea bargaining negotiations, like good negotiation skills in general, are a combination of science and art.

We discussed the science above. Only a wall-prepared lawyer negotiates from a position of strength, setting the tone for all subsequent negotiations.

The artistic element is harder to pin down. Drug crime plea negotiations aren’t strictly academic discussions. Attorneys must account for other factors as well, such as the likely makeup of the jury. Usually, people in urban areas are less conservative than people in outlying suburbs. Additionally, property owners are usually more conservative than property renters.

If defense lawyers and prosecutors cannot agree on a resolution, other plea alternatives are often available, such as an open plea (defendants throw themselves on the mercy of the court) and a slow plea (defendants plead guilty and juries assess punishment).

Count on a Hard-Working Loudoun County Lawyer

There’s a big difference between an arrest and a conviction in criminal law. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Leesburg, contact Simms Showers, LLP, Attorneys at Law. Virtual, home, and jail visits are available.

Source:

themarshallproject.org/2020/11/04/the-truth-about-trials