Marijuana trafficking is a serious offense in Oklahoma. The first thing you need to do as soon as you are arrested is contact an Oklahoma City criminal defense lawyer who can get to work protecting your rights and building a strong case for your defense. Everything depends on evidence, and your lawyer will do everything possible to show the court that the prosecution does not have evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that you were trafficking marijuana.
What Evidence Do Prosecutors Use in Marijuana Trafficking Cases?
1. Drugs Themselves
The most critical piece of evidence is the drugs themselves, which must have been either on your person, in a place that you control (such as your own car), or in close proximity to you along with other evidence that suggests that they belonged to you. If the drugs were on your person or clearly visible to you in your car or home, and no one else was there, this is strong evidence that the drugs belong to you. If the drugs were not immediately visible to you, or if you were only in proximity to them but not actually in possession of them, the prosecution will have to prove that you “knowingly” had the drugs.
The amount of drugs must be over the legal limit for personal use, and, under the law of Oklahoma, if you have 25 pounds or more of marijuana, this automatically triggers a trafficking charge. This is the case even if you have a medical marijuana card. If you have that much, the state does not have to prove that you intended to sell it. The very fact that you had this amount is, legally speaking, considered proof that you intended to traffic it.
If you are a registered medical marijuana patient, the law does allow you to have up to 72 ounces of edibles, up to 1 ounce of concentrate, and up to 3 ounces of marijuana on your person (or up to 8 ounces within your own residence). If you are not a registered patient, but the amount you have is 1.5 ounces or less, a trafficking charge is highly unlikely. Instead, you will likely be charged with a misdemeanor, since the amount is small enough to indicate only personal use. The “gray area” comes when you have more than the “personal use” amount (or more than the allowed amount for a medical marijuana patient), but less than 25 pounds, or when you did not have obvious knowledge and control of the drugs at the time of your arrest. At that point, the prosecution will turn to other evidence to try to prove that you are indeed the “owner” of the drugs and were intending to traffic it.
2. Proof of “Ownership” and Intent
It’s not enough for the police to just find you in the same place as drugs. They need to be able to prove that it’s reasonable to infer that you knew the drugs were there. As mentioned above, if you’re driving around with the drugs sitting on the front seat of the car next to you, it would be easy to infer that you knew about and “owned” these drugs. However, if the drugs were stashed away in your trunk, and if you were in the habit of loaning your vehicle to other people on a regular basis, it becomes harder to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the drugs are yours.
As for intent to traffic, if there is less than 25 pounds but more than the threshold for personal use, there must also be some evidence to support the idea that you intended to sell these drugs at scale (as opposed to simply being stuck with a “distribution” charge. While serious, this charge is a lesser charge than trafficking). This kind of evidence might be text messages or emails, large quantities of cash, or the testimony of witnesses. Other evidence might be scales, baggies, or other drug paraphernalia.
Your Criminal Defense Lawyer in Oklahoma City
Your criminal defense lawyer will have a number of ways to go about defending you from a marijuana trafficking charge:
Keeping the Drugs Out of Evidence
The first thing that has to happen is the drugs need to be tested in a lab to verify that they are indeed marijuana. If the drugs are not handled properly all along the chain of custody and properly analyzed by the lab under strictly controlled conditions, your lawyer may be able to challenge the admissibility of the drugs themselves as evidence against you.
Another way to potentially keep the drugs out of evidence is if there were procedural issues with the way the drugs were found. If, for example, the police were conducting an illegal search and cannot show they had a reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing before they conducted the search, it may be possible to keep the drugs from being entered to evidence.
Challenging Assumptions
As stated above, some of what the prosecution will be doing is making assumptions based on what they saw. But just because drugs were found near you doesn’t necessarily mean they belong to you, and just because you had more than a person might use in a day or two of personal use does not mean that you intended to traffic the drugs.
Your lawyer will challenge any and all assumptions being made by the prosecution by highlighting alternative explanations that could account for the presence of the drugs or for your presence in the place where the drugs were and by cross-examining any witnesses that the prosecution may bring.
Asserting Entrapment
Entrapment happens whenever any government agent pressures you into committing a crime. This is illegal, and if law enforcement were trying to pressure you to traffic drugs, this can be an effective defense. However, it only applies in very specific cases and scenarios, so you’ll want to talk with your lawyer about whether this is a good strategy to argue for your case.
Plea Bargaining
Another option for defending you is to enter into negotiations with the prosecution for a plea bargain. In a plea bargain, you would typically plead guilty to a lesser charge and/or agree to do certain things, such as enter a drug rehabilitation program, and, in exchange, the prosecution lowers the charges or even drops them all together. When you’re facing a charge as serious as trafficking, it can be very useful to plea bargain down to a lesser charge.
You should never agree to any plea bargain without your lawyer, however. The prosecution does not have your best interests at heart, and you need a lawyer to review all plea bargains in advance to ensure that all the terms are fair and that it’s not more advantageous to go to court.
A marijuana trafficking charge is one of the most serious drug charges in Oklahoma, but there are defenses that you can bring. The key is having a strong defender on your side right from the beginning. That’s what you get with us. We’re Oklahoma’s Fierce Advocates®, and we’re ready to get to work for you. Call Cannon & Associates now for help.