BUSTED in California (Need Advice)

[Illuminatty]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I'm going to seek a lawyer and schedule an appointment to get my med card ASAP. I guess I am lucky, I just don't believe it's fair to lock anyone up for possesion of marijuana.

Thanks again. I let you know how everything goes.

[Miss Indica]

Acquire your license before court and as soon as possible. If this is your first offense, remind your attorney of such as it may just land you with a big ticket and no jail sentence. I believe the jail sentence is the maximum sentence possible, so you probably won't be charged with that. None the less, if you weren't driving impaired and you can get a medical license, you should be alright. My complete and utter guess about what's going to happen based on the events of a few friends: You'll get six months to a year of probation with drug testing and you'll have to pay a $500 fine.

[Illuminatty]

Originally Posted by Miss Indica

Acquire your license before court and as soon as possible. If this is your first offense, remind your attorney of such as it may just land you with a big ticket and no jail sentence. I believe the jail sentence is the maximum sentence possible, so you probably won't be charged with that. None the less, if you weren't driving impaired and you can get a medical license, you should be alright. My complete and utter guess about what's going to happen based on the events of a few friends: You'll get six months to a year of probation with drug testing and you'll have to pay a $500 fine.

So I could face probation even with a medical card? That doesn't make any sense..


And chameleon140: I agree with you completely. How can it be fair to lock away people just for POSSESING a naturally growing plant. I even brought this up with the officer that charged me and he said:

[kb1026]

c'mon guys & girls we all know there is always one bad apple in the bunch.

I am a legit cardholder and have been fighting for a long time to legalize and still am. LA is trying to understand and they are trying to work with us if we keep on fighting this battle we can all win. But in all honesty we have to do things right not wrong. People that do it for just cause reasons should really grow up and think about what they are doing and how it could affect millions of people...

[RangerDanger]

The only way a med-mj defense will "work" is if you were diagnosed with whatever and prescribed marijuana BEFORE you got popped.
You aren't allowed to self-diagnose and prescribe marijuana for yourself.

2 oz. is small potato's. If I were you I'd forget about a lawyer, NOT WAIVE TIME, ask for a jury trial and petition the court for a court-appointed att'y and the right to act as your own co-council, and indicate to your att'y you intend to invoke a med-mj defense.
They HATE that and will bend over backwards to cut you a deal.
Never accept the first 2 deals they offer you. Each plea bargin will get sweeter.
You'll probably get offered a small fine and probation.
Unless you have a record. That makes all the difference.

[Dannibong]

shit man, that sucks...my buddy got caught with 2 oz and he only had to spend 1 nite in jail.

[kb1026]

Originally Posted by chameleon140

I apologize to 420 and anyone else who has anything to do with this website, if all the times I take up space with information that is not exactly relative to the thread topic. I do that a lot, but that's just the way my brain works. I can't help it. It feels progressive and right to me, you know, to put your thoughts out as they are coming to you. But anyway, if this bothers anyone, I'm sorry. I don't mean to make a mess....

I don't think you really need to apologize for what you feel it's freedom of speech ok, I'm sure we all do it. At least I know I do...

peace, joy & happiness

[Illuminatty]

I'm not a kid. And I have no other criminal history or whatever. WHy would I go to prison? I could face county but prison is a little extreme..

So don't bother with a lawyer? Not even Bruce Margolin?

[DankCloset]

i've been to jail, i hate when people are like "what do you think the judge is gonna do?" iam like ur going to prison, i say it to everyone. dont feel so singled out lol.

[RangerDanger]

1 thing you have to understand...the judge, the D.A., the Public Defender, and private att'ys--they're all in it together. It's a racket. All judges were once lawyers. And attorney's switch sides frequently.
The guy who this week valiantly defends you might, next month, be trying like hell to put you in prison for as long as possible, depending on who's paying him. They have no ethics, no morals.
Defendants don't matter.

Often the judge, prosecutors and defense lawyers are buddie's--though they hide this fact in court. Even if they aren't buddies, they're in the same biz.
Their job is to make money off you. All you are is a cash cow to be milked. You're gonna have to pay someone--either an att'y to defend you or the court when you lose and get fined. Either way, you lose.

I was once charged with cultivation of marijuana. I was guilty as sin but the cops fucked up and made an illegal arrest. I knew I could beat the rap. At my arraignment I told the judge I wanted a jury trial.
My court appointed att'y expressed no desire to help me. At my first trial attempt (the cop didn't show up) she come up to me and says "Wow the judge is in a real good mood to-day. He says if you plead guilty he'll only sentence you to 3 months, 3 years probation and $1,000.00 fine."
I said no deal.
3 weeks later at the next trial attempt the cop didn't show up again. "My" att'y comes up and says "wow the judge is in an ever better mood. Plead guilty and you'll only get 30 days in jail, 2 years probation and $500.00 fine."
I said "have you even read my case?"
"Not actually" she says.
So I petitioned the court to act as my own co-council.
Finally the 3rd attempt at trying me the cops doesn't show up. It's the last possible day they can try me because I didn't waive time.
"My" att'y comes up and says "I have a deal"
I said "no deals sweetheart. It's over."
"The D.A. could always re-file."
I said "no D.A. is gonna re-file when the arresting officer fails to show up 3 times in a row. He's not gonna show up. He made an illegal arrest and he's trying to make detective and he doesn't want the illegal arrest to go on his record."
She says "plead no contest to simple possession and you'll get 6 months summary probation (which is a joke it simply means don't come up before the same judge on the same charge), a $75.00 fine and after 6 months the conviction AND arrest will be wiped off your record."
It was worth $75.00 to have the plea AND arrest off my record. I took the deal.

