ByondFrustrated
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
OK - here's the deal - April 2009, this kid got in trouble for hitting is girlfriend, when the cops came to his home, they found a LARGE marijuana grow operation - he has a federal govt job, and in order for him not to lose his job - he agreed to make a buy of an ounce of pot in the presence of an under PA State Trooper., needless to say this undercover buy went down at my house in July of 2009.
On Jan 6th 2010, 2 plain clothes (a man and a woman) PA State Troopers came to my door at 8:30 am and asked to speak with my husband (who sold the pot to the CI and UC Trooper in July) when the plain clothed officers came to the door they introduced themselves to me as my husband’s "friends" and asked to speak with him - I asked who they were and all they gave me were first names, and said again that they were "friends" of his. I stated to them "I don't know you, how do you know my husband?" they said again, "We're his friends Mike and Jen" - we were dog sitting at the time, and the dog we were sitting was trying to get out of the door, I called my husband over to get the dog, they said his full name, he said "yes" then they announced "Pennsylvania State Police, we have a warrant for your arrest"
He said "OK, and let me come out on the porch” they said "No" and then walked into our home, pushing me out of the way. Then they stated "we smell the weed" and all of a sudden there were at least 8 uniformed officers in my living room.
When they were standing in the living room, one of the officers noticed behind our TV a small bag of weed, and said "I see it right here!" then they handcuffed my husband and asked to search the house. My Husband responded "Do you have a warrant?" to which they answered "No, but we can get one, it'll take a while, but we will wait here until it comes, then wait until your 7 yr old daughter comes home to initiate it, and we will take both of you to jail, and send her to Children and youth services" My husband was so scared at after they said that he agreed to sign a consent form - to which then the Troopers went thru our whole house and found approx 1lb of schwag, a baggie filled with roaches, papers, a scale, baggies, a bong, and in the basement a 8 ft grow tent set up (not in use) and some planter pots with dirt in them, and various chemicals used to grow plants. (Again none of this stuff was in use, just down there in the basement in a closed room behind an old dryer)
We hired a lawyer, who at first said that hubby should only get house arrest, possibly probation - he told us that his firm is in good standing with all the local Judges and that we would make out well.
The lawyer had hubby waive his right to a preliminary hearing, and we've gone before the central court judge twice already. It seems as though the ADA assigned to the case really wants Hubby to do State jail time - which is really disturbing b/c we feel as though all he should be facing is charges for the Undercover Sale - since the search of our home happened without a warrant and the consent was signed under distress.
Can someone help me figure this out, and by the way - the ADA hasn't given over any evidence to our lawyer, they said he can come into their office and look at the file, but wouldn't be submitting any evidence to him.
At our last hearing, our lawyer did a "Scheduling Hearing" requesting the judge to mandate the ADA produce their evidence by 3-19 - when we asked our lawyer why it's taking the ADA so long to submit their evidence, our lawyer said "they probably need time to gather their surveillance, they didn't just pull your house out of hat" - WTH? Did he not pay attention in the beginning, when we told him how this all came about - Hubby got set up by a wife-beater who didn't want to face up to what he did.
Anyone reading this, please respond to me with you opinion.. We've given the lawyer our electric bill statements for the past 2 yrs, which not one has gone over $75/mnth - to show as evidence there was not a grow operation here - we just had some weed, and sold it to a close group of friends, just this one time, a person we thought was a "friend" was really a RAT.
I really need an opinion from someone out side of our circle - someone to look at this story and tell me if we are getting screwed over by the lawyer/system.
Hubby has completely quit smoking weed (big time will power) started going to AA mtgs, and signed himself up for DATS (drug and alcohol treatment) all on his own - no one told him he had to - just to prove that he's not a bad guy and that he made a mistake....his "gravity score" is a 1, because he has no prior offenses - so we just can't understand why the ADA would be pushing for him to do anything like State time - by what I see - if anything he should plead to a Misdemeanor for selling less than 35 grams and pay a $5,000 fine (which is the statute in our state per the NORML website)
He is completely town up about all this and it's ruining our lives - he can't get a "good" job, other than working construction (like a slave) for min wage - it just sucks and I would like someone to tell me what is wrong with this picture??
Any help, thoughts, or ideas would be greatly appreciated - I will answer any questions you may have - I just need some help so that Hubby doesn't go to jail, we make an awesome family unit and couldn't do it without him.
