Common Defense Strategies Against Drug Charges: What You Need to Know

Being charged with any crime is a very frightening experience. When drug charges are brought against someone, they are justifiably terrified by the mandatory minimum sentences that go along with many of these offenses. Drug crime charges crossing state lines can even be charged as federal crimes.

This article identifies some of the defense strategies available to a defendant charged with drug charges. The best defense against criminal drug charges is contacting a Dallas drug crime defense law firm that will advocate for and protect your rights.

Types of Drug Charges:

Drug offenses are typically considered felony or misdemeanor crimes involving the possession or distribution of drugs. Prosecutors could toss in charges of "intent" with these crimes if you didn't distribute drugs. They can also add charges that you did those actions while possessing a handgun, which can make punishments associated with a conviction more extreme. This could mean serving more jail time. The different drug charges typically include the following:

Possession of drugs: Charges of possession, meaning that you had illegal drugs on your person, in your car, in your coat, in your home, or wherever else it is possible to possess something depending on the weight of the substance and the type of drug-presented example (marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines, heroin, opioids, or prescription drugs).

Drug trafficking or distribution: If you have a large quantity of drugs or even if the quantities are obvious, you can be prosecuted for drug trafficking or distribution.

Manufacturing or growing: If you have manufactured an illegal drug, such as methamphetamine, or if you have grown an illegal drug, such as marijuana, if the drug is illegal in the state where you reside, you will be charged with either the production, manufacture, or cultivation of drugs.

Drug paraphernalia: Possession of any equipment, product, or other item used or intended for use in preparing, administering, or testing a controlled substance or that is used or intended for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, or packaging a controlled substance, charges possession of drug paraphernalia.

Common Defenses at Each Step of the Process:

You will be able to use several effective defenses from the time of the arrest until the time of trial. Which of these common defense strategies will be most helpful or applicable to you will depend upon the nature of the charge against you.

Violation of constitutional rights: If the violation comes from police or prosecutors, it may be used in court as one possible defense. Those most commonly involved will include police violating Fourth Amendment rights to be free from illegal searches, violations of Miranda rights, and denial of your right to counsel.

Chain of custody: The standard for finding someone guilty in a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt. For narcotics cases, prosecutors must explain the gathering, storing, and even maintaining of any evidence. If not properly done, it opens up a window for doubt in the chain of custody and whether what they now present before the jury is the same evidence that the police collected. This is one of the most common ways by which controlled substance cases get defended because they sit in these warehouses held by law enforcement and those in crime labs for many years.

Lack of knowledge: In drug cases, there is actual possession and constructive possession. If you lacked the awareness that you were holding drugs or if you lacked control over the drugs, then your attorney may argue that you really did not possess the drugs.

Entrapment: In any case, your attorney should be able to advance the argument that some other person forced you to commit a drug-related act that you would not normally commit. It is going to be a tough sell if you have a history of drug-related convictions.

Weak evidence: Like any other criminal charge, it can be argued that the evidence brought by the prosecutor to the court is circumstantial or not reliable enough to meet a beyond reasonable doubt provision. If the evidence presented by the prosecution is weak, then pleading for dismissal or entering plea bargain negotiations becomes so much more confident and negotiating with leverage.

Drug treatment: A viable alternative to incarceration is to volunteer to enter a drug treatment program. Even though this is not a defense to the charge, it can be an effective alternative. The availability of these programs and a prosecutor's willingness to dismiss charges in those circumstances will depend upon the jurisdiction where you are charged.

Alibi: If you can prove that you were not in the place where police found the drugs or where there was drug activity, and if your alibi is stronger than that of the state's witnesses, then this will serve as a good defense.

Character: In every criminal case, your lawyer may present evidence concerning your good character. Sometimes, your Dallas criminal lawyer can argue that history or upbringing made you more susceptible to drugs or simply that you have no coping mechanism for the pressures in society. Sometimes, they will just argue that you are not the kind of person who would ever use drugs, so the prosecution must be wrong. All this depends on the facts of your case.

Drug charges are significant. Because of the complex charges and the numerous defenses available, hiring a criminal defense lawyer is the best option for putting together a solid case. They'll know what defense is best for you. A professional drug criminal lawyer fighting for you can make a significant difference in various ways.