Happy Endings: Drug Case

An old client of mine called me the other day and wanted to introduce a friend that had a legal problem and we had a really nice talk. I was really glad to hear his life is right on track and going well, and he was very thankful for the way his case worked out. He told me how he tells everyone how hopeless he felt when he was convinced he was going to prison, but he called us and nothing he was worried about ever came to be! He told me how happy he was to refer his friends to someone he trusts!

This made me very proud of our firm and how we actually directly influence people’s lives in a very important positive way. I thought of the many times I get that same type of call and I decided to tell about these happy endings in my new blog.

This legal story starts as many have over the years with an alleged drug offense and a search warrant. In this case, the client had a criminal history that resulted in any felony offense sending him to prison. He was certain prison was in his future, but just wanted to make sure it was the shortest time possible, so he called us.

The client was going through a very contentious divorce and believed that his soon to be ex-wife had done something to cause the charges, but wasn’t sure what she did. The first thing I did was demand the entire investigation. I demanded all the reports, all photographs, all lab testing results, any 911 calls, the affidavit the police used to get the search warrant, all videos, and anything else that the prosecutor or the police had. I told my client that we would find out exactly how the police were able to get a search warrant.

It turns out, that in the affidavit that the police fill out to submit to the judge when they request a search warrant, contained information that an anonymous informant had tipped the police to alleged drug activity. Although it was anonymous, I argued to the prosecutor that it was submitted by my client’s ex-wife and was completely false. The prosecutor refused to even acknowledge that there was any problem with the search warrant and persisted in the objective to send my client to prison.

This was wrong! To allow anonymous callers to be the basis for a search warrant without any other verification or investigation by the police, provides zero protection from unreasonable searches. The state offered a minimum sentence, but still wanted prison for my client. I talked it over with my client, and he decided that any prison at all was unacceptable. Together my client and I decided to reject the offer and file a contested motion to challenge the adequacy of the affidavit relying on an anonymous informant.

So here is the happy ending: After arguing that there was no protection from police if all it takes is an anonymous call to get a search warrant, the judge agreed and ruled that the police could not use anything discovered during the execution of the search warrant! Guess what happened? Wait for it, DISMISSAL.

All charges were dropped, my client never served a single day in jail after he called us. My client went on to have all of that time the state wanted in prison for himself and his family! Happy Ending! (Again) Lee