Florida Drug Crime Defense Attorney
Being found with drugs in your possession or being in a car or other location where drugs are present can seem to put you in a lot of trouble with the law. However, there are still important reasons to talk to a criminal defense lawyer and to do so before you make any statements to the police regarding the drugs or any other matter. You may be charged with crimes that are much more serious than actually occurred or that can be proven in court, or serious errors may have occurred in an arrest so that you shouldn’t be prosecuted. You may not even be guilty of a crime at all, but the police won’t tell you that. They’d rather have you plead guilty or sign a confession before you find out what your rights really are. Don’t fall for their intimidating tactics. Learn about some of the defenses to drug crime charges that may be available in your case, and call the Florida drug crime defense attorneys at FL Drug Defense Group for immediate advice and representation after a drug crime arrest in Orlando or central Florida.
Search and seizure methods were improper.
The police can’t just pull you over, enter your home or stop you on the street and search you for drugs. The Constitution requires that all searches and seizures be reasonable and based on a warrant or probable cause. Searches must be justified at the start and cannot exceed the scope of what is reasonable. Any drugs found or other evidence obtained from an unreasonable search and seizure may not be admissible in court. Failure to conduct a proper search is often grounds for getting charges dropped or having a case dismissed.
They weren’t your drugs.
When drugs are discovered in the open or in a common area, the police are likely to charge everyone present with possession. If you didn’t know the drugs were there, didn’t know what they were, or didn’t know the substance was illegal, you may be able to avoid a conviction for possession. Drug possession charges have very specific elements that must be proven. Beyond mere physical possession, police must also prove elements such as knowledge and intent. If they can’t prove these elements beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury, you shouldn’t be found guilty of possession.
The drugs don’t show up in court.
If your case goes to trial, the arresting officer is required to present the court with the actual substance that you were alleged to be in possession of or trafficking in. This is an important element of the proof the prosecutor is supposed to have of your guilt. When the substance cannot be located and brought to court, you can’t be found guilty of possession or sale of the substance. Similarly, even when a substance is brought to court, police and prosecutors cannot always establish it is the same substance you were supposed to be in possession of. Our experienced Orlando drug defense lawyer understands what is required to establish the chain of custody of an alleged illegal substance and how to demonstrate law enforcement’s chain of custody failures.
You were entrapped.
Law enforcement agencies engage in sting operations to catch people in the act of buying or selling drugs. Unfortunately, overzealous officers in these police stings sometimes go too far and coerce people into committing crimes that they otherwise had no intention of committing. The entrapment defense, although difficult to establish, is often available in a situation where the drugs at the center of the case were provided by law enforcement. As an attorney personally involved in training police officers on proper procedure, Matt Olszewski and his team at FL Drug Defense Group know when law enforcement went too far and unfairly entrapped an individual in order to bring drug charges against the person.
Call FL Drug Defense Group after a drug Crime Arrest in Orlando or Central Florida
If you’ve been arrested for drug possession, sales/trafficking or other drug offenses in Orlando or central Florida, call FL Drug Defense Group at 407-775-9052 for a free case evaluation and excellent representation from a skilled and successful Florida drug crime defense attorney.
