If you have been charged with drug possession in Wisconsin, it is a very serious matter. Not only are you facing the potential of jail time, but you may be left with an indelible criminal record that may remain with you for the rest of your life. When you hire a criminal defense attorney for your case, they will review the facts and circumstances to see if you have any applicable defenses to use to fight the charges against you. There is nothing that says that you need to plead guilty to drug possession charges. A criminal defense lawyer at Hogan Eickhoff can help you mount your strongest possible legal defense to drug possession charges.
In the meantime, here are some potential defenses to drug possession charges.
The prosecutor bears the burden of proof to win a conviction in your case. They must prove each and every single element of the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In a drug possession case, they must prove the following:
If the prosecutor does not have the necessary evidence, they cannot win a conviction. Your criminal defense attorney can attack one or more of the elements that the prosecutor is trying to prove to show your innocence.
One of the key ways that you can defend against the charges is by showing that you lacked the required intent. Drug possession is a crime that requires knowledge and intent. Your criminal defense lawyer may argue that you did not know that you actually possessed drugs at the time of your arrest. They could show that you did not know that the substance that was found on you was illegal, thereby negating the intent element of the alleged crime.
Law enforcement in Wisconsin is known for conducting periodic drug busts against unsuspecting individuals. You may have been approached by an undercover police officer who attempted to sell drugs to you. The first time that they asked, you may have said no, yet law enforcement kept pressure on you to buy drugs. If law enforcement aggressively solicits you to commit a crime, it could be considered entrapment. Here, you would be admitting that you possessed drugs, but you otherwise would not have if you were not pushed or pressured to do so by the police officer. If you can successfully argue that you were entrapped, it would negate the requirement for you to have the intent to commit the crime.
Drug possession charges rely on the evidence that police have taken from you, either at the time you were arrested or through a search conducted pursuant to a warrant. If you can successfully attack the evidence being used against you, law enforcement may not be able to persuade a jury to convict you.
Ordinarily, police need a search warrant to conduct any type of search or seizure. The search warrant needs to be based on probable cause that a crime was committed or is in the process of occurring. A magistrate would need to issue the search warrant after law enforcement has demonstrated that there is probable cause. In some cases, police may rely on an exception to the warrant requirement. They may conduct a search after an arrest or in instances when there is not enough time to go to court to obtain a warrant. In that event, there would be a fear that the evidence could disappear if a search is not conducted now.
If law enforcement lacked probable cause for a search, or if they exceeded the scope of the search warrant that they obtained, it may be possible to move to suppress the evidence. The judge may throw out the evidence if it was illegally seized or if the search was the result of another illegal search (the fruit of the poisonous tree). If the prosecutor loses the bedrock of their case against you, they may have no choice but to dismiss the charges.
There may be an issue with the actual evidence itself that law enforcement proposes to use against you. There must be a clear chain of custody of the evidence between the time that it has been seized and when it is being used against you at trial. If that chain of custody is interrupted in any way, you can challenge the evidence itself. In addition, your criminal defense lawyer may argue that the evidence being used against you has been tainted. Your criminal defense lawyer can cast doubt about the actual evidence in an attempt to have it suppressed in court.
You have legal rights from the moment that law enforcement speaks to you about their suspicions. For example, law enforcement needs to have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in order to conduct an investigatory stop. If you have been detained, they need to read your Miranda rights, and you have the right to be free from questioning. You can invoke your right to an attorney. However, the police may have continued to question you after you have invoked your rights, eliciting what they believe to be a confession. You may move to suppress any evidence or confession that was illegally obtained in violation of your legal rights.
Since the case against you rests on the evidence, it is vital that you hire a criminal defense attorney early. They can assess the case against you and whether it may be possible to attack the evidence itself. Otherwise, you may lose a key opportunity to mount a strong legal defense. Reach out to an experienced criminal defense attorney at Hogan Eickhoff to learn more about your legal rights. You can speak with an attorney during a free initial consultation by filling out an online contact form or by calling us today at (920) 450-9800. Our team of experts defends various misdemeanors and felonies including sex offenses, domestic violence, drug offenses, property crimes, and violent crimes.
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