How Lawyers Fight to Get Drug Conspiracy Charges Dismissed

How Lawyers Fight to Get Drug Conspiracy Charges Dismissed

Being charged with a drug conspiracy can be scary. Conspiracy charges often carry long prison sentences and hefty fines. Fortunately, experienced criminal defense attorneys have strategies to get these charges dismissed or reduced. This article explains common defenses against conspiracy charges and how lawyers fight to protect their clients.

What is a Drug Conspiracy Charge?

A drug conspiracy charge means prosecutors allege you agreed with someone else to distribute illegal drugs, like cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine. You don’t have to actually sell the drugs to be charged with conspiracy. Just planning to sell drugs with another person is enough. Conspiracy charges also apply if you help organize, finance, or manage a drug operation.

Conspiracy cases rely heavily on circumstantial evidence. Prosecutors use records of phone calls, text messages, social media posts, surveillance video, informants, and co-conspirator testimony to build their case. Even if you never touched or sold the drugs, these types of evidence can make you look guilty by association.

Why are Conspiracy Charges so Serious?

Conspiracy charges are serious for two main reasons:

1. They hold you responsible for the entire quantity of drugs involved in the conspiracy, not just what you actually handled yourself.
2. They often carry the same penalties as if you had actually sold the drugs yourself.

For example, if police seize 50 kilos of cocaine from your co-conspirators, you can be sentenced as if you sold 50 kilos yourself. That’s true even if you never saw or touched any of the drugs. The large drug quantities make these cases federal crimes with mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years or more in many cases.

Common Defenses Against Conspiracy Charges

Skilled criminal defense lawyers use the following strategies to get conspiracy charges dismissed or reduced:

No Actual Agreement

For a conspiracy charge to stick, prosecutors must prove you actually agreed to commit a crime. Just associating with criminals or being present during illegal activity is not enough. Your lawyer will scrutinize the evidence to see if prosecutors can really prove an agreement existed.

Entrapment

A conspiracy requires voluntary criminal intent. If government informants pushed you into committing a crime you otherwise wouldn’t, that is entrapment. For example, if an undercover agent spent months pressuring you to help move drugs after you initially refused, that overbearing conduct could invalidate the conspiracy charge.

You Withdrew from the Conspiracy

To beat a conspiracy charge, your attorney only needs to show you took affirmative steps to withdraw from the conspiracy before police intervened. Withdrawing requires cutting off contact with co-conspirators and disavowing the criminal scheme. Defense lawyers pore over phone and travel records looking for evidence of withdrawal.

Lack of Overt Acts

Most conspiracy laws require prosecutors to prove the conspirators took concrete steps to further the crime. If your lawyer finds the evidence lacks these “overt acts,” they can move to dismiss the charges before trial.

Statute of Limitations

Conspiracy charges must be brought within 5 years of the crime in federal court. If prosecutors indict you after the time limit expires, your lawyer can file to dismiss the case. State conspiracy laws often have shorter statutes of limitations your lawyer can use.

Invalid Wiretaps

Prosecutors rely heavily on recorded conversations in conspiracy cases. However, they must follow strict rules when obtaining wiretaps. Your lawyer will scrutinize the wiretap application process to see if there are grounds to suppress the recordings due to procedural defects or lack of probable cause.

Invalid Search Warrants

Like wiretaps, search warrants in drug cases must establish probable cause that evidence will be found. Lawyers look closely for omissions, false statements, or boilerplate language that undermines probable cause. Any defects may justify suppressing evidence seized in the search.

Miranda Violations

Incriminating statements you made during interrogation might be excluded if police failed to give you proper Miranda warnings. If officers continued questioning after you asked for lawyer, your lawyer will argue those statements should be suppressed.

Negotiating a Plea Deal

While dismissal is ideal, your lawyer may negotiate a plea deal if the evidence is strong. Good lawyers leverage suppression issues and weaknesses in the government’s case to get charges dropped or reduced. For example, pleading guilty to simple drug possession instead of conspiracy can significantly reduce prison time.

Cooperating with prosecutors is another bargaining chip, but one that requires careful consideration of the benefits and risks. Talk to your lawyer before agreeing to cooperate in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Fighting Conspiracy Charges at Trial

If prosecutors won’t dismiss or reduce charges, skilled lawyers aren’t afraid to take drug conspiracy cases to trial. Common trial strategies include:

• Attacking the credibility of informants and cooperators
• Undermining forensic evidence through expert witnesses
• Raising reasonable doubt about whether a true “agreement” existed
• Presenting evidence you withdrew from the conspiracy
• Arguing you played only a minor role in the scheme

While drug conspiracy cases are complex, an experienced trial lawyer can carefully craft a defense tailored to the facts and present it persuasively to the jury. Though difficult to win, drug conspiracy trials are not hopeless. Your lawyer’s reputation and skill as a trial attorney puts pressure on prosecutors and can sometimes secure an acquittal.

Finding the Right Lawyer is Key

The right lawyer makes all the difference in defending drug conspiracy charges. Look for an attorney with extensive experience litigating complex conspiracy cases in federal court. Understand the lawyer’s track record of getting charges dismissed pre-trial. Ask about their willingness to go to trial rather than advising clients to plead guilty right away. Conspiracy cases take in-depth preparation and strategic thinking to win – skills an experienced federal criminal defense lawyer brings to the table.

Don’t go it alone against drug conspiracy charges. While the penalties are severe, an aggressive defense lawyer can often get charges reduced or dismissed through pre-trial motions or negotiating with prosecutors. In difficult cases, skilled trial attorneys are ready to fight for an acquittal at trial. The stakes are high, but good lawyers know how to beat conspiracy charges and keep clients out of prison.

References

Here are the references used in this article:

21 U.S. Code § 846 – Attempt and conspiracy

Sample Drug Conspiracy Indictment

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 12. Pleadings and Pretrial Motions

Entrapment as a Defense to Criminal Charges

Withdrawal Defense – Conspiracy

18 U.S. Code § 3282. Offenses not capital

Miranda Warning