Our client was pulled over for speeding. The officer came up to the vehicle and stated that he could smell the odor of marijuana in the vehicle. Our client made the mistake of informing the officer that he had just recently smoked and that there was THC in the vehicle.
The officer searched the vehicle with the client’s permission and located enough THC to charge the client with a felony for Possession With Intent to Deliver as well as Operating With a Restricted Controlled Substance. A blood draw was completed and the client did have Delta 9 (the active ingredient in THC) in his blood. At that point, the government no longer needed to prove impairment. These cases can become very difficult, especially for an inexperienced criminal defense attorney. Luckily, the client hired Chirafisi & Verhoff.
After pouring over the video and the reports in the case, we noticed that the client said he had smoked, but not specificially when. Further, after reviewing the videotape of the field sobriety tests, it was clear that the client passed those tests and the officer lacked probable cause to arrest him for that offense.
We didn’t get to fight as much on the next part as we thought: before we filed the motion challenging the blood draw, the prosecution reached out and informed us that he was willing to amend the OWI-Restricted Controlled Substance to a Reckless Driving.
The client was thrilled, as not only did the OWI charge disappear, but the drug charge was reduced and will be expunged from his record in 12 months.