The courts are insanely crowded. If you demand your right to a trail by jury and demand your right to act as your own co-council, you're a thorn in their side and they'll bend over backwards to get rid of your case. Plead no contest to some penny ante charge and they'll be happy (no contest is still a conviction so they get a star on their chart--they're happy) and you'll get off with a slap on the wrist.

NEVER waive time. Often they can't impanel a jury quick enough, and it's not worth it for a minor pot charge (no victim).

[GODhelpUS]

first offense...do not worry about it, especially cali..tops youll have 6 months probation and 1000 dollar fine. that happened to me in Jersey so cali don't worry about jail time b/c that was mentioned to me too.

[isos 42o]

The problem with cali is that its still a misdemeanor for anything less than an ounce while in places like ny its a civil offense.

[Illuminatty]

I'm curious as to what I should do when the court date arrives? Should I plead guilty and have this on my record? Or try and fight it? I'm not really sure as to how this works. What would be my best bet?

[danker]

rangerdanger is totally right...the whole system is a scam, you pay some ex da lawyer a few grand and you can get out of anything, i got off felonies with a 50$ fine and no probation or anything(due to a certain set of circumstances i must admit), but the police got to keep my xbox and cellphone, dont ask me why....but anyways, i live in nc and dont know how the rest of the country is but im sure in ca there is no way in hell anyone is going to jail for 2 ozs, especially the first time.--talk to a lawyer, they will get you some deal with some comm service or something if even that.

[Thepurplem0nkey]

Chameleon, I understand what you are talking about and I agree with you. We live in a completely corrupt system. We all know there is nothing "wrong" with injesting marijuana, in fact independant scientific studies (IE: Studies NOT DONE by the governmkent agencies that recieve funding and only exist to COMBAT the drugs they create studies about....blatent conflict of interest anyone????) show many benefits with little to no permanant side effects, yet the government will punish us if we use it. They will take our mioney, they will IMPRISON us. I see nothing wrong with someone breaking the law when the law is designed to break the people. Every single medical marijuana smoker I know smoked marijuana before having their medical conditions. I always found it hypocritical that now that they have a need for marijuana as opposed to a desire, they all get on their soap boxes and denounce "regular" pot smokers. I think marijuana dispensaries have a responsibility to ensure their customers are legitimate medical users, but I feel no animosity towards people who manage to slip past the law to get some good marijuana.
I also am a firm believer in marijuana use for every day ailments. Whenever I have diareah or an upset stomach, I smoke MJ and it takes care of it. If marijauna provides relief in any capacity; causing laughter, relieving stress, curing a headache, encouraging someone to "come out of their shell", etc, I see that as theraputic and medicidinaly beneficial and therefore legal under california law.
As for the original poster, I am certainly no lawyer, but I remember reading in High Times a while back about a case similar to yours that was dismissed by a person who recieved thir medical marijuana recomendation AFTER they were arrested. The argument was that the patient was using marijauna for medicinal purposes even though a doctor had not specificaly recomended it, and as long as he produced a recomendation from a doctor that he did in fact qualify for medical marijauna, the judge dismissed the case. THink of it from thjis perspective....if you were suffering a nasty wound and you raided your moms medicine cabinet and took some of her vicodine to ease your pain...and you were caught doing it (somehiow LOL).....the circumstrances of your using the vicodine without a precripstion would exonerate you. This is basicaly the same situation. Just because you havent seen a doctor for the specific reaso n of obtaining a medical marijauna recomendation does NOT mean you do not use marijuana for medicinal purposes. I have plenty of ailments I dont discuss with my doctor nor do I seek treatment for. If you can prove that you now have a doctors ercomendation and that your condition for which the recomendatino was given existed before your arrest, and that you were in fac tusing that marijuana for medicinal purposes, you haev an excellent chance of having your acse dismissed.
In California, anything under an ounce is punishable by a 100 dollar fine....which actually turns into almost 300 bucks, because in CA we have a 290% (Somethihng like that, I know its close to a 300% tax) tax on anything that involves you going to a courthouse, IE anything other than a minor infraction. So lets say you go to the judge and he fines you 300 bucks....that actualy will wind up costing you 900 bucks. You were carrying over 2 ounces of MJ, so you may be facing a harsher sentence than monetary fines (not likely, but a possibility). But even if you DO face monetary fines, lets say 1,000 bucks....thats going to be close to 3 thousand dollars when you go to pay it. I HIGHLY suggest consulting with a lawyer, which will cost you much less than 3,000 bucks and may save your ass from jail if you come before a judge in an extremely bad mood.
-PM