Our Client’s Charges Get Dismissed In Cocaine Trafficking Case!
The state of Florida is known for being exceptionally harsh on sentencing and penalties in criminal cases, especially when it comes to drugs. However, just because someone is facing drug trafficking charges, it doesn’t mean that their case cannot be fought and won in court.
To illustrate this, in a recent cocaine trafficking case we represented a client in the State v. J.P. In this case, law enforcement officers had arrested our client in a rooming house during the execution of a search warrant by the local street enforcement unit.
Our client was charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Law enforcement contended that our client lived in the rooming house because of the fact that he kept his dogs in kennel runs in the backyard. The officers also claimed that they had seen our client run into a bathroom located at the rear of the residence and could hear our client flushing items down the toilet.
Attorney Shafer, with the help of investigator Jeremiah Lyons located the owner of the rooming house, who was prepared to testify that our client did not actually live at the rooming house. All of the utility records obtained supported that story, showing that other peoples’ names were on them and not our client’s.
Our client boarded his dogs at the rooming house because insurance restrictions did not allow them to be housed at his residence. Investigator Lyons was able to demonstrate that it was not possible for someone to see the hallway from the window where the officers claimed to have seen our client entering the bathroom, nor could someone hear the toilet flushing through the closed front door of the residence.
When records were obtained from a number of other search warrant incidents involving the same lead enforcement officer, they showed that this officer had claimed to hear a toilet flushing on many occasions, thereby allowing his men to break through a closed door.
Other individuals who were present in the house at the time it was raided were located and questioned. They testified that our client was at the residence feeding his dogs only minutes before the officers arrived on the scene. While our client was discovered in the rear bathroom when the officers broke through the front door, he wasn’t in there hiding anything; he was simply washing his hands after feeding and petting his dogs.
On the eve of the trial, the state entered a nollo prosequi, completely dismissing the charges!
If you are facing criminal charges on a misdemeanor or felony level, don’t give up the fight or entrust your future to an overwhelmed public defender. Contact Fort Pierce criminal defense attorney T. Charles Shafer for the aggressive defense representation you deserve! We can be reached at (888) 617-7654 – give us a call today!
