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I bought some drugs on the street and the police arrested me but not the guy I bought from. What gives?
Unless he just managed to escape, probably either one of two things has happened. Either the seller coincidentally happened to be the snitch of one of the officers, and he prefers to keep him out on the street to help him in the future, or the seller was an agent of the police. If the second of these two situations is the true one, you may have a way to avoid a conviction on this case.
Everyone accused of a crime has the right to subpoena all witnesses to the crime to call in his defense. If the seller was an agent of the police, (meaning that they asked him to sell drugs to you) they will want to protect his identity. There is nothing wrong with using “confidential informants.” It is done all the time, but “confidential police agents” who witness the crime happen don’t exist. Your right to subpoena witnesses in your defense is a constitutional right. Your lawyer will want to bring a motion to discover who the seller was. If a judge agrees that they have to disclose his identity so your lawyer can interview and subpoena him, the police may prefer to dismiss your charges rather than do so. Since this defense is based upon a Federal Constitutional right, this strategy applies in all states, though the degree to which the Courts honor this motion to discover the police agent may vary. It is certainly worth talking to a skilled lawyer.
(Updated August 30, 2007) |
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