Heroin Possession Charge Lawyer Glendale-Whitefish Bay office near Bayshore Mall

How do I get out of a heroin charge in Glendale?

Heroin is one of the only drugs when a first-time possession can land you with a Class I felony. Your maximum penalty for a first-time offense is three and a half years in prison as well as a maximum fine of $10,000, or both. Selling heroin, on the other hand, is a Class F felony, which has maximum penalties of up to twelve and a half years in prison, a $25,000 fine, or both. These charges tend to be so harsh because lawmakers are trying to deter people from using heroin.

In the war on drugs over the last 30 years, it is important to note how serious a problem heroin has become and therefore how serious judges and prosecutors take these charges. A lot of times, what courts see are overdoses where someone had to receive Narcan and the courts and prosecutors are theoretically there to make sure that everybody gets the help that they need. The law, and execution of the law, however, does not necessarily reflect that same goal. 

It is all too common that people turn to heroin after coming off of very legitimate prescription medications after a pretty serious injury. Painkillers are incredibly expensive, and it is much cheaper to purchase heroin to achieve the same high than it is to purchase other prescription medications. 

If you are pulled over in Glendale and police end up searching your car and finding a baggie of heroin, there may be a bunch of situations where that heroin can get thrown out. In order for a police officer to pull you over, they must have what is called reasonable suspicion to do so. This means that they have to believe that a crime has been committed, or is about to be committed, or is in the process of being committed. For example, if you are speeding or swerving between lanes, they would have grounds to pull you over. However, without reasonable suspicion to pull you over, that stop is not legal. Once the police pull you over, they have to somehow justify extending their investigation from a stop for speeding into a drug investigation. Be very mindful that a police officer can always ask you if they can search your car and if you give them permission that is all that they need. As long as you do not give the police permission to search your car, police have to have a reason to search it. If they do not have a reason and search your car anyway, this would be a violation of your constitutional right to be protected from illegal police search and seizure. 

Heroin is taken incredibly seriously in the State of Wisconsin. While the purpose of the criminal justice system is to rehabilitate and make sure that people are not committing these crimes again, putting somebody in the position of a felony conviction as well as prison time does not exactly help to rehabilitate them, especially on a first offense.