Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: 3rd degree sale of controlled substance

A third degree drug offense is extremely serious. Since it involves, not just possession but sale, upon conviction, prison timne is very likely. It is an offense punishable by to imprisonment for not more than 20 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $250,000, or both.

there are many defenses to such a charge and we would have to review the police reports to determine what evidence prosecutors have and whether it can be suppressed based on the methods used by police.

An aggressive defense is neccessary. In many instances, with no prior record, it may be possible to avoid prison and a felony conviction by seeking a charged reduction.

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Re: 3rd degree sale of controlled substance

To understand what kind of time is likely on a felony you need to look at the sentencing guidelines. This is a severity level 6 offense. If your criminal history score is zero, the guidelines call for a 21 month sentence, with a presumed stay. The "presumed stay" is very important. Ultimately what that means is that if you can be successful on probation, you most likely would not have to serve the 21 months. You would instead serve some local jail time. Depending on many variables associate with your case, that local jail time could be 30 to 365 days.

You need a lawyer to look at this; both to examine possible suppression issues and to negotiate with the prosecutor.

Re: 3rd degree sale of controlled substance

For my clients with no prior record, normally we first take a look at a goal of avoiding a "convciton," and getting an outcome which could be "expunged" on day.

FFI: http://www.liberty-lawyer.com/drugcrimecharges.html