This is now a big issue in Los Angeles when it comes to people being arrested for sales or possession for sales of drugs — even straight possession. Anytime anybody is arrested for a sales case, they're usually saying they're innocent.
If the police don't have the facts to support the charges — or they'll argue that they were just possessing the narcotics for their own personal use, which is a huge difference nowadays in California.
If it's just a straight possession case versus sales or possession for sales, you're in a much better position.
Drug Diversion in Rather Than Jail Time
You can avail yourself of a bunch of different propositions, you can avoid jail time and you can even avoid a conviction on your record if you can get diversion or Prop 36 of Penal Code Section 1000.
There's all sorts of angles that can be utilized for those people who are just charged with straight possession versus somebody who is charged with possession for sale.
We've come a long way as far as prosecuting drug cases in California. I've been doing this 26 years. People just used to get slammed for selling drugs or possessing drugs with the intent to sale them.
I mean in LA County, a first-time offense if it didn't involve too many drugs, you'd be looking at a minimum of 180 days in jail.
Once you have a lot of drugs, obviously it goes much higher from there and sometimes even the federal government would pick the case up.
If you had a prior conviction or two prior convictions, those are 3-year enhancements, so they would tack three years onto the back of any new possession for sales or sales.
I felt horrible for my clients — trying to give them years in prison on a lot of these cases.
So, we've definitely come a long way. I've had a lot of success in helping people — even on sales cases or possession for sales.
Possession of a Weapon Involving Drugs
But one thing that will throw a little bit of a wrench into things is if the person has a gun with the drugs. You have to be leery of that.
Then we try to argue, obviously, that the gun is not with the drugs or not being used to protect the drugs, because that's usually one of the requirements that's necessary.
But a straight possession case you have all kinds of leeway to do different things. One of the big arguments you're going to see is that we're trying to get a sales case or someone who's charged with sales, into a straight possession case. It's not always easy to do.
A lot of times what I also see is that people are both selling drugs and using drugs.
So, they think because they're using drugs, they're going to get out of the fact that the police have clear evidence that they are selling drugs as well.
The prosecutors don't care much as far as that goes. If you're selling, you're selling. If you're also using, they see that all the time but they can still charge you with the same charge even as if you were just selling and not using.
Experienced Drug Crime Lawyer in Los Angeles
So, you really have to get an attorney who is experienced when it comes to drugs cases. I've even seen situations where people are giving drugs away and that falls under the category of selling drugs.
I don't really think that's fair, but they don't want people to claim, I gave my friend some drugs and really the friends were buying the drugs, but they're not going to admit they were buying the drugs.
So, they've made giving away the same as selling. It's in the same category. It carries all of the same punishments.
Now, of course, I've been able to get better resolutions when some is just giving drugs away, especially if it's a small amount versus someone who is selling it for profit, if we can make that distinction when we're defending the case.
So, if you've got a sales case, possession for sales or even a straight possession, you owe it to yourself to hire an attorney like me who's been doing this for 26 years and had a lot of success. You want to make sure you get the best result, so that's going to require getting the best attorney.
Pick up the phone. Make the call. Ask to speak to Ron Hedding right away. Is stand at the ready to help you.
Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.
