It is becoming more and more common that people are purchasing illegal drugs, either from another state or a different country, and having the drugs delivered to an address they consider safe, perhaps even using a fictitious name. What these people often do not consider is that by carrying out this scheme they are violating both state and federal laws. Therefore, they can be prosecuted in both state court and federal court. BOTH – not either/or. An important fact to consider is that if you are convicted in federal court, you will be sentenced according to the federal guidelines. This will definitely result in a period of incarceration in a federal prison.
Often times, when a police officer stops a person, the officer will pat the person down. The alleged purpose of this pat-down is for officer’s safety. It is common for the pat-down to take place in almost every arrest. Often the officer will find drugs on the person during the pat-down, resulting in an arrest on the drug charge. However, in fact, the officer can only legally pat a person down when the officer has legitimate reasons that can be articulated why he has reason to believe that he may be in danger from this particular arrestee. If the officer cannot verbalize the reason that he believed that he was in danger, the arrest is subject to being thrown out by the court and the charges d
