With over twenty-five years of experience in Los Angeles, I've seen it all. One common issue is that narcotic or drug cases in Los Angeles are not always filed by prosecutors. The main reason? It's the detectives who are responsible for investigating these cases.

Either they've played it fast and loose, so when they take the case to the prosecutors to evaluate, the prosecutors are looking at it, putting their hands in the air and saying, you expect me to file this case? The defense attorney is going to attack this thing. They're going to file a motion. They're going to end up getting the case dismissed. You guys tied up only some of the loose ends. You didn't do your job.

To me, that really smacks of laziness. These guys are out there playing it fast and loose. They're lazy. They need to get their paperwork together. They have no respect for anybody. The real unfortunate and problematic thing about this is, when these guys play around like this, they'll arrest somebody, for example, make them post a $50,000 bail, the person will show up, and they can't file the case because the detectives have not done their job, they bring the paperwork in late, they haven't fully investigated the case.

So, now the case either gets put over for a couple of weeks or it gets rejected for a period of time, and then the detectives do their job. Now they go out and re-arrest the person, and the person has to post bail all over again. It's a maddening cycle of inefficiency and frustration, and it's high time someone took a stand against it.

The bottom line is this – it's the reality of Los Angeles County right now. I'm going to cases all over LA county — narcotics, possession for sales, sales, even possession cases, and they're not being filed. We have to go through this whole game where we're sitting in court the whole day, and a lot of times, the client is looking at the defense lawyer like, hey, what the heck's going on here?

But it's not the defense lawyer's fault. It's the system's fault for not saying to these detectives, stop arresting people if you don't have your act together. Stop playing it fast and loose. Do it the right way.

Retain a Lawyer

If you're facing a narcotics case — whether it's sales or possession — it's crucial to have an attorney by your side. An attorney is your best defense against the system's shortcomings and can ensure your side of the story is heard and fought for. Without an attorney, you're at a significant disadvantage in defending your rights.

What I would suggest is that you hire an attorney and let the attorney deal with it. I deal with this all the time. I'm talking to the narcotics detectives and the prosecutors, and a lot of times, I have to talk to the judge and say, Your Honor, no, my client's not posting another bail.

We have to keep track of these cases. We have to make sure that our client's rights are defended properly. The only way to do that is through vigilance, hard work, and knowing the system. A lot of times, I will call these detectives up myself, or I will talk to the liaison between the detectives and the prosecutors so I can find out exactly what's going on and properly represent my client. This level of dedication is what you can expect from a committed legal team.

A lot of times, the prosecutors—because they don't have the paperwork because it hasn't been filed on time or because they sent it out for further investigation—don't really have any control over these detectives and what they do. All they can do is react and say, "This is what they did." There's nothing I can do about it. I don't believe that it's my fault.

Same with the judges. A lot of the judges need to have the power over the detectives to challenge them. So, the only way that you're going to be properly defended is if you've got an attorney who has done these drug or narcotics cases and knows that sometimes they don't get filed right away and certain things need to be done in order to stay on the case – stay on top of the case.

Then, if something does happen, and this happens all the time, you must be able to react and properly defend your rights, your freedom, your reputation, and all that is important to you.