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Choosing an Effective Lawyer
marijuana possession lawyer
Each year, states enact tougher DUI laws and more severe penalties for suspected driving under the influence of marijuana, booze or other drugs. You risk losing your license, your job, being placed in jail and fined substantial fees. Your auto insurance rates will go up and you may end up with a criminal record that lasts for years.
Being charged with a DUI, or with possessing marijuana is a traumatic event in anyone’s life and may have severe consequences for everyone involved, including the driver, their family and the victims. Therefore, it is imperative to seek qualified legal counsel who specializes in representing defendants against DUI offenses.
The laws governing DUI and marijuana offenders frequently change, and their defense requires an attorney with experience and technical knowledge of the science involved in this specific area of law. As soon as you are arrested, the clock begins and you will only have a short deadline to file a notice for hearing with the Department of Licensing in order to keep your driver’s license from being suspended indefinitely.
Start by conducting your search for an attorney in the location where you were charged. Narrow the field down by using the precise criminal charge that you were arrested for. Select the top three or four firms and review the attorneys’ credentials. Look for a lawyer that has held prominent positions in the bar association or one who is active in the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). Make sure that you retain a lawyer who understands the intricacies of a drunk driving case.
You will want to be prepared with a list of questions to ask the attorney, some of which should include:
- How long has he or she been practicing marijuana defense law?
- How many marijuana cases have they defended?
- Out of the number of cases they’ve litigated, how many were dismissed?
- How many of their cases ended up with a plea agreement?
- Ask if he or she will be handling your case directly or passing it off to an associate.
Some of the questions the attorney may ask you are:
- Did the officer have a valid basis for pulling you over?
- Was there probably cause to arrest you?
- Did he perform the field sobriety tests in accordance with the appropriate standards?
- Did he inform you that these tests were voluntary?
- Were you advised of your Miranda rights?
- Were you properly given implied consent warnings prior to taking the breath test?
- Was the breath test conducted in accordance with State standards?
- Are there any witnesses that can testify on your behalf?
There are many general practitioners who may be willing to offer you a rock bottom fee. They often lack the experience in this area of law and will not be able to offer the experience and skills needed for a complex case. When facing serious consequences, you can’t afford not to have a lawyer with experience, knowledge, and a stellar reputation with the courts, judges and prosecutors sitting next to you in court.
Plea Bargain
As the criminal courts become increasingly crowded, prosecutors and judges feel increased pressure to move cases through the system quickly. Trials can stretched out for weeks and sometime months while pleading guilty can be arranged in a matter of days. Therefore, plea-bargaining is very common and more than 90% of convictions result from a negotiated plea arrangement. A marijuana possession plea bargain is where the government and the defendant make a specific arrangement where the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced charge or for no further prosecution. If the government feels that their case might be weak, they are more willing to settle for a plea bargain in order to clean the court’s calendar. A plea bargain may be made at any time after arrest. The timing of a plea bargain depends on the court and the jurisdiction.
For most defendants, the principal benefit of plea bargaining is receiving a lighter sentence for a less severe charge than might result from taking the case to trial and losing. They may be able to save money on attorney’s fees if they have retained private counsel.
Defendants who remain in custody and cannot get released on their own recognizance or by posting bail may want to plead to a lesser offense. They may get out of jail altogether on probation, or with some community service obligations.
Pleading guilty or no contest in exchange for a reduction in the number of charges or the seriousness of the offenses looks better on a defendant’s record than the convictions that might result following trial. This can be of extreme importance if the defendant is ever convicted in the future. A second conviction for DUI may carry mandatory jail time; whereas if the first DUI offense had been bargained down to reckless driving, there may be no jail time for the subsequent DUI.
Some people that are in public eye, such as celebrities or politicians, may choose to avoid a scandal by quietly pleading guilty. They often want to shield their family from further embarrassment. While news of the plea itself may be public, it is short-lived compared to that of a sensational trial with a lot of media coverage.
Getting a charge reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor or from a felony that constitutes a strike under a “three strikes” law to one that doesn’t can prove to be a critical benefit. Future employers may not want to hire someone previously convicted of a felony and felons can’t own or possess a firearm and may lose their right to vote.