Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

a confidential informant claimed to have purchased drugs from me so the police obtained a search warrant and searched my home and found drugs. Originally I was charged with selling drugs but recently that charged has been reduced to possessing drugs. the police calimed that a the informant was shown a dmv photo of a person who's name is different than mine and who is on parole with a long criminal history. supposedly the informant identified the person in the photo as the same person who sold him/or her the drugs the police claim that I am that person. which is how they we able to get the warrant to search my home. The charges were reduced to possession after my finger prints were taken which proved that I was not the person in the dmv photo that was shown to the informant and it also proved that I do not have a criminal history nor have I ever been on parole. My public defender tells me that I should accept the reduced charge which means all I need to do is complete a prop 36 class and he adviced me not to fight this case his reason for me doing this is because if reject the offer it will mean that the district attny. will have time to look over the search warrant and once he reads what is written in it he will take back the reduced charge of possession and follow through with charging me with sales a case he claims I have no chance of winning. That to me makes no sense. especially his claim that the D.A. has not yet read the search warrant. Here is my question. What should I do? I am not the person whom the informant identified as being the person that sold him/or her the drugs and my finger prints have already proven that. I believe that my only involvement came in the way of me selling a truck to someone who drove it to sell the informant the drugs, a truck that was still registered to me and that is how the police got my address, they ran the plates.


Asked on 12/29/10, 6:53 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Police searched your house with a warrant and found drugs. Unless you can show that the police should have known *before the search* that you weren't the person the informant was describing, you will be stuck with that evidence. The informant's mistake won't matter if the police were acting in good faith. Even if you're right about how this happened, it won't matter much.

Your lawyer is in a better position than we are to evaluate your options and give you advice. If you want a second opinion, you should pay another lawyer to go over the case with you in detail for an hour or two. LawGuru is no substitute for that kind of guidance.

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Answered on 1/03/11, 8:19 pm
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

When arrested and charged with any crime, the proper questions are, can you be convicted, and what can you do? Defend the charges. Go to court, enter a not guilty plea, arrange bail reduction or O.R., set up and attend the court hearing[s] and trial date[s]. File evidence suppression or other motions as applicable. Raise all the available defenses with whatever admissible and credible witnesses, evidence and facts are available for legal arguments for motions, plea-bargaining, or at trial. Go to trial if it can't be resolved with motions or a plea bargain. There is no magic wand to wave and make it all disappear. If you don't know how to do these things, then hire an attorney that does, who will try to get a dismissal, diversion, reduction or other decent outcome through plea bargain for you, or take it to trial. If serious about doing so, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help you use whatever defenses you may have. If you can't afford private counsel, you can apply for the Public Defender.

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Answered on 1/04/11, 11:47 am


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