I had a drug trial in the District Court this morning. When I tried to point out the flaws to the prosecutor, I was met with an abrupt, “if you think I am going to drop this case, the answer is no.” I asked about the cocaine charge since there was no cocaine detected at the State Police Crime Lab, and I was told he was trying all the counts. That actually saved my client $30.00 because you have to pay for the expungement if one of the charges is dismissed by the State. The State wanted the drug evidence there so we had to wait until another trooper retrieved it from Perryville. The drugs were in a Garmin GPS box. The drugs included the co-defendant’s prescription bottle. The evidence from the trooper was that my client and his 4 passengers were at a music festival and had to rush to leave because of a storm. A passenger threw a cigarette out the window that struck the trooper’s car. He smelled marihuana when he got to our vehicle, but none was recovered. Everyone told the trooper they just threw things in each others’ bags. The closed GPS box was in my client’s duffel bag. When Mirandized and asked about it, he denied knowing it was there or what was in it. When the co-defendant, who was also found with suspected drugs on his person and in his duffel bag, was asked about the GPS box with his Adderal, he said he would not answer any questions about the contents of the box.
My client was sober per the trooper. No drugs on his person or in the passenger area of the truck except for another bottle of the co-defendant’s Adderal and the suspected drugs in the co-defendant’s wallet. NO GPS UNIT IN THE VEHICLE!!! They threw the GPS box away! I asked the trooper why the box was not printed since you had this ownership issue. He had no answer. The prosecutor then smugly asked why he didn’t have it DNA tested. At the end of the case the State argued to the judge’s dismay that my client must have been taking the Adderal to stay awake, and therefore had to participate in the mutual use and enjoyment of the drugs in the GPS box. At the end of that diatribe, the judge looked up and said there was no evidence of participation in the mutual use and enjoyment of any drug and that the prescription bottle belonged to the co-defendant, and he had no evidence to tie the GPS box and its contents to my client. Not guilty. The expungement for 4 not guilty counts was free. Maybe next time the prosecutor will postpone a case like this for DNA…. unless they throw the evidence away again.