Oklahoma has a hard line stance against drug crimes, even with marijuana, and your first call if you’ve been arrested for any kind of drug charge in Oklahoma City should be to a drug trafficking lawyer with experience in aggressively defending clients against criminal drug charges. A marijuana trafficking charge is very serious indeed, and your prior drug convictions do have an effect here. A lawyer can give you the best possible advice on how to minimize this effect.
How Can Prior Drug Convictions Affect a Marijuana Trafficking Charge?
If you have prior convictions for any kind of drug offense, these will normally bump up the penalties for a trafficking charge. For example, if you have a previous trafficking charge and get a second conviction, the minimum amount of time in prison that you’re facing becomes four years, and the judge could put you in for life under the right circumstances. Fines go up to a potential $500,000.
Also, if you have a particularly large amount of marijuana on you, you risk the charge going from regular trafficking to aggravated trafficking. While the penalties are basically the same as for a regular trafficking charge, aggravating trafficking comes under a special rule in Oklahoma that means you would not be eligible for parole until you have served at least 85% of your sentence. You can also expect the judge to be less accommodating and less interested in giving you minimum penalties and fines if you get an aggravating charge.
Multiple Priors
Especially if you have multiple prior convictions and are what Oklahoma considers “a habitual offender,” there are specific statutes in the state that allow the prosecution to greatly enhance the penalties unless your priors were more than 10 years ago. What exactly will happen to you depends on the judge you pull and their individual discretion, which is one reason you want to work with an experienced Oklahoma City drug trafficking lawyer. A local lawyer knows the local courts and the judges and is your best hope for making a good impression in the courtroom and minimizing penalties.
Oklahoma also has a “three-strikes law,” which means, if a person is convicted of three criminal offenses, and if one of them is a violent felony, the judge can put them away for life. If you get a third conviction for drug trafficking, even if no violent offenses were involved, the mandatory minimum prison sentence becomes seven to 20 years, depending on the circumstances, and it’s still possible for you to be sentenced to life in prison.
FAQ About Trafficking Charges
How Can an Oklahoma City Drug Trafficking Lawyer Help Me If I Have Multiple Convictions?
Even if you have been convicted before, don’t assume that a lawyer can’t help you and that you should just give up. There’s still a lot that can be done. For one thing, your lawyer can thoroughly investigate the circumstances of your arrest and may be able to find ways to defend you by challenging the evidence, challenging the way the evidence was handled, challenging the way you were treated during the arrest, or otherwise making it difficult for the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the drugs found belong to you and that you were involved in trafficking.
In addition, your lawyer may also be able to help you plea bargain so that you get the charges lowered or get the prosecution to agree to ask for lesser penalties. Your lawyer will represent you in these negotiations as well as in the courtroom so that your case is presented in the best possible light.
What Counts as “Trafficking?”
Trafficking charges are automatic if you’re found with 25 pounds of marijuana or more. Even if you had a bit less than this, if the prosecution believes they have lots of evidence that you intended to sell it, they could attempt a trafficking charge. You can be charged with trafficking either by the state or by the federal government, and things become especially difficult if there’s anyone under 18 involved.
Will Oklahoma Seize My Property?
Oklahoma law does indeed allow the state to seize your assets if they believe these assets are the proceeds of drug sales. The idea here is to make drug trafficking unprofitable, so any real estate or vehicles that are connected with the drugs can be seized as well as anything used to store the drugs and any cash that the state finds anywhere in the area near the drugs. In addition, the government can also go after you for failing to pay taxes on the sale of drugs.
What Are Drug Trafficking Penalties?
If this is your first time being convicted of drug trafficking, the prison sentence is up to 20 years, but you have a better chance of a shorter sentence if it’s your first offense, all other things being equal. Most of the time, Oklahoma requires you to complete at least half the sentence before you become eligible for parole. There is not a mandatory minimum sentence, however, so a lot is up to the judge for a first-time offense. The fine can be up to $500,000, but again, if you’re talking about marijuana, the minimum fine is very much up to the discretion of the court. (If the drugs involved were more serious, like fentanyl or oxycodone, there are minimum fines of $100,000).
This is why it’s very important to have a lawyer, even if it’s your first offense. A lawyer can help you to petition the court for lower penalties and help you understand the best way to make that case.
What Possible Defenses Are There?
One thing your lawyer can do is investigate whether the police search was legal. If the police conducted an illegal search of you, your car, or your property, potentially any evidence they found could be excluded. If the prosecution cannot use the drugs found as part of the evidence against you, it may be impossible to bring a trafficking charge. In addition, a lawyer can look into how the drugs were handled from the moment they were found. Any procedural errors or breaks in the chain of custody may also allow the evidence to be excluded.
Your lawyer can also look into the circumstances of the drugs relative to you, and whether there’s really evidence to show that the drugs are yours or not. If the drugs were actually found on your person or were, for example, right next to you on the front seat of your car, it’s very difficult to argue that they are not yours. If you were in a shared house and simply in the same room as the drugs, there may be more room for your lawyer to make this type of argument.
Marijuana trafficking is a grave charge in Oklahoma and you need the Fierce Advocates® of Cannon & Associates on your side. We’ve been defending Oklahoma families for years with our extensive criminal law experience, and we’re ready to put it to work for you. You can expect honestly, confidentiality, a personalized strategy, and vigorous defense. Contact us at Cannon & Associates today for a free case strategy session at (405) 657-2323.