Legal Question in Criminal Law in District of Columbia

intent to purchase marijuana

say you are arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana, but they also find a large sum of cash and text messages that reveal intent to purchase with said cash a large quantity of marijuana. is it a crime to intend to purchase marijuana? like, if you go to court and you are asked about the large sum of cash, and you say that your intent was to purchase marijuana, but the person you were going to purchase it from was lying to you the whole time and never had it, is that admission of wanting to buy marijuana illegal?


Asked on 4/09/09, 5:38 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jason Cleckner Law Office of Jason Cleckner, LLC

Re: intent to purchase marijuana

Your question ignores a few fundamental principles of criminal law: 1) You cannot be convicted of an offense of which you are not charged (except lesser included offenses), 2) you can never be compelled to testify. Also, intent to purchase is not a crime. Possession with intent to distribute is a crime, however, and you should hope that you are never charged with that. If you want to provide more details, contact me anytime.

Read more
Answered on 4/09/09, 5:52 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in District of Columbia