One of prosecutors’s favorite ploys is to charge someone with a more serious crime in order to get them to accept a plea deal on a less serious one. They get the win they want, by painting a picture of a worst-case scenario where someone could face years in jail if convicted of the more serious charge unless they comply and take the plea deal on offer.
One area where this is often relatively easy for them is drug crimes. For example, they can claim the drugs found on a person were not for personal use, but for dealing – which has far more severe penalties than possession.
1. What they allege you had
As mentioned in a previous post, the government splits drugs into schedules and the schedule a drug falls under is reflected in the sentences associated with it.
2. How much of it they allege you had
More drugs generally equate to harsher penalties if convicted. Note that the law allows drugs that are not in your physical possession to be considered yours through something called “constructive possession.” For example, if the prosecution alleges that you must have known what was in the storage shed you had a key to.
3. Why they allege you had it
Manufacturing and distributing drugs commercially tend to bring the heaviest consequences of all. If the drugs are considered to be just for your personal use, or perhaps for you to share with friends free of charge, then lower penalties should result from any conviction.
Of course, the prosecution’s opinion of all these things may be wrong. You might not have had the drugs they say, or you might not have had them in the quantities you claim. Your motive for having the drugs (if indeed you did) may also not be what the prosecution claims. That’s why learning more about possible defense options will be crucial if you face drug charges.
