Common Criminal Defenses to Marijuana Charges in Idaho

DEFENSE #1. The marijuana belongs to someone else. The State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the marijuana is yours. Often officers will try and make deals on the roadside such as "tell me its your and you wont get in trouble." This is simply not true, its a tactic they use to identify who the marijuana belongs to. If you are ever in a situation on the roadside, never admit that the marijuana belongs to you. If there is a question about who's marijuana belongs to who, its better to let the court try and figure it out. At trial you can always argue its someone elses. 

DEFENSE #2. Lack of intent. You didn't mean to possess the drugs can be a very effective defense. This often arises when there are drugs found in a car without your knowledge. In Idaho every crime needs to have an act with intent. For instance, if you are in a rental car and there are drugs under the seat and a drug dog alerts to them on a traffic stop, you have a defense that you didn't intend to possess any drugs because you didn't know they were there. 

DEFENSE #3. You didn't know they were drugs. With today's edibles, sometimes drugs are ingested by mistake. Or possessed by mistake. If you thought the drugs were gummy bears and they turn out to be marijuana, that's a defense to the charge because you didn't know the gummy's contained marijuana. 

DEFENSE #4. The drugs were seized in violation of your 4th Amendment rights against search and seizure. This normally takes a skilled attorney in criminal law and procedure to address. Everyone has a right against unlawful searches and seizures by law enforcement. However, durring a traffic stop this can be a close call. But, many cases are thrown out or suppressed based on violations of law enforcement durring the stop or arrest of the person.  

DEFENSE #5.  Screwups testing or holding the drugs by law enforcement. When law enforcement seizes drugs they must test them to make sure they are in fact marijuana. They normally do this by sending them to the crimelab. Often records are not kept well. The drugs sometimes dont get tested. Or they are tested and not positive for marijuana. In these cases we can argue that the drugs are either lost, misplaced, or not drugs at all.