Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Drug charge problem with sentencing

If someone is sentenced on the day following his plea and tested that day, most courts would take his THC level as a baseline (unless no use of controlled substances was ordered in his bond). He ordinarily would not be punished unless probation found THC in his urine 30-40 days after sentencing.

Of course, if someone shows up stoned at sentencing, someone would have an interesting day.

Re: Drug charge problem with sentencing

"Someone" is stupid, especially if he/she thinks that he/she can engage in a little bit of "freebie" drug use, or that a court will turn a blind eye to evidence that a defendant awaiting sentence on a drug charge used drugs.

Even though this Someone was "free" on bond between his/her plea and the sentence, Someone was subject to conditions of bond, which normally say that Someone shall not violate any laws. Well, smoking weed violates the law. It could be enough reason for the court to cancel Someone's bond, and then Someone would sit in jail until Someone's case is adjudicated and the sentence is imposed.

Even if the weed-fest incident was not viewed as a bond violation issue, if Someone came into court to be sentenced on a drug charge and failed a urine test (ie, showed evidence of THC in someone's system), that alone would be a good indicator that Someone would not be a good candidate for probation, and a jail sentence might be the better sentence. (After all, as a wise man in my office likes to say, "The quickest road to abstinence is incarceration.") The judge could not ignore the message that Someone would be sending: Your Honor, I'm not going to change my ways. Judges don't like that message. When that happens, the judge's message is usually, "OK, someone, then I guess I'll see ya in X number of months! Buh-bye now."