3rd Degree Drug Distribution Downgraded to DP Misdemeanor
Our office recently defended a client who was pulled over on I-78 in Union County for speeding. A subsequent search of his car turned up several thousand in cash and dozens of illegal prescription drugs such as Xxycodone and Percocets that our client did have a valid prescription for. The charges were sent to Union County Superior Court and our client was indicted on 3rd Degree Distribution of Prescription Drugs. To make matters worse, our client had a prior record and was currently serving probation out of Pennsylvania when he picked up the new charges. This meant that if convicted, he faced 3 – 5 years in state prison based on his prior offenses. Our client was adamant that he could not plead to the distribution charges or be convicted of a felony because it would violate his probation in Pennsylvania and subject him to even further incarceration.
Our attorneys fought and challenged the case our client for almost 7 months until finally the prosecutor relented and agreed to downgrade the 3rd degree drug distribution down to a disorderly persons offense of Failure to Turn Over CDS, which only exposes you to a maximum of 6 months county jail is normally handled in municipal court. At sentencing we were able to convince the Judge to give our client “fines only” which means he received no incarceration, no probation and no license suspension. Results such as these are exceptional and extremely rare after a defendant has already been indicted by a grand jury, such as our client in the above case. Hard work and determination by our attorneys paid off big time for our client in this case.
State v. N.M. decided on May 15, 2017
