021 New Mexico Drug Possession
Someone arrested in new-mexico for Possession?
- new-mexico -Drug Bust
Oftentimes the families and close friends of someone arrested on drug charges are shocked at how swift and severe the court system treats defendants. The state courts in New Mexico can be more lenient than federal judges, less so in the Second Judicial District Court in new-mexico. Charges such as possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute, trafficking in a controlled substance, conspiracy to traffic and manufacturing controlled substances are serious no matter where you happen to be charged.
In the war on drugs, the court system considers defendants charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance like marijuana or methamphetamine or cocaine to be a danger to society and a flight risk. Federal and New Mexico law support that belief, setting up a presumption that people charged with such offenses should remain in detention.
However, the constitution does protect defendants who are presumed innocent until the government proves its cases to the satisfaction of twelve jurors, each of whom must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt as to guilt. An experienced drug defense attorney can make a surprising amount of headway in these cases. Sometimes drug agents act without a warrant, causing whatever they searched and seized to be thrown out as evidence. More often the police have made a wide sweep of people thought to be involved in a drug conspiracy ring, but it turns out that a few of the defendants did not participate in drug trafficking and are eventually set free. In still other cases, a defendant had a very minor role in the drug offenses and the prosecutor negotiates with the federal defense attorney to reduce the charges from the main conspiracy to just the smaller amounts involved with that minor participant.
Another possibility, but a difficult case to defend, are cases of entrapment where the police officers or some snitch working off his own charges have enticed or tricked you into committing a drug offense. This is an absolute defense, meaning that if the jury has a reasonable doubt whether the defendant was entrapped they must find him not guilty of that charge.
Each case is very different from the next in terms of how strong the prosecution case may be, possible lines of defense, and the all important final outcome. Probably the best way to get a truer picture is to call for a free consultation by phone or in person. There is no obligation and I may be able to shed some light on what is happening. The real question is whether the family decides to allow a public defender to represent the defendant in federal court, or can afford a payment plan to hire private counsel. One thing should be clear: given the seriousness of the offense charged, you need an experienced drug defense lawyer to protect your constitutional right to liberty.
