Alcohol & Drugs: MIP, MIC, Intoxication Is this legal? Need advice fast...

[shammac39]

I have just found out that a very good friend of mine was arrested last week. From what has been told to her husband she has been charged with four felonies (2 for delivery of marijuana and 2 for delivery of controlled substance in Texas) on a secret indictment. The police arrested her on the grounds of three seperate "snitches" word of mouth. They have no hard core proof that she commited these felonies, they did not witness her delivering drugs to anyone and they did not confiscate anything from her or her home. Is it legal to hold a person in jail on this type of evidence? I have been told that it is not and that we have not been given the full story, yet my friend was given all the legal paperwork about her case and charges that included no proof of these felonies being committed. Her bail is set at $55,000 and the public defender has yet to come and speak with her, its been a week now. What would be the best course of action to take to help her? Thank you in advance for anyone responding to my problem.

 

[NYClex]

If the grand jury issued a true bill, an indictment, then in their eyes there was convincing evidence, that it was likely that a crime has been committed. Based on that indictment a judge found convincing evidence to remand her for trial and set bail.

Up to this point, there is not much what you can do. It is not so that you need to have found contraband or other "hard" evidence, if there is other evidence which obviously convinced the grand jury.

The burden of proof of course is much heavier when it comes to the actual trial. It can well be that evidence, that seemed convincing enough to a grand jury, will not be enough for a trial jury to convict. A trial is a totally different setting, here the defense attorney can get active, in grand jury proceedings the grand jury usually only hears the prosecutor's arguments.

So what she should do now is work on her defense with her defense attorney. If the attorney feels there really is not enough evidence to even keep her in jail, he might attempt to convince a judge about that. Otherwise he needs to work on the trial or on a plea bargain.