Drug cases many times involve the execution of a search warrant for defendant's homes. In this particular case, the client’s residence was searched with a signed warrant for an alleged marijuana grow operation. That warrant was based on a confidential informant’s statement to law enforcement that the defendant was growing pot. Law enforcement then went and reviewed electric bills for the defendant’s residence which showed electric usage rates which were almost double of other homes in the area. Based on that information, law enforcement sought, and were granted by judge, a warrant to search the premises.
Once on the premises, law enforcement seized over 3,000 grams of marijuana, multiple marijuana plants and digital scales. The defendant was charged with a felony that could have resulted in a felony conviction and possible prison sentence.
The defendant was referred to Chirafisi & Verhoff in an effort to try and find a way to beat the case. Once the attorneys reviewed the search warrants (there were 2 in this case) they found the weakness in the State's case. The warrant contained information that was stale (the information was old and there was no way that it could be relied upon) and it also had information from a confidential informant which was useless and could not be considered reliable.
Chirafisi & Verhoff then filed a motion to suppress all the evidence obtained from the faulty search warrant. After multiple briefs, and argument to the Court, the Judge agreed with our arguments and suppressed all the evidence. The Government shortly thereafter dismissed the entire case.