- Jurisdiction
- Georgia
Hello. I was inquiring about an unfortunate event that happened to me Sunday night March 25th around 10:30 pm. I was coming home from work when I was pulled over for a driver side tail light that was out. When the lights came on me I immediately was thinking about the little marijuana I had in my car, under a gram it was. I put it in my shoe before the cop came to the window. He asked to see license and registration and then came back saying the car smelled of marijuana and that he was going to search it. 2 additional officer arrived to back him up. He asked if I smoked marijuana to which I replied "yes, recreationally" and then he asked if I had marijuana on me to which I replied "no" because it was in my shoe and though I've been searched before I have never been asked to take off my shoes unless something had been found in the car. Upon searching my car and finding nothing but my grinder the officer asked me to put my hand on my head to which he searched through all my pockets and coat pockets and grabbed around my ankles. I begun to get nervous that the officer would ask me to take off my shoes which he did. My heart sank. I took off my shoes and he clapped them together and the marijuana fell out. Immediately the marijuana fell out and I was placed in cuffs. I was begging with the officers that it was clearly only enough for personal use and that I was on my way back from work and meant no harm. I was put into the back of the car and was so distraught. I spent about 11 hours in jail and was bailed out by a close friend 10 AM on the morning of March 26th. A little about me, I'm a full time Biology major at Georgia State university. I've NEVER been arrested or charged with anything in my life until that night. I've had some bumps in the road during college with getting academically dismissed from West Georgia about 5 years ago but I worked so hard to get back into a university and was eyeing a spring 2019 graduation along with applying to and getting accepted into a pharmacy school/program. If I'm convicted I know I will not be able to receive financial aid this upcoming fall/spring semester, the year I was planning on graduating. I was made aware of Georgia having a Conditional Discharge rule that I'll be eligible for being a first time offender with no record under the Judges approval which would aid tremendously in the conviction not showing up on my record after mandated probation, classes, fines and/or all 3 for an allotted time period but it would require me admitting to guilt which would mean I am convicted for however long it lasts. This would still make me ineligible for Financial aid for that school year as well as me not being able to register with Georgia board of pharmacy to obtain a pharmacy tech job which I wanted to get this summer to gain experience under a pharmacist. I don't know what the future holds for me in terms of getting into pharmacy school with my already rocky educational backing which I felt like I would be in great position to explain to aid in me being viewed as resilient and hard working but now there is a possession charge looming on my record that may not even be a year old by the time I start pharmacy school interviews. Even if I take the conditional discharge and get the conviction off my record I don't know if pharmacy boards could still see that in the future and if could jeopardize me becoming certified by the state in the future. I'm just so in the dark and scared over this situation. I haven't even been given a court date yet since it happened about 2 days ago. Ideally my question is, would there be anyway a Judge could throw the case out and just allow me to pay a fine and none of this show up on my record? I'm prepared to tell the judge my story and all of my goals and aspirations in life, not as an attempt to be considered better than anyone else but to find any empathy within the judge with this situation. I wasn't driving under the influence and I was just on my way home from work. I have a job and I'm a full time student and partook in marijuana recreationally but it was never anything that controlled my life. My mom doesn't even know that I was arrested and she was all I could think about while sitting in that holding cell. It was breaking my heart. As far as a lawyer I don't have money for one and I don't know if obtaining one would be in my best interest if I had to pay them and still face the conditional discharge as best case and paying the fines associated with that. I'm just really desperate for information and some type of hope. I know this is a bump in the road but this is easily the scariest situation I've been in my whole life. Please, any info or suggestions would help. Thank you.
