What If You and the Prosecution Disagree About Whether You Intended to Distribute the Drugs in Your Possession?

Drug possession is far from the worst criminal charge you can face. Many counties in Florida, including Orange County, have drug court programs, which are pretrial diversion programs for drug possession cases. If you do not have any prior convictions, then drug court gives you the chance to get your charges dropped by entering a provisional plea of no contest and then completing a drug court program that involves probation, drug testing, and substance abuse counseling. Getting arrested for drug possession with intent to deliver is a whole other kettle of fish. Possession with intent to deliver is a felony. The only way to get out of it is to cast doubt on the prosecution’s case at trial, persuade the court that key evidence is inadmissible, or negotiate for a plea deal that downgrades your charges to simple possession. If you want to fight your charges of possession with intent to deliver and persuade the jury that, while there were illegal drugs in your possession when the police arrested you, you only planned to consume them yourself and not sell them to other people, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.

How Do You Persuade the Jury That You Planned to Smoke the Entire Stash By Yourself?

Charges of illegal possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver apply if you have a large quantity of an illicit drug in your possession and there is evidence that you planned to sell the drug or transport it to someone else who would sell it. The possession with intent to deliver charge differs from drug trafficking in that it does not imply that you played a major decision-making role in a complex drug distribution operation.

Intent is a mental process, not an action, and it is virtually impossible to prove what someone else is thinking, so how do prosecutors get charges of possession with intent to deliver to stick? The amount of the controlled substance is not, by itself, definitive proof; this is why, when a sizable drug stash is the only evidence the prosecution has, it is easier to downgrade the charge to simple possession. The prosecution has a stronger case if the evidence also includes communications about distributing the drugs, such as text message conversations with friends, where you seem to be making plans to meet and transfer at least some of the drugs. You may, however, be able to cast doubt on this evidence. Although it is hard to argue that you did not compose the text messages sent from your phone, you may be able to argue convincingly that the messages do not mean what the prosecution says they mean. Drug-related communications tend to be laden with innuendoes, allusions, abbreviations, and emojis that bear multiple interpretations, but so do communications among close friends.

Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases

A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing charges for drug possession with intent to deliver.  Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0800-0899/0893/Sections/0893.13.html