My office just finished representing an individual who was charged with Leader of a Drug Trafficking Network, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-3, Distributing a Controlled Dangerous Substance, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5B(13), Distributing Paraphernalia, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:36-3, Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10A(1) and Sale of Toxic Chemical For Intoxication, in violation N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10.4C. If the Defendant was convicted of being a Leader of Drug Trafficking Network he could be sentenced to life in prison; which would be equivalent a homicide conviction.
The facts behind this case are straight forward. The Defendant owned a gas station where in which they would sell synthetic marijuana, also known as K2 or Spice. When local law enforcement agents became aware of this, they set up several undercover buys so that they could obtain a search warrant for the Defendant’s gas station. Based on the undercover buys, the State was able to receive the said search warrant. After the search warrant was conducted, the defendant was arrested and charged with all of the aforementioned offenses. In addition, law enforcement also seized a large sum of money from the Defendant’s gas station and home.
Synthetic Marijuana has just recently been added by the Legislature to the list of controlled dangerous substances. In addition, due to the complexity of the chemical compounds used in synthetic marijuana not all “types” of synthetic marijuana were banned at once. Therefore, my office anxiously awaited the official laboratory results for the marijuana seized. Once it was received, we quickly realized that the State would face some serious hurtles proving that the substance seized was actually listed as a controlled dangerous substance at the time of the alleged sales. Geared with this information, we were able to convince the State to agree to dismiss the leader of a narcotics network, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of toxic chemicals charge and amend the distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, to a possession of synthetic marijuana with the intent to distribute. So the Defendant went from facing a life in prison with a twenty-five year parole ineligibility to a probationary sentence.
The Law Offices of Marshall, Bonus, Proetta & Oliveris an experienced Bergen County Criminal Defense Firm with a long track record of success. If you or someone you know has been charged with a possession of cocaine, distribution of heroin, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute charge or any other offense for that matter we can help. Please contact any one of our Bergen County Offices for a free initial consultation with any one of our eight criminal defense attorneys.