Marijuana pot defenses

Typical defenses for Marijuana cases before trial include:

Motion to suppress – which means in plain English – Judge, the police violated my rights.  Now you have to throw out the weed so the jury doesn’t hear about it.

The police violated your rights.

It was an illegal search.

It was an illegal seizure.

The search and/or seizure was done without a search warrant.

At trial, the government will have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt the elements of the offense.  Generally, at trial, you can claim (through cross examination of witnesses or by taking the stand yourself) that:

You didn’t know anything about the pot.

It wasn’t yours.

You did not exercise dominion and control over the weed.  (That generally means that you weren’t close to it).

Remember that the defendant does not have to prove anything.  We just have to raise some reasonable doubt.

Every case is different. Unfortunately, the truth is that in some cases there is absolutely no defense.