Drug Crimes, Substance Abuse PD wants to plea not guilty son wants to plea guilty

[Georgann]

My son was living with a girl and her 3 children. They have both had a history of meth use but had been clean for appx. 3 months. They ran into financial problems and a guy came by with 3.9 grams of meth that he said my son could make money selling. Admittedly an extremely STUPID thing to do my son agreed. It was some sort of set up and the home was raided. My son was not present at the time of the raid but arrived home while the raid was in process. he drove past the home when he saw all the ploice activity. His concious got the better of him and he went back to the home and told the officers the truth, that the drugs were his, he had it to obtain money and that the girlfriend had no knowledge. They were both arrested for possession with intent to sell. The charges have been dropped against the girl due to my sons confession. He has an arraignment on Oct. 14th and his PD intends on placing a plea of not guilty. My son feels this will only drag out his case as well as his time in jail. He has no prior drug charges. He is in jail now. He wants to know if it would be wise to just plead guilty and live with the consequences and if it would be a possibility that the state would consider dropping the intent to sell and just going with posession since by pleading guilty he would be saving the court alot of time and money. He did have one opportunity to sell the drugs but was hesitant of the risk and didn't...he has been trying desperately to get clean and stable. Is it wise to do what his concious tells him and pleads guilty? He thinks it would be in his best interest even if the state won't agree to the lesser charge. He is willing to pay the price for the stupidity....is pleading guilty the way to go?

 

[raskalnikov]

No. Pleading guilty is not the way to go. That will tie his attorney's hands behind his back. Pleading not guilty may lead to a reduction of charges, or could plea to what the possible sentence might be.

Especially something this serious.

 

[jharris352]

I don't even have to read the post to tell you to plead NOT GUILTY.

 

[raskalnikov]

There may be some police misconduct in the case, in regards to the possibility that your son was entrapped. . .

very possible.

 

[Georgann]

Thank you. I sure was leary of the guilty plea, especially in this case. Any idea on what this charge carries? Probation or prison?

 

[CdwJava]

One should never just plead guilty unless it is as part of a plea deal. And, yes, it MIGHT be entrapment, but it really depends on the details ... things may not be quite what the lad tells you. Unless you have read the report or head court testimony that describes as the only evidence that an agent or a CI offered some meth for the lad to sell.

Either it was sloppy, or, there is more to this. In any event, he needs to consult legal counsel before pleading guilty.

- Carl

 

[Georgann]

That makes sense...he needs to be thinking along the lines of entering a not guilty and then down the road a change of plea to guilty, or no contest, in exchange for lesser charges, maybe. His concern is the intent to sell is so much more severe than just possession. I'll advise him to let his public defender handle the "lawyering" since he is the lawyer! He believes the boy that supplied the drugs had his own legal problems and used him for points with the law, a consequence of who one chooses to associate with. I do believe I will get a copy of the police report so I'll have more info myself. Thanks for the input!

 

[Hideoutcabins]

This is a no brainer. I can see 2 avenues of approach to bargaining power from the brief writing. It's time for your PD to meet with the prosecutor and delay the hearing so that he can in the future demonstrate you have been clean for one full year and negotiate at that juncture.

 

[raskalnikov]

Hideooutcabins,

NO!

1) Delaying the hearing for a year just for him to prove he's clean? That's what probation is for.

2) HE'S IN JAIL RIGHT NOW. Probably doesn't feel like waiting in there for a full year...