Have You Been Charged With Possession With Intent to Sell or Deliver? We Can Help Defend You Against Prosecutors. We Are Not Former Prosecutors, We Have Always Defended Floridians! Call Us To See How We Can FIGHT Your Charges (407) 408-0494

 

Possession With Intent to Sell or Deliver v. Simple Possession:

 

The charge of Possession with Intent to Sell or Deliver represents the mid-way point between a charge of simple possession or trafficking.

In most cases, there is an inference made from the amount of drugs actually found and the way it was packaged, proven through police officer testimony that you intended to sell or deliver the drugs. Most of the time, this will be in the form of circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecutor to insinuate that amount of drugs found are inconsistent with an amount that someone would normally have for personal use. Most of the time, there is no uniformity in these types of cases because they are all subjective and subject to interpretation. There is no bright-line rule, like an amount that would take simple possession over the threshold into trafficking.

Here’s some cases where charges of possession with intent to sell or deliver were overturned.

  1. Jackson v. State, 818 So.2d 539 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) the defendant’s conviction was reversed for possession of cocaine with intent to sell because the court found defendant’s possession of five grams of cocaine packaged in six ring baggies contained within a larger baggie where the quantity, even as packaged, was not so large as to imply intent to sell absent some additional evidence.
  2. In McCullough v. State, 541 So.2d 720 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) defendant’s possession of a film cannister containing 15 rocks of cocaine weighing 6.15 grams merely raised a suspicion of intent to sell and was not inconsistent with the defendant’s reasonable hypothesis of personal use.
  3. In Williams v. State, 573 So.2d 124 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) defendant’s possession of $521 was insufficient to show that the defendant had the intent to sell cocaine because it raised no more than suspicion to sell.
  4. In Harris v. State, 72 So.3d 804 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011), the defendant was arrested with 50 rocks of crack cocaine and charge with Possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine.  Officers testified that most ‘crack-heads’ only have 2 or 3 rocks at a time, and the defendant didn’t have a crack pipe to smoke the 50 rocks.  The defendant was convicted in the trial court, but the 4th District Court of Appeals struck down the conviction and reduced the charge to simple possession of cocaine due to the lack of evidence that the defendant ever attempted to sell or deliver the cocaine.

The totality of the circumstances heavily factors into the court’s decision regarding proof of with intent to sell or deliver, including testimony from “experts” in the field (normally police officers, but even a drug addict could qualify as an  expert for trial purposes). Finding drug paraphernalia with the narcotics could boost a defense as circumstantial evidence that the drugs were meant for personal use and that the defendant did not intend to sell or deliver.

The slightest distinctions could mean the difference between being charged with simple possession, or possession with intent to sell or deliver, or even more seriously, a trafficking charge with minimum mandatory prison time. This could in turn have a significant impact on the penalties you will be subject to. The Modarres Law Firm is experienced in defending against possession cases and will be by your side, fighting for you every step of the way. Call us at (407) 408-0494 and you will be connected directly to an experienced attorney, not a paralegal or secretary. 

 

 

 

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