5 Tips to Fighting Drug Possession Charges for Beginners

Were you or someone you love recently arrested on drug possession charges? If you don’t have a good defense, then you could be facing penalties that might ruin your life.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and prove your innocence.

After you hire a lawyer, make sure you talk about mounting a tough defense with these tips. Your legal representation wants you to take an active role in your case. When it comes to your freedom, leave nothing to chance.

1. Understand Search and Seizure

No matter where you are in the country, law enforcement agencies cannot practice unlawful search and seizure against you. This means that police cannot search you or your property and take evidence without a warrant, permission, or probable cause.

Unlawful search and seizure are some of the most popular defenses against false drug charges.

Think about the circumstances surrounding your arrest. If police entered your home or car without a warrant or permission, then they have violated your Fourth Amendment rights.

Any drugs or substances taken as evidence during an unlawful search and seizure cannot be used against you in court. After the substances are dismissed as evidence, then the charges usually follow.

2. Chain of Custody for Drugs

If you’ve been arrested, then the evidence collected by the police will begin a sequential chain of custody. Due to the high volume of arrests in the country, evidence rooms and labs can become extremely busy.

It’s not a rare event for the police or prosecution to lose your drugs while it goes between detectives and evidence rooms.

Most defendants get to see the evidence against them transferred between police, photographers, and evidence lockers. Ask for proof of the chain of custody. Don’t get sent to jail for drugs that don’t belong to you.

If the prosecution cannot find the drugs or substances seized from you, then they have to dismiss the charges. If a prosecutor uses the wrong evidence against you, then your charges can be dropped.

3. Proving Ownership to Beat Drug Possession Charges

Circumstantial evidence can be enough to put you in jail, but it can also create doubt in a jury’s mind.

Just because drugs are found in your home or car doesn’t mean they belong to you. Without a defense attorney, prosecutors will link any illegal items to you. A skilled defense lawyer will help you avoid that link.

If contraband drugs are found in your car, they could’ve been dropped by any number of people who have ridden in your vehicle. Don’t go to jail because of someone else’s drugs.

When the prosecution has to force the issue to try and prove ownership, your lawyer should be able to either get charges dropped or a not guilty verdict.

Talk with your lawyer about the possibility of someone else getting thrown in jail for drugs found in your car or house. Otherwise, you could ruin a friendship and a life.

4. Lab Analysis Results

Did the police take something of yours that you know wasn’t drugs? You can breathe easier knowing the results should come back negative.

What happens if the substances they take come back positive for an illegal drug?

There could be dozens of reasons why a positive result comes back. Have your lawyer question how many false positives the crime lab gets per year. You can also ask for proprietary information on how the machines work.

A crime lab won’t give you the proprietary information, but the optics for your defense will look good.

It’s possible the substance they took got lost in the chain of custody. The prosecution may mistakenly submit the wrong evidence to the lab.

The results of a crime lab may be the salvation you need to prove your innocence.

5. If You Were Framed

Unfortunately, not all law enforcement agents are upstanding moral people.

If you think you’ve been framed, talk to your lawyer and give them the specifics of your arrest. They’ll help walk you through the next steps to take.

Let’s look at two examples.

Entrapment

Police departments can flirt with the line of entrapment. Entrapment happens when a law enforcement agent has you commit a crime you wouldn’t normally do.

An officer of the law (or agent acting on their behalf) cannot force you to buy, sell, take, or hold drugs under any kind of threat.

For instance, an undercover detective can’t pull a gun out and tell you to buy drugs. If you buy those drugs, he or she can’t legally arrest you later for possession.

Planted Evidence

As technology advances, more police departments are using body cameras for the protection of the accused and the police. Some police will cover their cameras or turn them off when they do something they shouldn’t.

For people who have never done or seen drugs, they may be shocked to know a police officer has discovered illegal substances in their vehicle or apartment.

What’s an example of planted evidence? If an officer doesn’t like the way you have responded to their traffic stop or search, they might plant a bag of drugs in your trunk.

An experienced lawyer will know how to request all body camera footage, question officers if the cameras were turned off, and get all radio transmissions and texts during your arrest. You’ll also want to look into any disciplinary history of the officers.

Showing the prosecution that your arrest could’ve been due to corruption will make them consider dropping charges.

Preserve Your Freedom

Beating drug possession charges is about more than winning a trial or proving your innocence. You are fighting to preserve your freedom.

If any of these scenarios apply to you, then you need to explain this to your lawyer. They will have the knowledge and expertise to battle for you.

Are you facing drug possession charges in Montgomery County, Texas? Make sure to contact us today to get a consultation.