Informant Testimony Is Not Infallible

Accepting a plea deal in a drug case is nothing out of the ordinary; more than 90 percent of defendants in criminal cases plead guilty. If you have been on this Earth long enough to catch a criminal case, then you are old enough to know that nothing in life is free. There is a reason that a plea deal is sometimes called a plea bargain. Each party gets something it wants or avoids something it does not want. Most of the time, you get a short prison sentence or a probation only sentence, and the prosecution gets to save the time and money it would have spent on your trial, but you still get a criminal record. In other cases, the state will only reduce your charges, or even grant you immunity, if you agree to testify against other defendants who are facing charges related to yours. Less common is when the state asks you to act as an informant and to secretly record your communications with your former associates. Conversations recorded by informants are often persuasive testimony, since they show the defendant unambiguously speaking about committing the crime. The existence of informant testimony about your case does not mean an automatic conviction, though. If you have been arrested on drug charges after an information recorded his or her conversations with you, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.

You Can Be Acquitted If the State Violated Your Rights In a Drug Case That Involved Informant Testimony

The story of Jorge Hernandez, which was all over the news this summer, sounds like it was made to be a Netflix series. Hernandez became an informant for federal law enforcement in 2000, confessing to drug trafficking and worse in exchange for immunity from prosecution. The information he provided in his capacity as an informant enabled law enforcement to bust international drug trafficking operations throughout the Americas and to seize vast amounts of cocaine and other illicit drugs. In 2008, Hernandez was fired from his position as an informant because of numerous instances of misconduct involving extorting money from other informants by threatening to expose them as snitches to their former accomplices. The DEA called Hernandez to return to work as an informant in 2016 because they needed his informant testimony in the case of other agents accused of misconduct, but he again got into legal trouble for financial crimes. This is how much corruption goes into the prosecution of drug cases.

All of this means that, if the state uses informant testimony against you, you might be able to cast doubt on the credibility of the informants. Consider that Brady disclosures can cast doubt on testimony by police with a history of misconduct. A similar principle applies with informants with a history of dishonesty.

Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases

A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing drug charges, and the prosecution plans to summon informants to testify against you.  Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

cbs42.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-longtime-dea-informant-charged-in-alleged-scheme-to-extort-high-level-cocaine-traffickers/