A lot of individuals do not recognize that they have constitutional rights available to them when they interact with law enforcement. The sooner an individual can contact a distinguished drug lawyer, the better. They can not only advise people as to what their rights are and what they should do, but a lot of times they could limit the exposure or protect an individual against offering law enforcement evidence that they might not be legally entitled to.
Being arrested does not necessarily mean the individual will be prosecuted. The best way for a person facing a drug charge is to begin working with a Ft Lauderdale drug lawyer. Relationships between attorney and client are important. An in-person meeting allows the attorney to get to know the prospective client.
Defining the Standard of Probable Cause
The police in Fort Lauderdale arrest on a standard of probable cause decided by the state attorney’s office. Broward County, usually files that charge within the first 21 days. If an attorney is contacted within that time period, a lot of times they can get ahold of the prosecutors with any mitigating evidence, facts, circumstances, and try to convince them to drop the charge, not file the charge or file a reduction of charge.
Defending Penalties Associated with Drug Offenses
The most common way to begin defending penalties associated with drug offenses would be looking for technical defects or any law violations, unlawful searches or seizures, and search warrants that were improperly granted or executed. working with a Ft Lauderdale drug lawyer means looking for any improprieties regarding how law enforcement conducted their investigation such as whether or not there was probable cause and the handling of evidence.
In an effort to either limit the prosecution altogether by arguing that there is a defect in the charge itself. The attorney can attack the case from a technical perspective in an effort to see what can be done to get the case dismissed or at least take away crucial pieces of evidence; excluding the actual drugs if they were unlawfully obtained, and a potential violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Minimizing Penalties
An attorney can creatively negotiate with the Prosecutor for a reasonable resolution. Negotiating with the prosecutor provides substantial assistance if it is a more serious case with minimum mandatory penalties. If technical avenues do not work, the individual has a very strong defense and not interested in entering into any type of plea negotiations, then the attorney would prepare the case for trial. This is done by investigating the case in more depth, deposing witnesses, and possibly hiring private investigators. The defense will chip away at the Government’s case and try to limit what evidence they will be able to present at trial.
There is a pre-trial intervention for someone facing felony charges. It is a first offender diversion program and lasts at least twelve months. The lawyer can engage in filing motions to suppress or exclude evidence and try to either get the charges dismissed or reduced. If that does not work, they negotiate the best possible resolution or take the case to trial on the hopes that a jury would come back with the verdict of not guilty.
Role of a Potential Client
Working with a Ft Lauderdale drug lawyer warrants attorney-client privilege, which means that anything an individual shares with counsel is privileged information. The attorney cannot divulge any information without their client’s permission. Common practice is to go through the events that led up to the encounter with Law Enforcement with as much detail as possible. If the case resulted in an arrest, the individual will walk the attorney through that. The attorney needs to know his client on a personal level, e.g., his personal history, criminal history (or lack thereof), family history, employment history, involvement in the community.
When to Hire an Attorney
Individuals should not speak to anybody about the facts and circumstances of the case before working with a Ft Lauderdale drug lawyer. Speaking to an attorney and getting some initial advice in and of itself can really limit any possible damage. Preservation of evidence is crucial in cases like these. If there is any evidence that the attorney might be able to obtain that would aide in the defense, it is best to do that right away. Interviewing any potential witnesses that might be able to assist in the defense of a drug-related case in Fort Lauderdale is also crucial. An individual who is facing a drug-related charge in Fort Lauderdale should retain an experienced attorney right away so he will not make any mistakes or do anything that would jeopardize his case and decrease the likelihood of the best possible result.
