I was riding around with a number of friends from school. We were pulled over because the police knew the driver was suspended. When the police got us out of the car they found a bag of marijuana on the floor and burnt roach in the ashtray. They charged all of us with possession. I wasn’t using the marijuana and the bag on the floor wasn’t mine. How can I be charged?
Based on your explanation, you are not guilty of possession. However, you have put yourself in a difficult position. Your proximity to the drugs places you in an area of high suspicion. The police don’t know who dropped the bag of marijuana on the floor. They also don’t know how old the burnt roach in the ashtray is. It’s possible they will not be able to obtain a conviction against anyone in the car because the drugs may have been left in the car prior to your friends’ use. You might expect the police to offer someone in the car a deal if they will inform on the party who owned the drugs. Unless someone claims the drugs they might try to prosecute everyone. This should not be successful as the burden is on them to prove beyond a reasonable doubt whose drugs were found in the car. Simply being in the car where the drugs are found is not sufficient. This is a case where you should obtain a lawyer who is very experienced with drug cases and fight the charge aggressively.
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