Three Less Common Defenses To Drug Possession Charges

28 January 2015
 Categories: Law, Blog


Common defenses to drug possession charges include medicinal use, personal use and unlawful search and seizure. However, these are not the only defenses you can use if charged with the possession of illegal drugs. Here are three other surprising defenses you can raise:

Fleeting Possession

To get a good idea of fleeting possession, picture this scenario: You are sitting next to a stranger in a public park, and he or she is popping some illegal pills. The stranger sees a police on patrol approaching and shoves the drugs into your hands. You throw the drugs away, but the officer has already seen them and arrests you for drug possession. Should you be convicted of this "crime?"

In this case, you will not be convicted of drug possession because you merely held the drugs, but quickly discarded them when you realized what they were. This is what is called fleeting possession.

Unwitting Possession

You can claim unwitting possession if you actually had the drugs in your possession, but without your knowledge. There is no way the court will prove that you are guilty of the possession if you didn't know they were on you in the first place.

Consider an example where your boss sends you with a closed package to deliver to a client. Now suppose that the police arrest you with the package, which turns out to be full of illegal drugs. You can use the unwitting possession defense if you can prove that the package is not yours, and that you were not aware of its contents.

The Drugs are Missing

You may also avoid an illegal drug conviction if you can prove that the drugs you have been accused of possessing are missing. If you are being prosecuted for drug possession, then the actual drugs should be present as evidence. For example, if it is cocaine, then the prosecutors cannot get a sample of cocaine elsewhere and use it.

Drugs can get lost in transit, tampered with in evidence lockers or get lost due to inadequate paperwork trail. However, it is difficult to swing this defense on your own. You will need a skilled attorney who can challenge the prosecutors to prove that the drugs they have are the actual ones you were arrested with.

Now you see why it is so important to hire a criminal defense lawyer when you are accused of drug possession. Such attorneys understand the law and can come up with suitable defenses for all kinds of situations.


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