The severity of an individual’s drug charge depends on the substances in question. It is going to be a matter of both the weight and penalty group of the drug. These elements can vary across a variety of drug and charges in Abilene and as such an Abilene drug attorney familiar with the various laws and local courts should be contacted as soon as possible. A knowledgeable attorney can help to guide the accused individual from the initial arrest all the way through the legal process and ensure that they have an experienced advocate by their side at every step of the way.
Initial Arrest
When an individual is charged with a common drug crime in Abilene, they are going to be arrested. If there is an arrest warrant put out on the individual, oftentimes, as soon as they are arrested, the police will try to interview them. It is important that an individual does not say anything in these cases and instead invoke their Fifth Amendment right and remain silent.
Police officers may sometimes mislead clients in order to try and get information out of them that can later be used against them by the prosecution. Law enforcement can lie to a client in order to get information, so it is important that an individual does not say anything without a lawyer present.
It is very important for an individual to understand their rights. A person has the Fifth Amendment right not to say anything and should contact a lawyer as soon as possible to begin building a defense, getting witnesses, and finding out where the weaknesses in the state’s case are when challenging a person’s drug charge in Abilene.
Where Charges are Filed
The district attorney’s office is the one that files the charges and pursues them. The various agencies, whether it be the Abilene Police Department, the Department of Public Safety, or the Sheriff’s office, may make the actual arrest, but it is the DA’s office in the state case and the US Attorney’s Office in a federal case that will make the decision on whether or not the case moves forward.
Assuming that the individual is arrested, there will be an arrest record. That arrest record would show what the individual is charged with. There would be no mention of a conviction until there is a trial or a guilty plea, but it will show up on the person’s background records soon after arrest.
Immediate Consequences of An Arrest
The initial short-term consequences that result from an Abilene drug charge, in most cases, is that the individual is going to go to jail. Second, the individual will be required to bond out of jail. The person may then be on a pretrial supervision even when they are out on a bond, so they could be drug tested and required to report to a probation officer even before they are found guilty.
The arrest is then on the person’s record. Oftentimes, they will find that employers are suspect on whether or not to continue employment. If they have some professional degree or professional license, like a nurse or a school teacher, that can affect their employment. Depending on where they are found with the drug, it could affect other issues.
If a person is found on campus, then that could affect a person’s relationship with the university and whether a person could get to stay on as an employee or as a student.