Drug selling risks are high for Virginia prosecutions, convictions, and stiff sentencing

Drug selling (DS) of the illegal kind cannot be explained logically other than if a business venture (unless guided to help others with beneficial yet unapproved medicine, for instance psychedelics) with a sufficient consideration of the involved risks of criminal prosecution and conviction, violence, and damage to those who consume the product. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have sometimes pointed out in sentencing that my client took such a business risk, and that getting busted was enough for my client to shift their life gears and path. Of course, DS can appear so lucrative as to have recidivism teamed with plenty of people willing to fill the shoes of anyone removed from their marketplace. (At least some DSers even continue their trade while in jail or prison.) Where the lucrative demand exists, the marketplace will supply those willing to meet the demand.

Is a Virginia criminal lawyer lawfully permitted to advise people on the safer and more successful approach to drug selling?

A Virginia criminal lawyer — as with lawyers nationwide — is not permitted to advise an illegal drug selling person how to ply their trade. At the same time, attorneys are permitted to advise their clients about their Fifth and Sixth Constitutional Amendment right to remain silent, their Fourth Amendment right to decline to consent to searches, their Sixth Amendment Constitutional right to an attorney, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to Due Process. Once a person is under police investigation or is being prosecuted, a Virginia criminal lawyer is permitted to proceed with a full court press in pursing the defendant’s best defense, within the bounds of the law and the lawyers rules of professional conduct.

Involvement in illegal DS brings you exposure to harm on all sides

When involved in illegal drug selling, do not expect any natural allies nor forces to protect you against police investigations, arrests, prosecution, conviction, snitching/ratting/informing/cooperating against you, turf and market share violence, robber, violence over allegations of poor quality product, nor fallout if the product is dangerously adulterated (for instance with fentanyl). Even your otherwise closest friend or DS associate cannot necessarily be relied on to save your skin at the expense of theirs. Each deal with a new person might be a law enforcement officer (LEO) sting. Each purchase from a new wholesaler might be a setup.

What do I do when Virginia police dangle offers to work with them?

With all of that said, if you get prosecuted for illegal drug selling, it is time for you to obtain a qualified lawyer to fully defend you. Do not be surprised when a Virginia police officer dangles in front of you the possibility of reducing the harm from a DS prosecution, with an offer to “work with the police” to inform on others and to set up police-controlled sales and buys. Often even if the DS suspect or defendant by that point has a lawyer, a Virginia police officer and assistant commonwealth’s attorney / prosecutor may decline a formal cooperation deal and may decline to reduce any such agreement to writing, which stands in stark contrast to the common federal prosecutor / Assistant United States attorney practice of doing both. Do not be surprised when Virginia police make it sound like your time frame is tight to decide whether to work with them (perhaps even before you have a chance to consult with an attorney).One tactic is, soon after the DS arrest, for police to say that detective so-and-so is available to talk with them about cooperating, but for a limited time only. While I encourage those wanting to snitch to go to a lawyer other than myself (I relish drug defense, but not assisting snitching), I also recognize that if you do not at the very least have a well written agreement with the right prosecutor to immunize your disclosures of your past and even ongoing criminal conduct to law enforcement and prosecutors, that can boomerang against you. If you engage in a series of controlled deals for police without a promise or even forecast of possible outcomes from doing so — and without assurances of protecting your physical safety —  that can be more distasteful than having a written deal at the front end. None of this is legal advice — just as nothing on this website is legal advice — while this is food for thought to discuss with your Virginia criminal defense lawyer.

Is my Virginia drug selling case winnable?

“I got caught redhanded, so I need to cave in” may be one’s first thought when arrested for illegal drug selling. A qualified Virginia drug lawyer can tell you about the possibilities of your case. Your Virginia criminal defense analysis calls for including considering whether your Fourth Amendment rights were violated through any illegal searches and seizures of you, your property and contraband; whether the police violated your Fifth, Sixth and Miranda rights to remain silent, whether police violated your right to an attorney, whether your Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights have been violated, and whether the contraband possession definition of knowledge, dominion and control will serve to your benefit, on top of being able to attack issues of contraband chain of custody and accuracy or not of testing by a drug chemist, and challenging the admissibility and reliability of the chemist’s testimony. Never give up and never give in when charged with a Virginia criminal offense.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz has successfully defended hundreds of people charged with alleged Virginia felony, misdemeanor and DUI offenses. No matter how non-culpable or culpable you think you are, you merit a great defense. Call us at 703-383-1100, Info@KazJustice.com, or (text) 5710406-2768 to schedule your free in-person initial confidential consultation with Virginia criminal defense lawyer Jon Katz about your court-pending case.