OK - here's the deal - April 2009, this kid got in trouble for hitting is girlfriend, when the cops came to his home, they found a LARGE marijuana grow operation - he has a federal govt job, and in order for him not to lose his job - he agreed to make a buy of an ounce of pot in the presence of an under PA State Trooper., needless to say this undercover buy went down at my house in July of 2009.
On Jan 6th 2010, 2 plain clothes (a man and a woman) PA State Troopers came to my door at 8:30 am and asked to speak with my husband (who sold the pot to the CI and UC Trooper in July) when the plain clothed officers came to the door they introduced themselves to me as my husband’s "friends" and asked to speak with him - I asked who they were and all they gave me were first names, and said again that they were "friends" of his. I stated to them "I don't know you, how do you know my husband?" they said again, "We're his friends Mike and Jen" - we were dog sitting at the time, and the dog we were sitting was trying to get out of the door, I called my husband over to get the dog, they said his full name, he said "yes" then they announced "Pennsylvania State Police, we have a warrant for your arrest"
He said "OK, and let me come out on the porch” they said "No" and then walked into our home, pushing me out of the way. Then they stated "we smell the weed" and all of a sudden there were at least 8 uniformed officers in my living room.
When they were standing in the living room, one of the officers noticed behind our TV a small bag of weed, and said "I see it right here!" then they handcuffed my husband and asked to search the house. My Husband responded "Do you have a warrant?" to which they answered "No, but we can get one, it'll take a while, but we will wait here until it comes, then wait until your 7 yr old daughter comes home to initiate it, and we will take both of you to jail, and send her to Children and youth services" My husband was so scared at after they said that he agreed to sign a consent form - to which then the Troopers went thru our whole house and found approx 1lb of schwag, a baggie filled with roaches, papers, a scale, baggies, a bong, and in the basement a 8 ft grow tent set up (not in use) and some planter pots with dirt in them, and various chemicals used to grow plants. (Again none of this stuff was in use, just down there in the basement in a closed room behind an old dryer)
We hired a lawyer, who at first said that hubby should only get house arrest, possibly probation - he told us that his firm is in good standing with all the local Judges and that we would make out well.
The lawyer had hubby waive his right to a preliminary hearing, and we've gone before the central court judge twice already. It seems as though the ADA assigned to the case really wants Hubby to do State jail time - which is really disturbing b/c we feel as though all he should be facing is charges for the Undercover Sale - since the search of our home happened without a warrant and the consent was signed under distress.
Can someone help me figure this out, and by the way - the ADA hasn't given over any evidence to our lawyer, they said he can come into their office and look at the file, but wouldn't be submitting any evidence to him.
At our last hearing, our lawyer did a "Scheduling Hearing" requesting the judge to mandate the ADA produce their evidence by 3-19 - when we asked our lawyer why it's taking the ADA so long to submit their evidence, our lawyer said "they probably need time to gather their surveillance, they didn't just pull your house out of hat" - WTH? Did he not pay attention in the beginning, when we told him how this all came about - Hubby got set up by a wife-beater who didn't want to face up to what he did.
Anyone reading this, please respond to me with you opinion.. We've given the lawyer our electric bill statements for the past 2 yrs, which not one has gone over $75/mnth - to show as evidence there was not a grow operation here - we just had some weed, and sold it to a close group of friends, just this one time, a person we thought was a "friend" was really a RAT.
I really need an opinion from someone out side of our circle - someone to look at this story and tell me if we are getting screwed over by the lawyer/system.
Hubby has completely quit smoking weed (big time will power) started going to AA mtgs, and signed himself up for DATS (drug and alcohol treatment) all on his own - no one told him he had to - just to prove that he's not a bad guy and that he made a mistake....his "gravity score" is a 1, because he has no prior offenses - so we just can't understand why the ADA would be pushing for him to do anything like State time - by what I see - if anything he should plead to a Misdemeanor for selling less than 35 grams and pay a $5,000 fine (which is the statute in our state per the NORML website)
He is completely town up about all this and it's ruining our lives - he can't get a "good" job, other than working construction (like a slave) for min wage - it just sucks and I would like someone to tell me what is wrong with this picture??
Any help, thoughts, or ideas would be greatly appreciated - I will answer any questions you may have - I just need some help so that Hubby doesn't go to jail, we make an awesome family unit and couldn't do it without him.
