Top Potential Criminal Defenses To Drug Trafficking Charges in Shreveport, LA

If you are charged with a crime in Louisiana, the prosecuting attorneys -- that is, the government -- have the burden of proving your guilt. You are innocent until proven guilty. The standard of proof is "beyond a reasonable doubt." That is a high standard to meet. As a consequence, all good criminal defense strategies aim to reduce the chances of the prosecuting attorneys meeting that standard. Tactics include seeking to exclude evidence and witnesses for constitutional and procedural violations.  If you have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking, you may benefit from contacting an aggressive, dedicated, and experienced Shreveport criminal defense attorney at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams.

Here are some of the top criminal defenses to charges of drug trafficking:

Violations of constitutional protections

Everyone has rights that are protected by both the federal and Louisiana Constitutions. These include the rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, to be silent when asked questions by law enforcement officers while you are in custody and subject to interrogation, to have an attorney present during questioning, to have a fair and impartial jury, and more. If the police, for example, violate your constitutional protections, then evidence obtained by the police in violation of your rights may be excluded. 

Exclusion of improperly obtained evidence is often a key mechanism for a criminal defense team. This method involves filing a written motion with the judge asking for improperly obtained evidence to be excluded from use at trial. This might mean the exclusion of ALL of the drugs that might have been found and seized during an unlawful search of your person, vehicle, or home. If this happens, then the prosecuting attorneys have no evidence to prove that you had any drugs in your possession. Without drugs, there often can be no conviction for drug trafficking (assuming, for example, no confession to having drugs).

Violations of police procedures

For a prosecutor to successfully obtain a conviction based on drug evidence, he or she must demonstrate that the police complied with various procedures. As one example, if a lab test is done to confirm that the substance taken from you was drugs, then a number of procedures must have been followed. The substance tested must be PROVEN to have been the substance taken from you; lab procedures to prevent contamination must have been followed; etc. .

As another example, a key fact that the prosecuting attorney must prove is that you actually possessed drugs. Thus, when the time arrives for trial, the prosecuting attorneys often must produce the actual drugs that were seized. But how do we know that the drugs produced were the ones taken from YOU? Those specific drugs might be some other person's drugs. To overcome this, the police must show what is called a "chain of custody." The drugs taken from you were passed from the officer to someone in the evidence room, to someone else, and so on.

Challenging whether the police followed proper procedures can be a viable criminal defense.

Lack of intent

Drug trafficking convictions require proof that you intended to traffic -- that is, sell -- the drugs. One top criminal defense is to argue a lack of intent. Under such a scenario, if the prosecutors fail to prove intent to distribute, you will not be convicted of trafficking. Possession carries less severe punishments trafficking. Perhaps your defense can demonstrate that you merely possessed a drug and did not intend to distribute it to others.

Mistake

Another top criminal defense against drug trafficking is a mistake. This generally means offering evidence that the police were mistaken about who owned the drugs in question. Essentially, the defense is that the drugs were owned or possessed by someone else.

Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today

For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana.