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Defending Against Fairfax Drug Charges

A Fairfax drug lawyer in these cases needs to have the experience necessary to be aware of tricks law enforcement or prosecutors will try to employ in order to sustain a conspiracy conviction. The law involving conspiracy can be quite abstract and challenging for an attorney who is just engaging with the practice for the first time. The most important quality is experience.

The second most important quality is being aggressive, because an attorney who is handling these cases needs to be willing to really dig in and challenge the government’s evidence. There are many cases where the conspiracy is based on a “he said, she said” situation and a lawyer cannot accept that lying down. Your Fairfax drug lawyer has to be able to get in there and fight for you. The penalties for drug charges in Virginia are strict, so make sure you give yourself a strong chance by hiring an experienced lawyer for your defense.

Common Drug-Arrests in Fairfax

Drug offenses can be charged in many ways. Some of the most common drug-possession charges were never the target charge, but rather came about after some other crime such as a traffic stop or an assault. Frequently what happens is the drug possession is discovered during the course of an investigation for possession of something illegal. That is how many drug-possession cases in Fairfax come about. It is very unusual for the police to target a person for the crime of drug possession. Most of it comes about while investigating something else.

Consenting to Police Searches

If Fairfax police officers ask to search you or your vehicle, it is absolutely within your rights to refuse consent. If a police officer stops you on the street and asks for consent to search you, you should deny that request even if you do not have anything illegal on you. The police cannot just go around asking to search people.

One of the best ways people can protect themselves against criminal charges is to deny police officers the consent to search them or their vehicles. Once you consent to a search and they find something on you, they will charge you. Someone who has granted the police consent to conduct a search will not likely have a very good chance against the prosecution.

However, a Fairfax drug lawyer may be able to establish that the consent was given under some kind of duress.

Where Fairfax Drug Charges Are Heard

Fairfax drug-offense cases are always heard in the Fairfax County Courthouse, which is at 4110 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax. Whether a drug case is a jury or bench trial depends on the level of the case. If it is a misdemeanor then it will be tried in the General District Court. There is no jury trial available in the General District Court. If it is a felony case, especially the felony of possession with intent to distribute, the prosecution will be very unlikely to waive their right to a jury.

Additionally, having an experienced and knowledgeable drug lawyer in Fairfax through the process will likely increase your chances at mitigating potential damage to your record.

Duration of Drug Cases in Fairfax

If it is a misdemeanor case in Fairfax it will almost always take one day. If it is a felony case, most of the time those trials take one day but it always depends upon the nature of the evidence, including how many witnesses the government might need to call. Sometimes they can drag on for multiple days, but in almost all cases you are looking at a one-day trial.