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Citation for possession of marijauna, but there was no marijuana in my possession

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NeedHelp132

Junior Member
I live in Washington State. I was over at a friend's house. We smoked marijuana about five minutes before my friend's mom came home. We smoked inside and she smelled it immediately. She's kind of crazy so she called the police. I flushed the marijuana down the toilet. When the police came I got a citation for Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphenelia. First of all, since I flushed the marijuana down the toilet, there was no marijuana on my possession. I did tell them that I flushed it down the toilet, but how can I get charged for possession if there is no physical evidence of marijuana? The other thing is the drug paraphenelia was not mine, it was my friends, but we both got charged for it. Can I win this case?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 


NORML

Junior Member
As I take it did your friend not admit that the paraphernalia was not his. If so then you will be charged. As for the destruction of evidence is a third degree felony. Destruction of evidence is also known as "Spoliation". Spoliation has two consequences: first the act is criminal by statute and may result in fines and incarceration for the parties who engaged in the spoliation, secondly case law has established that proceedings which might have been altered by the spoliation may be interpreted under a spoliation inference. The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a finder of fact can draw from a party's destruction of a document or thing that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable civil or criminal proceeding: The finder of fact can review all evidence uncovered in as strong a light as possible against the spoliator and in favor of the opposing party.

The theory of the spoliation inference is that when a party destroys evidence, it may be reasonable to infer that the party had consciousness of guilt or other motivation to avoid the evidence. Therefore, the factfinder may conclude that the evidence would have been unfavorable to the spoliator. Some jurisdictions have recognized a spoliation tort action, which allows the victim of destruction of evidence to file a separate tort action against a spoliator.

Spoliation is often an issue in the context where a person claims he has been injured by a defective product which he then discarded or lost. In that circumstance, the defendant manufacturer or distributor may move to dismiss the case on the basis of spoliation (instead of just having to rely on the plaintiff's usual burden of proof - plaintiff's witnesses e.g. cannot make up for the lost product because of the spoliation exception).
 

The Occultist

Senior Member
I live in Washington State. I was over at a friend's house. We smoked marijuana about five minutes before my friend's mom came home. We smoked inside and she smelled it immediately. She's kind of crazy so she called the police. I flushed the marijuana down the toilet. When the police came I got a citation for Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphenelia. First of all, since I flushed the marijuana down the toilet, there was no marijuana on my possession. I did tell them that I flushed it down the toilet, but how can I get charged for possession if there is no physical evidence of marijuana? The other thing is the drug paraphenelia was not mine, it was my friends, but we both got charged for it. Can I win this case?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
You admitted flushing it down the toilet, which means you admitted to having it in your possession. That's...a no brainer.

As for the paraphernalia, possession is NOT the same as ownership. Even if your friend declared that it belonged to him, you can still be charged with possession of it.
 

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