Asheville Drug Lawyer For Aggressive, Effective Representation Against Serious Felony Drug Charges.

IF You've Been Charged With Drug Related Crimes in Asheville or Surrounding Areas You Need An Asheville Drug Lawyer. 

 CALL TODAY: 828-575-8417

Felony Drug Charges Defense

   In our country, drug possession alone can be prosecuted with some harsh results. For example, trafficking charges can carry mandatory, years long prison sentences on the first offense. This could be the result for nothing more than a hand full of pills. The war on drugs seeks to treat disease and illness often times, as evil or misconduct. Until this culture changes, if you're charged with drug related offenses you need an experienced Asheville drug attorney who is ready to stand up for your case.

   As an attorney dedicated to knowing the law on search and seizure as it pertains to drug crime, and with persistence for the best resolution of your case, I can offer representation that is second to none for Asheville drug crime cases.

   Many higher schedule drugs and the accompanying charges can carry serious felony penalties. Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine, Opiates, LSD (acid), larger quantities of Marijuana, and even psilocybin (Magic Mushrooms) all risk serious charges. If you are alleged to have sold or trafficked these substances, your penalties continue to climb into lengthier potential prison sentences. In these cases, you'll need an effective Asheville drug lawyer. Information about NC drug penalties by Substance

   An Effective Asheville Drug Lawyer Will Recognize Violations Of Your Constitutional Rights.

   Sometimes drug charges can be defended on constitutional grounds by an effective drug defense attorney. The key in these cases is not the existance of the contraband itself, but rather, how the government seized it, i.e. how they found it. An attorney should recognize any violations of your constitutional rights by analyzing the search, and the seizure that led to discovery of drugs on or near you.

   I have been involved in drug cases where the accused actually admitted to possession, and handed over the contraband, yet the case was still dismissed based on 4th amendment search and seizure violations that were challenged.  You will need a good Asheville drug lawyer to do a complete analysis of any traffic stops, searches, seizures of evidence, and any other interactions with police leading up to the charges against you to assess whether you have an effective defense available.

• NC is tough on certain higher schedule drugs with jail time often for repeat cases.
• Selling drugs or trafficking quantities complicates matters worse, and you'll need effective representation from a drug defense lawyer who can get you the best result.  
• An Asheville drug attorney may be able to help arrange an agreement to mitigate (lower) the consequences of certain drug charges with available treatment options that may be possible in some circumstances. 
• If procedural issues exist in your case, thorough analysis of the case may lead to you and your defense attorney making the decision to have a trial where you may have your charges dismissed altogether if you win. 

CALL NOW: 828-575-8417

But wait, that wasn't my drug stash! How can they charge me with it? 

Constructive Possession is how! This is how you can be charged with substance that you may not have even been aware of. As long as you have control or dominion over the substance and access to the area where it is stored or sitting, you could be charged with the possession. This does not mean that  possession charged under these circumstances will always fly. You will want a drug defense attorney to take a look at what exactly happened and how you got charged. Law enforcement can charge you inappropriately, and that doesn't mean they are going to get in trouble. When they find drugs, they intend to hold some one accountable. If you're being told you are responsible for drugs that you had no knowledge of, or possibly had no access to, then you may have some good arguments to dismiss or beat your possession case. You will need an effective criminal defense lawyer in a situation like this, one who can take this information to the state and hold them to their burden of proof. Depending on the facts of each situation, being charged with drugs under constructive possession is not hopeless. Hiring a criminal defense lawyer who is willing to prepare an aggressive defense to these charges will make all the difference. 

Trafficking Drugs

NC statutes carry stiff penalties for trafficking drugs. Even more benign drugs like marijuana, when seized in large amounts of 10 lbs. or more, carry mandatory minimums of years in prison. As hard as that is to believe, harder drugs like heroin and cocaine will require several years in prison for trafficking convictions. In some cases, opiates in the form of pills require no more than a handful of pills to meet the trafficking level charge. This is because the pill medium is weighed along with the active ingredients. Opiate trafficking sentences begin at several years by statute. 

So I've been charged with Trafficking Drugs, How Can You Help My Case?

   Make no mistake, if you've been charged in Asheville, Buncombe County, or surrounding areas, with drug trafficking, you need a good Asheville drug lawyer.  If the authorities have made any violations of your rights in investigating your case or seizing any contraband that you've been charged with, you need an attorney who will fight for those rights to be preserved. Also, with trafficking sentences being mandatory and ranging into several years, depending on the substance and the quantity, mitigation and damage control becomes very important in these cases.

 Search And Seizure in Drug Charge Cases

   One of the first issues any good drug lawyer must analyze in drug cases is how the police got to the contraband. There is a big difference in your privacy rights at home vs. out on the public streets and highways. If a violation of your 4th amendment rights may be an issue, your drug defense lawyer can file a motion to suppress evidence. A motion to suppress is a legal technique that allows a defense attorney to challenge the constitutionality of a seizure of contraband. These motions will attempt to show that some constitutional procedure was violated in your case, and if successful, the evidence that was seized must be suppressed. That means the state has no evidence, and no case. This is all because of the exclusionary rule that courts have created to help protect your constitutional rights. But make no mistake, these arguments are not easily won. If there exists no valid challenge to the evidence seized, or any other issues for trial, there are still potential negotiations that can be explored, to hopefully lessen the impact of your charges upon a plea of guilty.  If you you've been charged with drug trafficking, call an asheville drug lawyer immediately. 

CALL NOW: 828-575-8417

 90-96 Dismissal

   We have a statute in NC referred to as 90-96. What this statute allows for first time offenders is dismissal of all charges, upon completion of drug assessment, treatment (usually drug ed class), and a short period of probation. This statute applies to felony charges as well. You need a clean drug related record to qualify, but if you've never been charged with drug or paraphernalia charges anywhere in the States or under Federal law, you can take advantage of this statute. 

   I know people who figured out 90-96 pleas and went to court on their own, why wouldn't I just do that instead of paying you money??

   This could be a mistake, primarily for tactical reasons that I won't discuss online. If you want to learn why this is not a great idea, despite the savings, call to discuss your options. 

I was charged with felony possession, as well as Possession with intent to deliver or Cultivation/Manufacturing, what about 90-96 now?

   Technically, selling, intent to sell, and manufacturing are common charges that do not qualify for dismissal under 90-96.  That's not the end of the road, however. If you've been charged with these enhanced drug related penalties, there are still possibilities of getting the charges negotiated. It all depends on the circumstances. 

CALL NOW: 828-575-8417

DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind that no attorney can guarantee any outcome. Case outcomes are fact specific. Change a single fact, and you may alter the outcome completely. The information contained on this page is merely for informational purposes, and forms no attorney-client relationship. Please call and/or schedule an appointment for consultation to discuss your particular issues and goals and to determine how I can help. I am a licensed NC attorney, but nevertheless the law is ever changing and any representation contained in this site may no longer be current NC or US law.