New York Criminal Lawyers Blog

Our Westchester criminal defense lawyers had a shocking and unpredictable win in the Westchester County Court in White Plains, on a major drug felony trial involving possession of oxycodine with intent to sell. On the verge of trial, it was discovered by the prosecution, the State Police who had possession of teh drugs lost them.

Without the actual drugs, it was impossible for the prosecutors to prove chain of custody, which essential in any drug prosecution case. What exactly happened to the drugs remains a mystery. Our New York criminal defense lawyers were prepared to defend the case on probable cause grounds and we further had a technical defense since the Westchester forensic labratory only tested one pill.

Therefore we believed that while the prosecution could prove a simple possession of a controlled substance charge, we did not believe they would be able to prove the felony weight charges.

As a New York and Westchester criminal defense lawyer, I have handled a number of felony drug cases. In New York, the penalties for high level drug charges are severe. Fortunately, the New York legislature finally came up with a new program called Judicial Diversion for addicts who need treatment not jail.

Addicts who are charged with felony weight drug charges such as heroin, cocaine, methanphetamines, crack, PCP, or other highly addictive drugs can apply for diversion. Under this program, the defendant undergoes treatment for between a year and eighteen months and undergoes regular Court appearances and drug testing.

If they can complete the program, the charges will either be dismissed or a plea to a misdemeanor with probation will be offered. It is a chance to avoid a felony drug conviction and avoid jail. Criminal defense lawyers in Westchester who handle drug cases should become familiar with this new program as a means to avoid jail and felony convictions for their clients.

In New York, the police often charge possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell when a large amount of drugs are found. However, many of these cases are over charged. Possession with intent to sell is a felony in the State of New York.

New York criminal defense lawyers who handle narcotics cases must be aware of the difference between possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

To establish possession with intent to sell the State of New York must demonstrate sufficient legal evidence of an intent to sell.

Merely possessing narcotics, is not possession with intent to sell. There must be some sales type conduct and without it there is simply insufficient evidence of intent to sell. Examples of sales like conduct include the presence of scales or drugs that are packaged in vials, with roughly the same quantity in each vial throughout the drug-dealing industry.

As a New York criminal defense attorney who regularly handles drug and narcotics cases, I have successfully defended PCP felony cases. New York's PCP laws make possession of minimal weights of PCP a felony.

However, our New York criminal defense attorney has successfully exploited a loop hole in the law and the inherent nature of PCP to achieve knockdowns of felony PCP cases to misdemeanors.

PCP is often used by pouring it on mint leaves. When New York police submit PCP for analysis, they often submit the mint leaves also. Then the lab techs usuallly weight the gross weight of the mint leaf and the PCP. However New York's felony drug laws, mandate that the PCP be over the felony weight limit. Since the lab techs weight the leaves, they cannot distinguish what weight is attributable to the PCP and what weight attributable to the the leaf.

Additionally, PCP evaporates very quickly. As a result, there is usually not enough PCP for retesting. Therefore, at best, the prosecutors in New York can only prove misdemeanor level possession. New York criminal defense lawyer Michael Joseph has won several felony hearings on PCP cases and obtained misdemeanor level dispositions without jail.