Drug Cases are Subject to Mandatory Sentencing

, by Bruce Blumberg

Most drug cases don’t involve jury trials because ultimately the police discover a person holding a substantial amount of drugs and there’s not usually a way around the associated charges.

In these cases, a client needs a defense attorney who can obtain the best deal possible from the circumstances. This means either no agreements or a probationary period that helps ease the burden.

Illegal searches and seizures are common in drug cases.

Drug cases are often a little different and can have interesting details to consider. They often involve surveillance from a law enforcement department, and a vehicle found to be in violation of a traffic code will often be stopped. This can also occur if a vehicle fits a profile on file.

This then puts the searches and seizures under scrutiny.

A good lawyer needs to teach the judge about the current status of the law regarding illegal search and seizure. For example, one of my former clients in a city court had been held at the scene to allow authorities to search his vehicle.

Thankfully for him, neither he nor his girlfriend made any incriminating statements to the police. However, they did obtain a warrant and brought a drug dog to the scene were 151 pounds of marijuana were found in the truck.

A criminal defense attorney can obtain deals for the client through a couple of motions to suppress evidence, and in this case, the defendant received probation and no jail time.

Drug crimes in Phoenix, Arizona or Maricopa County now deals with laws regarding methamphetamine that require a mandatory prison sentence. Methamphetamine is obviously a scourge and a horrible problem, but defendants still deserve fair trials.  People still get caught up in situations where they might be innocent of the charges being faced.

That’s where the attorney helps to achieve the best possible fair outcome.