I was arrested for possesion of cocaine on school grounds.. What should I do?

Question

A few days ago, a mandatory lockdown was done at my high school and the dogs smelled it in my car. When brought out of class I realized what had been left in my car and I was arrested on school property. I went to court that day and was released with the judge informing me that if i do drugs or drink before my court hearing, i would go to jail. I am 17 years old and this is the first thing on my adult record. I have had two priors before this when i was younger and wanted to know what my best plan of action would be. When reviewing the arrest report if i am found guilty of having the substance on school grounds there is a mandatory 2 year jail sentence. This seems a little extreme to me, considering the amount of cocaine in the car was less than half a gram and in truth was not mine to begin with. Is there anything i can do, rehab? na meetings? therapy? to help me stay out of prison? As it stands now i still want to pursue a college education in business and regret this stupid mistake.

Answer 1

First thing you need to do is get a lawyer. You should tell him the truth no matter what it is. There is a client attourney privledge you get that says everything you tell him is confidential. He will give you your options. You are probably going to have to go to a new school. The best thing you could do is withdraw from the school you are in so it wont effect your school record. With the legal part, I am sure you are going to have a plea bargain to make. If they are trying to give you a felony, make sure you get an SIS. I think SIS means sentece in suspension. If not it is something like that. What it means is that you plead guilty now, you get probation, once your time is up you can go withdraw your guilty plea. Then it wont be on your record. The goverment could still find out about it if you are trying to get a job that required security clearance, but most civilian jobs wont be able to find out about it. Don't ask for SIS though, try to get something much less. Like a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance. Then you will only get a year of probation. Not so bad. Don't worry too much. This is your first real offense, and it isn't near enough of an amount for them to suspect you of dealing on school. And dealing on school is really what that extra charge was intended for. People make mistakes, just make sure you learn from them.

Answer 2

There are a couple main factors here. One, you had 2 prior offenses, this will hurt your options to maneuver here, two, this was on school grounds, and, three, there are well established minimum sentencing rules for many drug offenses in the US, this could work against you.

However, here is my suggestions. First of all do not use any substances between now and your court date, that would be the stupidest thing possible and will certainly assure you of prison time. Second, get a lawyer to help you navigate your legal situation and to help you negotiate a better deal. Third, look into treatment possibilities, regardless of whether or not they are mandated for you it will help--cocaine is addictive and if you do not quit now it will hurt your chances at a future career (and succesfull life).

I am guessing that since this is your first adult offense it will not put you in a mandatory sentence. If you plead guilt and make a plea bargain the judge will likely grant you some sort of deal where you serve minimal or no prison time, attend treatment, do community service, and are forced to submit to random testing. This is no garuntee, but I would guess you might get the benefit of the doubt here, just be honest, clean at your hearing, and ready to accept what you need to do.

Lastly, this will not rule out all your future plans. Come clean, serve whatever sentence you have and don't return to cocaine. You will likely be able to get into colleges, and while a drug offense might hinder job searching a little it will not prevent it, just be honest and assure them you are clean now and willing to submit to random testing if neccessary. Honesty throughout the whole thing is key, as well as remaining drug free. Do this and you will get the best possible outcome.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Get a really really good lawyer. Pray for an unbiased judge. Get your lawyer to convince the judge that you are sorry and that you are willing to spend the rest of your young life subject to probation and community service as well as going to counselling. the two priors wont help your case. but as long as you dont fail a drug test, you should be able to get off with possesion which is a lesser sentence. half of a gram shouldnt be enough for intent to distribute if you have a reasonable judge.

my advice, hope for the best and next time, clean your car before you go to school. just leave it at home, or better yet, just stay away from that crap!!!

Answer 4

You will need a lawyer, and I am not sure that will help you. If it was in your car, and no one else fesses up... it's on you. Mandatory sentances were put in place for a reason. Having something that serious on SCHOOL grounds is a BIG deal. If you are convicted, there is nothing you can do to get around the mandatory sentance. A lawyer may be able to work you a plea deal... That's about it.

I hope you have learned your lesson, and that if it wasn't yours... you lose the friend that the drugs belonged to. You'll never get out if you don't make better friends.

Answer 5

Get a good attorney son! You're gonna need one!
Find one that will let you start in a drug and alcohol program before your court date or go to the court house and ask them who is assigned to you. Tell them you realize you have a problem (humble yourself) and tell them you want to start right away because it's a two year program....
You may have to do some time in the local jail but if you take the bull by the horns, you may get to do exactly what you had planned. It's a good lesson to learn, too...The D and A thing, I mean....It's all about growin' up and wisin' up and I wish you the best....You may want to look for a 12 step program in a local church because they are usually free....Whatever, do something, and don't try to get out of it by saying it wasn't yours or you didn't know it was in there...they'll think you are an idiot and you'll get more time...trust me!
Motherly advice!!!

Answer 6

Don't you love how everyone bags on attorneys, but the second you get in trouble, everyone says "get a lawyer!"

Anyways, you're in trouble obviously. You might be able to argue that you didn't know the drugs were in your car, and get the case dismissed....In other words, the government can't necessarily prove that you knew the drugs were in your car.

But yeah, the stakes are high enough that you'll need to get a lawyer....and here's a hint: even defense attorneys abide by a code of ethics which says they can't knowingly present false information to the court (granted, a few don't follow the code), so you need to be careful what you tell your defense attorney as well.

Answer 7

yeah i would try all of those rehab meetings and therepy, even if it doesnt keep you out of jail, it will improve your life which is what you want right? some colleges will accept you even with a bad record(most just want your money anyway) but yeah you will have limitations, you will definatly have to work your way up from the bottom as far as getting a job is concerned. if you must continue on the illegal activity road then you can always talk to people like my parents, they are great at worming their way around the law. and theyve done things much worse then cocaine so it is always possible to get away with whatever you want. you just have to know how. and believe me i will have much more respect for you if you take responcibility for your own actions instead of worming out of it and trying to make it easier for yourself. its your choice. btw sorry for bein so harsh but you need a little of that right now.

Answer 8

I would plead to the court..2 years is DAMN extreme ..have you watched Juvy in MTV...?

If you have a good school record and nice living, they shouldn't give 2 damn years...

oh and just a side note, it doesn't matter if the drug is not yours.

I'd seriously cry to the judge.I'd rather cry like a baby than waste 2 christmases, 2 B-days, etc. in a cold hard jail.

Answer 9

you want to get an lawyer ASAP. 10 grams ought to absolutely be considered revenues, trafficking, and so on. all of that are a lot extra severe than basically having somewhat for own use. in the journey that they stumbled on a scale or baggies or something like that, they are going to absolutely attempt to get you for revenues. it extremely is hwy you want a legal specialist on the instantaneous. also, as others have said, flow to rehab. flow to an inpatient rehab of a minimum of 30 days. which will score large factors with the choose and ought to keep you out of reformatory. also, this being your 1st offense can help, you purely favor to ensure you're literally not convicted of revenues or something alongside those lines because you receives reformatory time for that. notwithstanding, in case you will get it all the way down to elementary possession, you'll likely basically get probation. Sooo, get a legal specialist, flow to rehab and good success.

Answer 10

First and Foremost, you need a very good lawyer...I wouldn't give up..Someone very close to me was caught distributing cocaine, and..with a good lawyer, and quite of bit of money, he was able to spend less than week in jail, and he was not a minor, he did have to do community service and three years of probation with drug testing, of course. I hope your parents have money to help but you may not even need it, they may cut you more slack than you think, it all depends on the judge you get too....Good Luck!