How to Win Your Drug Court Case
BY EX NARCOTICS OFFICE BARRY COOPER
I resigned as a top narcotics officer to become an activist and criminal defense expert witness. Today I help people understand how to win a drug case and defend themselves in the criminal justice system.
If you are facing drug charges, it is critical to understand how the court process works and what steps occur between arrest and trial.
To win your drug case, you must understand exactly where you are in the criminal court process.
Most drug prosecutions follow seven key steps from arrest to plea bargain or trial.
Lawyers RARELY teach their clients these steps. If you are also worried about drug testing during a case, you should learn how to pass a drug test during legal proceedings. Most of them want their clients to be confused and afraid. This allows them to pressure their client into a premature plea bargain.
Learn these 7 steps and you will never “wonder” or “feel lost” during the horrible ordeal of navigating your drug case.
Step 1: The Arrest
Being arrested can be a traumatic experience. I have personally been arrested and jailed nine times and raided twice, so I understand what defendants experience during an arrest. During my career as a narcotics officer, I arrested thousands of people for drug-related offenses. So I know how to behave during an arrest.
Never physically resist law enforcement during an arrest. If you get violent, they know what to do with you. In fact, most American officers instigate aggression for the purpose of producing an adrenaline rush that comes when using force.
Never get aggressive with the cops.
I am sorry you suffered an arrest. I can help you through the trauma.
Step 2: Posting Bond
It is very important to understand how a bond works after an arrest. The bond amount is not the same as what you pay a bail bondsman to get out of jail.
To get out of jail, a bonds person normally charges 10% to 20% of the bond amount. If you do not appear for court, the bonds person must pay the entire bond amount to the court.
Instead of paying the entire bond amount, most bond persons send a bounty hunter to arrest the defendant and forcefully bring them to court.
It is very important to never be late or miss any of your court dates.
Many defendants are also required to pass drug screenings while out on bond, so learning how to pass a urine drug test can be extremely important.
Step 3: Lawyering Up
A Public Defender can be just as good as a “high-dollar” lawyer. In fact, as part of local court rules, most expensive lawyers are required to take a certain number of public defender cases each month.
If you have not hired a lawyer yet, do not rush into hiring the first one you meet.
Request a public defender and use your money to hire Criminal Defense Expert Witnesses. This way you can have a defense team like the rich and famous.
If you want the best chance of winning your drug case, your defense team should include more than just one attorney. Over 2 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States and all of them had “just a lawyer” so there! That is 2 million reasons why having only a lawyer does not work.
You can always fire the public defender and hire whomever you choose but first, try your luck by requesting a public defender. You may draw an ace!
Step 4: Obtaining the Discovery (evidence)
Every person charged with a crime in the United States has the legal right to review the evidence the government plans to use against them.
The government is required to allow the defendant, their lawyer and their experts to review the evidence for mistakes and to plan a defense.
If you want to win your drug case, it’s very important to obtain all the discovery (videos, police reports, drug analysis, search warrant papers, dispatch logs, radio traffic logs, K9 records).
After obtaining the discovery, you, your lawyer and Barry Cooper will review the evidence and identify weaknesses that will be used in Step 5 to get your case dismissed (suppressed.)
Reviewing discovery is time-intensive and can require days of focus.
If drug testing evidence is involved in your case, it is important to understand how drug tests work and how they detect substances.
I have reviewed the discovery in over 300 cases and I always find mistakes.
Step 5: Suppression Hearing
This is the step that precedes the jury trial. If a person wins this step, they are free to go.
Because many juries tend to trust law enforcement testimony during a trial, it’s very important to win the suppression hearing.
A suppression hearing looks like this:
The judge, prosecutor, police, and your lawyer form a triad against the defendant.
The judge claims he is impartial but that’s not true. The judge works for the government who is prosecuting you so he does have a huge interest or “dog in the fight.” The term “impartial judge” is an oxymoron like “Microsoft works” or “jumbo shrimp.”
The defendant and lawyer are on one side of the courtroom and the cops and prosecutor are on the other side of the courtroom. There is no jury.
Based on the “holes” found in the discovery, your lawyer will begin explaining to the judge why your arrest was improper and illegal.
The prosecutor and cops will argue why the arrest was legal. Defendants rarely testify during the suppression hearing but the police always do.
If the judge decides you are right, you win your drug case and he will dismiss the case and you are completely free to go.
If you lose the suppression hearing, you will progress to Step 6.
If you take the government through a suppression hearing and lose, be prepared to receive a harsher plea offer because the government knows you will probably lose at trial. In fact, be prepared for the government to use this leverage to talk you out of a suppression hearing.
It’s common to hear a judge and prosecutor manipulate a defendant by stating, “If you don’t take us through a suppression hearing, we will give you 3 years in prison. If you take us through a suppression hearing and lose, we will give you 30 years in prison.”
It is vital to have Barry and his lawyers review the discovery to ensure your lawyer is mounting a proper and aggressive suppression defense.
Suppression hearings need to be closely monitored by somebody other than your lawyer.
Suppression hearings are usually “cookie-cutter going through the motions” with the judge pre-determined to announce, “MOTION DENIED.” This means the defendant loses.
If Barry is watching your case, the government is less likely to railroad you through the suppression process.
Step 6: The Trial
In many situations, taking a drug case to trial carries a significant risk. I have been an expert witness in several jury trials and we won but it’s rare. Try to win the suppression hearing and avoid a trial. This is truly the best way to win your drug case.
Step 7: Plea Bargain
At any time during steps 3 through 5, you may be offered a plea bargain. Negotiating a plea bargain can be a complicated strategic process. So it’s very important to have others on your defense team to ensure your lawyer is not trying to sell you out.
In conclusion, navigating the U.S. criminal justice system can be extremely difficult without the right knowledge and preparation. Understanding the steps of a drug case can help you protect your rights and make better legal decisions.
Win Your Drug Case. Consult Barry Cooper About Your Drug Case
Barry Cooper was once considered one of America’s top drug agents who worked joint operations with the ATF, DEA, FBI, U.S. Military and Border Patrol. During his career as a narcotics officer, Barry accumulated a record of over eight hundred narcotics arrests and the seizure of millions in cash and assets.
“You may have seen him on the pages of Maxim, or during one of his many appearances on CNN, Fox News, and Spike TV. He’s the cop who turned against the drug war. In American pop culture right now, there’s nobody quite like him. As one of the former top drug cops working the Texas highways, he was ferocious, bringing down hundreds of people for possessing even tiny amounts of an illegal substance. In his new life as an anti-prohibition crusader and activist filmmaker, he’s just as ferocious, but now it’s his former colleagues in law enforcement who are sweating his intimidating gaze…Cooper is on a mission to free America’s pot prisoners and take down the abusive cops he once sought to emulate. In the terminology of war, Barry is an insurgent, lobbing bombs into the fourth estate as his form of penance for all the people he put behind bars on drug offenses.” —True/Slant
“Barry was even better than he says he was. He had a knack for finding drugs and made more arrests and more seizures than all of the other agents combined. He was probably the best narcotics officer in the state and maybe the country during his time with the task force.” –Tom Finley, Commander Permian Basin Drug Task Force
