Legal Question in Criminal Law in Arizona

Feel like public defender did not handle my case well

In 1998, I was arrested for poss.of marijuana, and was to be tried under the prop 200 law that had passed here.Anyways after several court appearances,while looking through the police report(over 200 pages long)I noticed that there was a lab report for everything that was found at the house, except for the marijuana found in my possession.(it was less than two pounds)I brought this to the attention of my public defender and after looking for it himself,he asked the prosecutor where it was,and after they realized it wasn`t there,my case was continued .At the next court hearing my attorney was pressuring me into taking a plea,and when i askesd him about the lab report, his reply was that it wouldn`t matter that it wasn`t there anyways.So i accepted the plea. I have been on probation now since that time,and i feel that i should have never been covicted to begin with. am i right?


Asked on 10/13/02, 7:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

Re: Feel like public defender did not handle my case well

The burden of the prosecution in the circumstances you describe was to prove that the substance in question was marijuana, beyond a reasonable doubt, for you to have been properly convicted. However they did that, the presence or absence of a lab report, not deliberately concealed by the prosecution, makes no significant legal difference.

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Answered on 10/13/02, 11:55 am


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