Last Updated on: 1st August 2023, 01:29 am

An arrest for drug trafficking is only the beginning of your woes. You will be charged with the crime, but before that an attempt will be made to elicit a confession. The prosecutorial system is set up to intimidate people the authorities suspect of a crime. When you are in jail and in a police interview room, you feel the entire weight of the criminal justice system upon you. It feels that they have the upper hand no matter what, and you might get the idea that you should give them something in order to get out of the situation.

This is the one thing that you should not do. Police and prosecutors may treat you as though you are guilty until you give them some reason to believe you are innocent. They may mislead you into thinking they have more evidence against you than is actually in their possession; they may also promise you the world in return for your cooperation. Cooperation is there word for incriminating yourself. You should not do it. Do not chirp a word until you have spoken to your attorney.

Your right to remain silent is inviolable. When the police advised you of that right as they arrested you, they weren’t just saying something that all cops have to say. They were in fact informing you that your constitutional right not to turn in evidence against yourself cannot be infringed. They can threaten, cajole, huff and puff all they want when they get you down to the station; you do not have to tell them a single thing.

Retaining legal counsel will help you get an outcome that is favorable to you. The police may have raided a place in which you happened to be staying. That does not make you guilty of selling drugs. They even have a warrant for your arrest based on information they obtained from snitches inside and out of prison. Again, that does not make you guilty.

It certainly doesn’t mean they have enough evidence to charge you much less convict you. One of the oldest tricks in the police book is to advise you of certain things they know, statements they have, and evidence they possess that seems to work against you. A criminal attorney can look at the same evidence and come to much different conclusions. Indeed, it is the job of a criminal attorney to gather, examine, and evaluate evidence. Your attorney will also gather other facts, witness statements, and forensic evidence and interpret it in a way that exonerates you from the crime you’re suspected of committing.

You should not be threatened and bullied into giving up your Fifth Amendment right. You should call a legal mind that is equal to that of the prosecutor that is trying to convict you of drug trafficking. The latter is defined as the sale and distribution of controlled substances (http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/drug-trafficking-distribution.html). If your conduct comes nowhere near that legal standard, then you should be set free. To get to this goal you must call in someone who can challenge the evidence possessed by the state.

A drug trafficking charge is nothing to fool around with. It carries very stiff penalties in New York State. You could end up doing up to 20 (http://statelaws.findlaw.com/new-york-law/new-york-drug-distribution-trafficking-and-manufacturing-laws.html) years in prison depending on the severity of the crime. You should start fighting the charge as soon as they levy it against you.

It is not unheard of for good, honest, hard-working people to get caught up in these kinds of charges because of an overzealous prosecutor looking to make a name for himself or herself or because of misidentification. If you are arrested and charged with selling drugs, you will need to act fast to clear your name. You do not want to risk being convicted of something that you did not do and have your name associated with a felony. Working with a criminal defense lawyer can help you do that.