2 common defenses against drug crime allegations
No one ever expects to get accused of a drug crime, but if you’ve been around people who possess or deal in drugs — or if you live with such individuals — the chances of being accused of a drug crime increases.
If you’ve been arrested and accused of a drug-related offense, you may be facing the threat of prison time in the event of a conviction. You’ll therefore want to handle your criminal defense tactfully and responsibly to try and get your charges dropped, dismissed or reduce the severity of your punishments.
How to defend against drug crime allegations
The nature of your criminal defense strategy when it comes to drug crimes will be different based on the facts and circumstances surrounding your arrest and the allegations that the prosecution brings against you. However, here are two common defenses that may apply to your situation:
Unlawful search and seizure: The Fourth Amendment protects all Americans from unlawful search and seizure. What this means is that a police officer must have a valid reason for stopping you and searching you for drugs. For example, maybe the officer saw that you had drugs sticking out of your pocket. Maybe the officer smelled drugs on you. Or, maybe the officer saw drugs in plain view in your vehicle. In these situations, the officer might have a good reason to search you, your car or your home. Without a valid reason, such a search and seizure would be unlawful. In some cases, you might be able to get the charges resulting from an unlawful search and seizure dropped or dismissed.
The drugs were not yours: If your friends or family members used drugs, it might happen that you get wrongly accused of drug possession or other drug crimes because you were with the wrong person at the wrong time. Some criminal defense strategies might successfully put pressure on the prosecution and prove that the drugs in question belonged to you. Barring such proof, you might be able to get the charges dropped or dismissed.
Learn about your legal rights as a criminal defendant
The more you know about your legal rights as a drug crimes defendant in Georgia, the better chances you’ll have of navigating your criminal proceedings successfully. Ultimately, “success” in your criminal process may be defined as getting your charges dropped or dismissed, getting your punishments lessened in the event of a conviction or achieving some other kind of favorable result during your court proceedings.