Tag: possession of drugs

Possession of Drugs After Former Felony Conviction [Washington County, OK]

Posted by lawoffice on September 12, 2015

Criminal Charge: Felony possession of drugs after former conviction of a felony
Case: State v. Kenyatta Carter
Court: [CF-06-217, Washington County]
Result: Case Dismissed

For more details on this case, open the Docket View.

Summary:

One of the best arguments for hiring a good lawyer I have ever seen, this case involved a bad arrest, a bad search and an unfortunate clerical error, all resulting in almost a year of litigation before the prosecutor wisely dismissed the case.

The Bartlesville PD stopped Mr. Carter for doing 6 miles over the speed limit. Then the officer arrested him because his dispatch told him an arrest warrant existed. As is his right, the officer conducted an “inventory search” of the car before impounding it to get it off the city street. The officer claimed to have found less than .01 grams of pot in the ashtray and charged him with possession of drugs.

Throughout this ordeal, Mr. Carter told the officer the warrant had been “recalled” by the issuing judge months earlier. In fact, his lawyer at the time had misinformed Mr. Carter about a court date in a family law matter so they both missed the court date. A bench warrant was orally issued for Mr. Carter but the judge immediately recalled it when she learned of the misunderstanding. Unfortunately, that same judge signed a written warrant – by another mistake – when it came across her desk a week later. This bad warrant floated around for months until the traffic stop. Mr. Carter’s vehicle was searched and inventoried, and he went to jail…on a clerical error.

While bizarre, this situation has been addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court. [Arizona v. Evans, 514 U.S. 1 [1995]]. In Evans, the SCOTUS extended the so-called “good-faith” exception to evidence collected as a result of a bad arrest warrant: Mr. Evans went to prison because of what was found when he was arrested…on a clerical error.

The Evans decision would make it appear that Mr. Carter was destined to the same legal conclusion: bad warrant, good arrest, good search, and guilt. What a good criminal defense lawyer knows, however, is that Oklahoma has never adopted the “good-faith” exception to the warrant requirement. As a result, Haslam filed motions to dismiss the case because the arrest was illegal in Oklahoma: the police never get inside his car unless Mr. Carter is legally arrested.

The prosecutor fought Haslam’s efforts, but ultimately realized the futility of this case and dismissed it completely.

Felony Possession of Drugs [Washington County, OK]

Posted by lawoffice on September 12, 2015

Criminal Charge: Felony possession of drugs
Case: State v. Laramie King
Court: [CF-07-79] [Washington County]
Result: Case Dismissed

For more details on this case, open the Docket View.

Because this case was dismissed by the State on Haslam’s motion, the docket sheet link above reveals no search result.

Summary:

Mr. King was arrested in his Vo-Tech school classroom when a drug dog handler alleged he had drugs in his pants pocket.

Knowing that he could have only had his father’s pain medication in his pocket by mistake, Mr. King rejected the State’s offer of Drug Court and committed himself to defending the charge. Haslam presented evidence to the prosecutor supporting the claim of Laramie and his family that the medication was left out for him in the same place he was to pick up his own allergy meds before school one morning.

The prosecutor independently evaluated the evidence and dismissed the case before preliminary hearing.

TRAFFICKING IN ILLEGAL DRUGS and POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA [Choctaw County, OK]

Posted by lawoffice on April 29, 2013

Criminal Charge: Trafficking in Illegal Drugs and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Case: State of Oklahoma v. Russell Kash Weil
Court: [Choctaw County][CF-13-69]
Result: Both Counts Dismissed

For more details, read the Case Information.

Summary:

Choctaw County [OK] law enforcement presented the District Judge with an affidavit for a search warrant of Mr. Weil’s home. The affidavit alleged an identified juvenile was arrested for pot possession, and when he went to jail he told the jailer he had seen all kinds of drugs in Mr. Weil’s home. He did not say when. Judge Wolf issued the search warrant.

Cops searched his home, claimed they recovered a large amount of illegal drugs and charged Mr. Weil with distribution of drugs and simple possession of drugs.

Mr. Weil hired a lawyer from Durant, OK who talked him into waiving his preliminary hearing, waiving his right to a jury trial and pleading guilty in exchange for a five-year sentence. However, before he pled guilty, Mr. Weil fired that attorney and hired Mr. Haslam. Haslam immediately moved to recover his rights to the hearing and a jury trial and rejected the plea deal.

After reviewing the police reports and the warrant paperwork, Haslam filed a motion to suppress the search warrant and the fruits of the search. In retaliation, the prosecutor increased the charge to trafficking of illegal drugs, a charge that carries up to life in prison. At the evidentiary hearing on the motion to suppress, the State offered the testimony of the cop who authored the warrant affidavit. Citing the law that requires an affidavit for a search warrant to include the time a witness allegedly saw contraband at premises before the warrant may lawfully issue, Haslam argued the warrant was illegal and all the fruits of the search had to be excluded from evidence. Judge Brock agreed and the Court DISMISSED THE CASE.