After executing a search warrant, a joint task force of law enforcement in Green County arrested our client for a marijuana grow operation in his residence. The case generated a fair amount of media publicity at the time of the arrest. The client interviewed several lawyers before selecting Chirafisi & Verhoff. He had two primary concerns. He wanted to avoid any jail time, and he wanted to avoid a felony conviction. Given the amount of evidence against the client, including a confession, Attorney Verhoff had his work cut out for him. Meeting the client's goals was even more challenging because the search warrant was executed properly, and Attorney Verhoff had no legal means of attacking the admissibility of the evidence. During initial meetings, the prosecutor was adamant that a felony conviction and jail time were required. But our lawyers did not give up on the case. In the end, Attorney Verhoff negotiated an agreement by which the client would be convicted and serve probation on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. At the conclusion of probation, the felony charge of manufacturing THC would be dismissed. And the agreement included a provision that the client would not be required to serve any jail time. Needless to say, the client was satisfied with the results.
Felony Drug Manufacturing/Maintaining Charges Dismissed in Rock County
What started as a seemingly benign "unlawful fishing" case rapidly turned into a multi-count, felony drug case for one recent Chirafisi & Verhoff client. DNR wardens contacted the client on suspicion that he was illegally trapping and transporting minnows. After contacting him, the wardens asked if they could go to his property to "have a look around." The client felt pressure and consented. Once on the property, authorities smelled the strong odor of marijuana coming from a shed. They then obtained search warrants and located a marijuana grow operation. After authorities took the client to jail, prosecutors charged him with two felony crimes, manufacturing THC and maintaining a drug trafficking dwelling. The client was particularly concerned because a felony conviction would jeopardize his long-time job. Through the course of negotiations, Attorney Verhoff was able to point out evidence to prosecutors to support his argument that while the client grew marijuana, he did so only for personal use to manage pain symptoms. Ultimately, Attorney Verhoff was able to convince the prosecution to dismiss the felony charges and allow the client to be convicted of low-level, misdemeanor possession of marijuana charges.
Manufacturing THC- All Evidence Suppressed- Case Dismissed- Dane County
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.