Missouri Drug Offense Charges: Lesser-Known Defenses Explained
If you were charged with a drug offense in Missouri, you may be able to employ various legal or factual defenses against your charges. With an experienced criminal defense lawyer’s help, you may be able to successfully fight a drug charge or mitigate the consequences of an arrest by pursuing one of these lesser-known defense strategies.
Lack of Knowledge or Intent
You may claim that you didn’t intend to commit a drug offense or had no knowledge of drugs in your possession. Some drug offenses may include an “intent” element, which requires the government to prove that you acted with the necessary criminal intent (e.g., willfully or knowingly). Alternatively, you may assert that you didn’t know about drugs seized by the police, such as if officers find drugs in a vehicle you share with a family member, housemate, or friend, or when police find drugs in an area of your home normally accessible to multiple occupants of the house, such as the living room or kitchen.
Prescription and Medical Defenses
You may present evidence that you held a valid prescription for a controlled substance found in your possession. For example, if you’re found with a quantity of marijuana above the “recreational” threshold, you may present a medical card that authorizes you to possess larger quantities.
Chain of Custody Issues
In a chain of custody defense, you might highlight the fact that police and prosecutors failed to document the government’s unbroken custody of drugs in evidence from the moment police seized them until your trial. If drug-related evidence has a break in the chain of custody, you may raise a doubt as to whether the drugs the prosecution presents as seized from you are the drugs that the police actually recovered. Questions about the identity of a substance seized can create reasonable doubt that may preclude your conviction.
Constitutional Violations
You may claim that police obtained evidence or inculpatory statements by violating your constitutional rights, such as through a search that lacked a warrant or probable cause and exigent circumstances, or an interrogation where police ignored your request for legal counsel or coerced a confession. If the court finds that investigators violated your rights, it may order the exclusion of any evidence obtained through that violation as a sanction on police and prosecutors.
Entrapment
While many people are broadly familiar with the concept of entrapment as a defense, fewer understand the specific criteria that must be met for it to be effective. Under Missouri law, an entrapment defense involves arguing that you would not have committed a crime but for the fact that a law enforcement officer (or someone cooperating with law enforcement) solicited, encouraged, or induced you to commit a crime you otherwise had no intent to commit. For example, in asserting an entrapment defense, you may claim that you didn’t intend to buy drugs but were encouraged to buy them by an undercover officer or confidential informant working with the police. Proving entrapment can be incredibly difficult, though not impossible.
Why Lesser-Known Defenses Matter
These lesser-known defenses to drug charges do not apply in every case. Some defenses may only rarely succeed. However, when applicable and supported by compelling evidence, a lesser-known defense can have a powerful effect that substantially increases your chances of securing a dismissal of your charges or an acquittal at trial.
Contact a Drug Defense Lawyer Today
If you’ve been arrested for a drug offense, knowing about all the potential defenses you might have against your charges can give you the best chance of securing a favorable outcome to your case. Contact The O’Rourke Law Firm today for a confidential consultation with a Missouri drug defense attorney to learn more about your legal options for defending yourself against drug charges.