Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of CDS Motor Vehicle Dismissed

I forgot to post an important case result for a matter that concluded recently. I represented a client charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, and cds in a motor vehicle. The case was a series of battles that eventually led to winning the war.

Once again, being prepared and on top of the procedural aspects of a drug case paid dividends for my client. From the start, I seized on to a procedural problem the state was having producing certain discovery. I would not let it go and made several motions for a dismissal of the case all together. After several court appearances, the judge had no choice but to dismiss the drug possession charge and the paraphernalia offense. However, the court held the possession of cds in a motor vehicle (traffic offense) for adjudication. I vehemently fought to keep this from happening because the court essentially put my client in a worse position by dismissing only part of the case. There is not enough room here to explain exactly why. Just know that my client was facing the real possibility of a 2 year loss of license because the case could not longer be negotiated as a package.

On the day of trial, the state trooper arrived to court and I had the opportunity to speak with him. After my conversation, I realized that the State may have an overwhelming proof problem given what the officer’s potential testimony. The decision at that point was to put the prosecutor on notice and run the risk that she would cure the problem, or go straight to trial and run the risk of a non-negotiable 2 yr loss of license. I had dealing with this prosecutor on a number of occasions and decided that if I revealed the issue, there was a distinct possibility that the prosecutor would back off the case ( she was a straight shooter).

I informed the prosecutor of the officer’s statements to me. She agreed that without going back and curing his potential testimony, the State would have difficulty proving the cds motor vehicle offense. And since the officer had already made the statements to me, it would be difficult for him to change his story on the stand
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Thankfully, the strategy paid off, and after months of litigation, the case was dismissed.

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