Individuals who are arrested in Minnesota for possessing illegal drugs can have the charges dropped against them for several reasons. Some reasons are due to Supreme Court regulations while others involve improper procedure on the part of police officers handling the case.
The most common way for drug charges to be dropped is a plea bargain. Many times, people are arrested for more than one offense at a time. A plea agreement will sometimes become available that allows the defendant to accept guilt and punishment for one charge while having the other charges against them dropped. These plea agreements account for 95% of criminal convictions.
Some defendants have their drug cases dismissed after a determination is made that a police officer violated search and seizure protocol. An example of this procedural mishandling is the search of a car after a routine traffic stop when there is no reason to suspect anything illegal. Evidence obtained from the traffic stop may then be unusable in court.
It’s possible for defendants to have charges against them dropped after one or more officers involved with the case become involved in a corruption investigation. This situation will cause the credibility of the officers to become questionable, and it may cause the cases with which they were involved during the time corruption took place to become dismissed.
Drug offenders can also have the charges against them dropped if they are willing to identify others involved with selling or trafficking narcotics. This is especially true when the arrested person is willing to provide testimony against a person responsible for moving quantities of illegal drugs.
Facing drug charges in a criminal court is often an uphill battle for a criminal defendant. Securing the services of an experienced criminal attorney might be the best possible way to have the charges against them dropped or minimize their exposure to potential punishment.
