Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant railroaded?

[grasshopper]

While passing through airport screening on my way out of town on the 6th of January, a screener pulled a bottle of white powder from my toiletries kit and called in local law enforcement to question me about it. I explained to the officer that it was simply BC headache powder, however he didn't believe me and proceeded to call in another officer who brought with her some narcotics field testing kits. The officers subsequently tested the powder -- twice, in fact -- and both times got a negative result. After further questioning and full, fine-tooth searching of both my luggage and that of my travelling companion also yielded nothing out of the ordinary, the officers said we were free to go, but kept the aspirin bottle and its contents.
I flew to California and returned home to Florida two weeks later, having all but forgotten about what had happened. Then on the evening of the 26th of January I answered a knock at my front door to find sherriff's deputies with a warrant for my arrest -- saying that they had sent the powder to a laboratory and that it had tested positive for narcotics. I was arrested and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance (0.2 grams of methamphetamine according to the arrest affidavit) and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphenalia.
This all seems highly illegal to me, especially with regards to a chain of custody for said evidence.
I was just released from jail last night and haven't had the opportunity to speak with an attorney yet, but was hoping you might be able to share some of your thoughts on the situation -- any insight you might offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I don't know about a chain of custody issue, which is a possible line of defense, but there are issues as to why the powder came up negative for narcotics twice but a lab confirmed their presence. It is possible that different techniques were used. The chain of custody could have been preserved, if properly documented, but there would seem to be a strong defense of the different results but again, possibly explainable. I'm not sure why they also felt the need to send the powder for further evaluation although this could be a random check and, again, it is possible that no rights were violated. I haven't deal with a case such as this one but I have been in enough airports to see something like that being done.

Without more it's difficult to say more until you get to see the chain of custody and are provided the reasons for the discrepancies.

Originally posted by grasshopper
While passing through airport screening on my way out of town on the 6th of January, a screener pulled a bottle of white powder from my toiletries kit and called in local law enforcement to question me about it. I explained to the officer that it was simply BC headache powder, however he didn't believe me and proceeded to call in another officer who brought with her some narcotics field testing kits. The officers subsequently tested the powder -- twice, in fact -- and both times got a negative result. After further questioning and full, fine-tooth searching of both my luggage and that of my travelling companion also yielded nothing out of the ordinary, the officers said we were free to go, but kept the aspirin bottle and its contents.
I flew to California and returned home to Florida two weeks later, having all but forgotten about what had happened. Then on the evening of the 26th of January I answered a knock at my front door to find sherriff's deputies with a warrant for my arrest -- saying that they had sent the powder to a laboratory and that it had tested positive for narcotics. I was arrested and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance (0.2 grams of methamphetamine according to the arrest affidavit) and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphenalia.
This all seems highly illegal to me, especially with regards to a chain of custody for said evidence.
I was just released from jail last night and haven't had the opportunity to speak with an attorney yet, but was hoping you might be able to share some of your thoughts on the situation -- any insight you might offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.