My friend is being charged with posesession?

Question

my friend dropped his wallet and he didnt know there was a TINY amount of marijuana and someone found it and brought it to the police station. He called the police to see if someone turned it in and they said yes come down with a parent and get it so he did but when they gave it back they said we have a problem and showed him what they found so they finger printed him and gave him a court case and what not. What i want to know is does anyone know what he could possible get punishment wise. He is under 18 so he is still a juvenile.

Answer 1

If he dropped his wallet (lost) there's no proof he put the marijuana in it. Someone else could've put the marijuana in his wallet. Tell him to plead not guilty & hire a lawyer.

Answer 2

all depends on what state you're in.

Answer 3

not a big deal

Answer 4

How do they know if the weed was his?

If he dropped his wallet in a public area, which I guess he must have if someone turned it in, anyone might have put that weed in the wallet, including the person who turned it in.

Maybe that person has a sick sense of humor and wanted to frame an innocent person.

Yes, yes, I know; it's unlikely, BUT it seems to me that it would be very difficult for the police to prove it was your friend's.

If it was a tiny bit of weed, I am surprised the police would have even bothered with finger printing him and going through the process of filing formal charges.

In short, I would guess a halfway decent attorney could get the whole thing dropped based on what you have posted here.

Answer 5

A fine in the range of 400$ and court costs.I doubt any probation or jailtime.

Answer 6

The punishment for a juvenile with an amount of marijuana small enough to fit into a wallet is next to nothing in MOST states. That doesn't mean that will apply in the state you live in.

But I would recommend your buddy get a lawyer. This case will never stand up in court. Too many people possessed the wallet before he got it back. The potential amount of people who had access to it is endless. Who knows who put it in there??

Answer 7

SWATorNOT and Halfshaft are right! I am surprised they charged him.

Tell your friend (and his parents!) to hire a criminal defense attorney asap. If the details you provided are accurate, any attorney worth his/her license should easily get the charge thrown out.

If for some unimaginable reason the state won't dismiss the charges right away-or if your friend/parents can't afford an attorney and have to go with a public defender-they need to INSIST on taking this all the way to a trial! (Jury trial, not a bench trial.) I don't know of any state that wants to invest the expense and labor required to put together a trial presentation against a young kid with a small amount of marijuana who wasn't even technically "caught" with it! It may get nerve racking and come right down to the last couple of days before trial, but I can virtually guarantee the state will back down.

Also tell them NOT to communicate with the police regarding this matter any more. That's (part of) what they pay lawyers for.

Answer 8

There is no way that I would charge someone in these exact circumstances, but let me take a crack at this.  The amount of marijuana that would fit in a wallet probably would not concern a court enough to even mess with setting a court date.  Tell your friend to hire a lawyer and see if the lawyer can talk to the prosecutor.  I can't see this case ever holding up in court, but stranger things have happened.  It is possible that the prosecutor may want your friend to do some community service or something like that.  If this is the case, your friend could either take it or fight it.  The up side is that he is a juvenile.  So, whatever the outcome is it will not show on his adult record.  Good luck!