Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: A Question about my second possession of marijuana offense

Be of good cheer. You will be better off without $1000s of student loans to pay back, trust me on this one. Aside from student loans, the worst you are facing is a $100 fine plus penalty assessment, works out to about $250, plus a possible suspension of your driver's license. You might also become ineligible to be drafted into the armed forces.

In a prosecution for Cal. H&S � 11357(b), unlike nearly every other type of criminal case, you have nothing whatsoever to lose by taking the case to trial -- you cannot be put in jail or even placed on probation. So have fun with the situation. Demand a jury trial. Write a letter to the DA requesting "informal discovery," go to the courthouse law library or the internet and look up a sample discovery letter. Demand a speedy trial every time you go to court. On the trial date, the court can delay the trial for up to 10 court days (excluding weekends) but they have to dismiss the case on the last day if they cannot hold the trial. If you are lucky, the cop won't show up and your case will be dismissed. You might also raise the defense (if you can truthfully raise it) that you had an oral recommendation from a doctor for some ailment. Read a book on cross-examination or watch a trial in another courtroom, you get to cross-examine the witnesses against you. You have the right not to testify if you don't want to (but again, what do you have to lose?) If you lose, file a notice of appeal right away. With any luck you will get a legal education, of sorts, without those pesky student loans. And the law says that two years after a conviction on marijuana charges, you cannot be deprived of any legal right or privilege under state law. The only exceptions would possibly involve the federal government, the military, or a possible future child custody matter.

Re: A Question about my second possession of marijuana offense

YOU HAVE A LOT IN STAKE. MY ADVISE IS TO STOP SMOKING MARIJUANA AND TAKING DRUGS FOREVER! IN ADDITION, IT WOULD BE VERY WISE TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY.

David B. Lupoff, Esq.

818.943.0462

Re: A Question about my second possession of marijuana offense

You need an attorney, and should not try to negotiate with the D.A. yourself. The odds that you will persuade him to drop the charges are small, but the odds that you will give him ammunition to use against you at trial are substantial.

Since you say you can't afford an attorney, you should get a public defender. If you don't want a public defender you should come up with money to pay a private attorney -- by borrowing and/or by selling assets if need be. Given the potential repercussions of this charge, you should consider it a very high priority and be prepared to jettison lower priorities in order to deal with it. This is one of those rainy days your mother always told you to prepare for.

I don't know what the full ramifications of a conviction would be since I don't know what federal programs you want to take part in, but I do want to point out a serious flaw in your logic. You are skeptical of the claim that you will be barred from these programs because you will "still have to pay taxes to fund some of those programs." The government funds many programs which are not available to all, and there is nothing unfair about this practice. To take just one example, the government funds a vast array of medical, psychological and social services for veterans of the armed forces. Most Americans are not veterans and will never serve, yet their taxes support these programs.

Taxpayers fund whatever the government does and have no right to dictate how their money is spent or to withhold taxes because they are barred from some government programs. That you might want to enroll in one or more of these programs has nothing to do with whether your conviction can deny you access to them.

Hopefully someone more knowledgable about this topic can say how a conviction will affect your rights. You may still elligible for these programs for all I know, but don't let your reasoning about taxes persuade you that you are being misled.