Richmond Drug Distribution Lawyer
Drug distribution is considered a serious offense in Richmond. The sale and transportation of unlawful substances will result in harsh penalties. If you are facing charges, be sure to contact a Richmond drug distribution lawyer as soon as possible to start building your defense against the accusations. This is especially true with drug distribution charges because they are treated very severely in Richmond. An experienced drug defense attorney can help you fight your charges.
Drug Charge Enforcement
As far as the Commonwealth and the Virginia Assembly is concerned, drug distribution is considered to be a more serious offense than a simple possession. When someone is dealing with a possession, especially in 2017, the courts, the Commonwealth and the General Assembly have shifted their approach from viewing it automatically as a criminal activity to treating it more as a disease, sickness, an individual suffering from a problem.
They are slowly starting to come around to understanding that people who are caught possessing drugs or using drugs are not necessarily bad people. Rather, they are individuals who are dealing with a lot of issues within their personal life and, unfortunately, have turned to drugs as a solution.
This is not the case with drug distribution charges because there is no addiction in those cases. In those cases, it is essentially viewed as somebody who is taking advantage of those who do have some kind of addiction or problem and then using that to their own gain.
Intent vs Actual Sale
One of the main differences between distribution and possession with intent to distribute is going to be the actual possession of the drug itself. With regard to somebody who has been charged with possession with intent to distribute, there is not an actual sale that has occurred, or even a giving or gifting.
Therefore, when a person is ultimately arrested or picked up, the police are normally going to find drugs on a person, but they also have an opportunity to search for other things and find other items. These could include, among others, objects such as:
- Scales
- Money
- Guns
- Baggies
These can all come into evidence with a possession with an intent to distribute charge. Additionally, so can the things that are found in a subsequent search.
In contrast, with distribution, what a person is normally going to see is an undercover police officer or confidential informant buy. When that occurs, the police are not actually going to find all of the items mentioned above. However, due to the reality o the sale, the potential penalties will be greater.
Aggravating Factors
Some factors that can increase the seriousness of a distribution are going to be the type of item being sold, the amount that was sold, and whether multiple different items have been sold.
Once warrants have been served, if there are illegal guns, or any other indication of distribution, found within a home, all of that will be considered and can increase the seriousness of the offense. Somebody who is charged with distributing marijuana could face a Class 1 misdemeanor charge as opposed to someone who is charged with distribution of heroin or cocaine. The latter will generally be charged with a Class 2 felony because the heroin or cocaine are more dangerous drugs than marijuana.
What to Look for in a Defense Attorney
When someone is looking for a Richmond drug distribution lawyer to represent them in a drug distribution case, the main thing they are going to be looking at is the years of experience and successful outcomes that the attorney brings with them.
Defendants out to ask themselves whether the attorney has handled these types of matters before. Doing so would prepare the lawyer to prepare for different outcomes, such as the possibility of getting the matter dismissed or negotiating the matter in the best way possible.
Experience and zeal are key characteristics of an effective attorney. In Richmond, the drug team is very tenacious and sometimes unreasonable, and they will aggressively pursue their case in order to secure a prosecution in distribution cases. Therefore, it is important for a defendant to match and sometimes exceed the tenacity and zealousness of the prosecution in order to put forth their best position and be victorious at the end of a case.
