Building a Defense For Newport News Drug Possession Charges

If you have been accused of possessing drugs or a controlled substance in Newport News, the following are factors that can be used to build you a defense. To learn more call and schedule a consultation with a Newport News drug possession lawyer today.

Factors Involved in Building a Strong Defense

For drug charges, a drug possession attorney can start with analyzing how exactly it was that the drugs were discovered and eventually seized. The search needs to have been performed legally,  which means there needs to have been adequate probable cause available for there to have been a search in the first place. Sometimes, there will be issues also about whether the drugs are were actually in the possession of the defendant or if there is an additional step that law enforcement officers have to take to prove that the drug was constructively possessed by the defendant.

Constructive possession means that the drug was not actually on the defendant’s person but it can still be said the defendant had dominion or control and knowledge of this substance which is as good as finding the drug directly on his person.

Amount of Drugs Possessed

Another avenue for the defense is in regards to the amount of the drug in question. A charge can go quickly from possession, to possession with intent to distribute, or to distribution based on just the amount, especially with something like marijuana. It can be a difference of a very small amount which changes the charge completely. There are other factors that also can be considered in deciding whether the drug is for personal use or for purposes of distribution. Your lawyer will know how to properly present all of these in a persuasive manner. It’s also important to consider the location and the nature of the drugs. How the drugs are packaged and where exactly they were located as well as who else was with the defendant needs to be considered. Evidence comes in a variety of forms.

For example, in a case where there’s a question of whether the drugs were for personal use or distribution, the police will have a stronger case if the marijuana is found in individual baggies with scales nearby and with a list of phone numbers. Whereas in contrast, there will be more support for personal use if all that’s present is an ashtray with a few blunts alongside one bag of marijuana.

Biggest Mistakes in Drug Possession Cases

One big mistake to avoid if you’re suspected of drug possession is to aid in the officer’s building the case for you. People do this all the time in possession cases and it’s so frustrating as defense attorneys because oftentimes their case would have had a great defense but for the defendant having ruined his own defense.

If you’re pulled over by an officer and there are drugs visible in your backseat and then you begin apologizing for your drugs in your backseat then at trial it’s almost impossible to convince a judge that there’s any doubt as to who that drug belonged to. This kind of case would have been a great case to argue constructive possession because just having the drugs in your car doesn’t mean they’re your drugs and there’s other evidence that needs to be admitted by the officers in order for this to be the case.

Another mistake is allowing officers to search a vehicle if you know that it has drugs in it and they don’t have probable cause to search. Without your consent, the officer doesn’t have enough cause to search unless there’s something more, like drugs in plain view. So you definitely shouldn’t consent and make the officer’s job easier. He wouldn’t ask if he didn’t require consent and by consenting, you’ve made your case at trial weaker.

A third mistake is believing that a drug case is easy to handle on your own without an attorney. Drug cases are super serious and there’s a lot of complex defenses an attorney will be able to handle a lot more efficiently than a layperson.