Fenris Posted October 7, 2008 Theoretically speaking, are the police compelled to get the facts right before going to trial? And if they get the facts wrong is that a loophole or can they just charge you with more stuff after they realise that they got the charges wrong the first time? Theoretically if I had 1g of cocaine and was searched by the police and they confiscated it and decided to charge me with possession of 1g of speed without testing anything, it goes to court and I plead innocent to being in possession of 1g of speed, have they lost their chance to "bust me" because they didn't test the validity of their argument or the substance I theoretically may have been carrying? If they test the material and it turns out not to be speed at all but cocaine do they just re-charge me or does their argument fall apart due to poor police work. Any comments? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
occidentalis Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) Theoretically if I had 1g of cocaine and was searched by the police and they confiscated it and decided to charge me with possession of 1g of speed without testing anything, it goes to court and I plead innocent to being in possession of 1g of speed, As I understand If you plead innocent, the hearing would be adjourned and they would go away and assess the situation. At that stage they would probably analyse the material, find that it's cocaine, and charge you with that. If you plead innocent, they don't lose their chance to charge you in any way. In fact, they get more of a chance because pleading innocent will drag the case out and they might find a few extra charges they can throw in. The system is set up to make it very easy to plead guilty - in many cases it is simply better to do that. If the charges you were facing in court were 'not too bad', ie a simple possession charge of a single drug, I would plead guilty straight up, because once you plead guilty and the cops get a conviction, they go home happy and you are unlikely to hear anything more about it. There is also the possibility that, because different drugs have different quantities where intent to sell or supply is assumed (I am not sure what the relative amounts are of speed and cocaine, it also differs in different states) but depending on the two drugs in question and the amount confiscated, pleading innocent to a simple possession charge of one drug may land you with an intent to sell or supply charge for the other drug. Or, it could be vice versa. There is a lot to juggle in this situation and I would feel very sorry for anyone who ended up dealing with it and suggest that they get themselves some real legal advice as quickly as possible. Edited October 7, 2008 by creach Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
