The Obama administration has promised certain drug law reforms, and it appears that we may soon see some of the results. One of the issues that we have written about before is the disparity between criminal sentences for crack cocaine crimes versus powder cocaine crimes in the federal criminal system.…
Criminal defense lawyers do not often assert the entrapment defense in criminal cases, particularly drug cases, because it does not apply in most cases. However, there are cases where the entrapment defense is a valid defense when a person is charged with a drug crime in Florida. For instance, in…
The United States Customs and Border Protection (“border patrol”) announced that they have seized a significantly greater amount of drugs in fiscal 2009 (three-fourths of the way into the fiscal year). Specifically, the border patrol seized approximately 3.3 million pounds of illegal drugs which is a 64% increase from 2008.…
A common scenario for drug arrests in Jacksonville, Florida will have the police searching a car, house or other location, find a bag of drugs and arrest the person closest to it. When the police find drugs, they want to arrest someone, although proof that the person arrested possessed or…
A recent possession of cocaine case was dismissed after a judge ruled that the police did not have a right to enter the defendant’s apartment and search the defendant for drugs without a search warrant. In this case, the police received a tip that drug activity was taking place at…
In drug cases, the police are often involved in the planning stages of the drug transaction, whether by using an undercover detective who poses as a buyer or seller, by using a confidential informant or by using surveillance to record the discussions between the parties involved in the drug transaction.…
Police officers in Jacksonville arrested several people at a WalMart on Philips Highway for trafficking in cocaine after setting up a reverse sting at the store, according to an article on News4jax.com. The article indicates that the five people were arrested after an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent posed…
We recently reviewed a drug case in the Jacksonville, Florida area with the following facts. The police received a general tip of illegal drug and other criminal activity occurring in the suspect’s home. That certainly was not a sufficient basis to obtain a search warrant so the police decided to…
When police want to search a person’s house for illegal drugs or other evidence of criminal activity, the general rule is that they need to have probable cause and a search warrant signed by a judge to do so. However, there are circumstances where a police officer may be able…
In some states, although not Florida, it is legal to purchase and smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. Of course, in other states, such as Florida, purchasing and possessing a certain amount of marijuana will get you charged with a crime that carries a minimum mandatory three year prison sentence. We…