If you’ve been charged with trafficking in Oklahoma City, it’s very important that you talk to a drug crime lawyer as quickly as possible. There are some complicated rules here in Oklahoma, and a lawyer will be the one best able to help you get through them and understand all your options and rights. One question that frequently comes up is whether the type of marijuana product makes a difference if you’re facing trafficking charges.
Does the Type of Marijuana Product Affect Trafficking Charges in Oklahoma?
The answer here is no. The type of product has no effect on your trafficking charge whatsoever. There is really only one thing that affects trafficking charges or makes them more likely, and that is weight.
For you to be charged with trafficking, you would need to have 25 pounds or more of traditional marijuana. This amount of marijuana automatically triggers the charge. The police at that point do not have to prove that you are intending to sell it in order to charge you with trafficking. Simply the fact that you have that much makes you chargeable. In addition to having 25 pounds of the traditional form of marijuana, you can also have this trafficking charge triggered if you have 72 ounces or more of edibles or 1 ounce or more of marijuana concentrate.
If you are charged with trafficking, this means that your penalty will be $25,000-$100,000 in fines and between four years and life imprisonment. That four years to life is a big spread, and the courts have leeway to give you a prison sentence that they believe fits the circumstances of the crime. The more marijuana you have, the more prior convictions that you have, and the specific circumstances of the charge (such as if there were minors nearby or you were uncooperative with the police), the longer the prison sentence is likely to be.
The Difference Between Trafficking, Possession, and Intent to Distribute
With all of these charges, the difference is solely amount. If you only have enough marijuana on your person that it would be reasonable to assume it was just for you, you would likely have a possession charge. Possession charges are usually misdemeanors unless there are minors involved or you are too close to a school, and the charges are much lighter.
If you have more than is reasonable for personal use, so long as you don’t have up to the limits that trigger a trafficking charge as explained above, you may be charged with intent to distribute. This is especially likely if the police find you with anything that suggests you were going to sell the drugs, such as baggies or scales. This is a more serious charge than possession but still comes with less prison time and lower fines than trafficking. It’s important to know that you could still be charged with intent to distribute just for giving some marijuana to a friend: the police don’t actually have to prove that you were planning to sell it.
What About Aggravated Trafficking?
Aggravated trafficking charges kick in if you have 1000 pounds or more of marijuana or more than 1000 plants. This is a very serious charge that comes with a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years and up to life. Again, the circumstances of your arrest, whether or not you were near a school, and other factors can influence how strict the sentence is likely to be. The same will be true if you have prior convictions.
You can expect a fine of between $100,000 and $500,000 for aggravated trafficking. Also, aggravated trafficking is what is known in Oklahoma as an 85% crime, which means that you must serve at least 85% of your sentence before you can be considered for parole. You also cannot earn any credit credits towards early release until that 85% point has been passed.
Possible Defenses
Illegally Obtained Evidence
One of the most effective ways to fight a drug trafficking charge is to take away the evidence the prosecution wants to use against you. If they don’t have the drugs to show the jury, they will have a very difficult time proving anything. If the evidence against you was obtained through some kind of illegal method, you can challenge it and suppress it in court. This might happen if the police had no warrant to search your car or home and can’t give good probable cause for why they did.
Additionally, if the police engaged in some kind of other misconduct or didn’t honor your constitutional rights during the arrest, this can be used against them to defend you.
Insufficient Drug Weight or Improper Chain of Custody
One possible defense is to question the total weight or amount of the drugs that were found with you. It has to reach that trigger amount before a trafficking charge can be brought in most cases, and if the government can’t prove the weight of the drugs, then they can’t prove their case. At that point, they would either have to drop the case or drop the charge to something lower, like possession or intent to distribute. One way to challenge the weight is to force the prosecution to have the drugs tested by OSBI. This is a much more precise testing and may indeed show a lower amount than what the prosecution is claiming.
Sometimes it can also be useful to challenge the chain of custody. The chain of custody speaks to who had the drugs from the moment the police first found them until the moment they’re used in court. This chain has to be very clear and follow important rules, and if the chain is broken at any point, the reliability of the drugs as evidence can be challenged. If there’s a break in the chain, then it’s possible the drugs were switched out, extra amounts were added, or possibly what’s being presented in court isn’t even what was found at all.
Lack of Possession
Another possible defense is to argue that the drugs were not yours or that you were not aware of their presence. There are two types of possession in Oklahoma law: physical and constructive. Physical possession is when the drugs are actually on your person, and if 25 pounds of marijuana is found on your person, it will be impossible to argue that you were not aware of this and they don’t belong to you.
Constructive possession, however, refers to drugs that you have control over but are not on your person. This would be drugs found in a car, for instance. With constructive possession, the prosecution has to be able to prove that you actually knew about the drugs and controlled them, and that’s harder. If the drugs were found in the front seat of a car that you were driving, again, it would be difficult to argue that you didn’t know about them. But if they were found in the trunk of the car, and you had just loaned the car to your friend or were borrowing a car, it would be easier to argue with that those drugs were not yours
Call a Drug Crime Lawyer in Oklahoma City Today
For help with your case, contact your Fierce Advocates at Cannon and Associates Law, PLLC in Okahoma City, Norman, and Edmond, OK right away.