Been Busted Growing!

[Frazz]

The summary of my charges are exactly these

 

Possessing Dangerous drug - Namely cannabis sativa 1.5kg

Production of a Dangerous Drug - weed

Possessing tainted property - $1500

Possess utensil - bong

Possess of a thing used in commision of a crime - poss the dodgy scales and few ounce bags or perhaps my lights?

 

Heya bj been here, done this but not in Qld. ... what you may find is Prosecution offer to drop 'Posses tainted P. 'and 'Posses tools in commision of crime' in return you will be asked to plead guilty to 'Possession, Production and bong' which should earn you between 6-18months jail, but court will suspend sentence on condition you enter a Good Behavior Bond for x years , in addition to community service ..

thereby avoiding a costly trial , but mind you they wont offer this until right up till you are listed to appear for committal or trial so you will need a lawyer and a legal aid will do so long as they are not deaf or mute, reason for this is that you're not needing a fighting team and any lawyer can negotiate with the Prosecution, but still you must take an active part in instructing your lawyer , e.g. tell the lawyer what you will plead guilty to dont let them tell you what you should plead too ..

once you have sorted what you will plead to, then push hard to bring this matter to a hearing as soon as possible 'justice delayed is justice denied' is the catch phrase of all judges and now you have waited this long if the Prosecution asks for further adjournments the judge gets cranky and says 'no matter if Prosecution is not ready, case must go ahead!!', as the accused(you) cannot continue to put life on hold waiting for an outcome with charges that have been hanging over his head for such a time

 

and dont pay anymore lawyers ... do this on the cheap with legal aid cause IMO it will not make a scrap of difference whether you engage Jullian Burnside QC or a newbie lawyer

 

These are just the stoned opinions of an old man , but i do hope you have a fair outcome, and may the ganja gods smile kindly upon you bobby j

 

these opinions are given in the assumption that you have NO prior convictions?

[loylty gets u nothing]

tianted property is goods or money presumed being stolen or in case of money obtained suspiciously..

if u can provide reciepts they will have to return it too

supreme court is absolute bullshit

i feel for ya

i think u need to find a quality lawyer

this lawyer has pesumed u grow so u have money

all he has done is take u for a ride..shame on him i say

wat is the lawyer saying the outcome will be?

take care i wish u well

bil

[crazyjew]

pretty sure it was illegal of them to search your house without a search warrant.

[torana2000]

pretty sure it was illegal of them to search your house without a search warrant.

 

 

nuh they were within there right there. they are allowed to enter your house if they witness a crime is being committed. having a bong in plain site is a crime being commited!!!

[Ozzy420]

I have been done in Qld, and the charges u have i had as well but i dident have a large amount of dry herb i only got done for a few grams and 2 small plants.

 

The thing they will look down on the most is the amount of pot u had as they will say that amount of pot is to much for one person and u must be selling it because they found scales and cash and that is were they will hit u the hardest.

 

But if u can prove that the cash dident come from the sales of drugs u will do a lil better...

[logic]

ive been busted with weed and another time with cash, they tried to fine me for possesion of stolen goods/unlawfully obtained.

as long as u can provide them with bank statements then ur sweet.

was driving 2am in the morning with 4grand said i had it at a friends house coz i got robbed few nights ago , i told em i kept it at a mates and its was for a car to get fixed.

they too me to court , took me months to get it back , i took my bank statements to court , my mate and the event number made the copper look like a complete dick

went to the police station they had to count the money in front of me while i was laughting...

as for the weed charges keep pushing personal use , id tell them u grow that amount once a year to support urself and keep the drug dealing off the streets.

court sucks man u gotta keep ur head up and just punch thru it , it will be over in time and things get better

[grace]

A few things that may help if you represent yourself.

 

No costs to be awarded - s 127 Drugs Misuse Act

 

"No costs shall be awarded with respect to any proceedings

arising out of a charge of having committed an offence

defined in this Act."

 

You won't end up with court costs whatever the outcome even if you appeal.

At the same time you cannot be awarded costs to cover your legal bill.

 

 

Supreme and District Courts Equal Treatment Bench Book

 

This has a section for self represented parties and is the courts own bench book.

 

<http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/The_Equal_Treatment_Bench_Book/S-ETBB.pdf>

 

 

A recent case that may be useful

 

ABC Queensland

Posted June 2, 2008 14:05:00

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06...tm?site=idx-qld

 

A 44-year-old Sunshine Coast man has appeared in the Supreme Court in Brisbane charged with establishing a hydroponic drug crop inside his Buderim home in the state's south-east.

 

The court heard Scott David Woodforth was found by police last year with almost four kilograms of cannabis sativa, which he had cultivated from two plants growing under lights in a hidden room.

 

Woodforth admitted to being a heavy user of the drug for pain relief after a car accident and said that he had grown it so he would not have to go to drug dealers.

 

Justice Rosyln Atkinson accepted that Woodforth grew the drug for personal use and sentenced him to nine months imprisonment but ordered his immediate release on parole.

 

A transcript of this case can be obtained from the State Reporting Bureau.

 

<http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/Forms/General/20080317_SRB_SD_Crt_-_Transcript_Request_Form_FINAL_WEB.pdf>

 

 

Your legal Bill

 

Ask for an itemised account. If you disagree with any of the charges discuss it with the law firm. If you do not get a proper response contact the Queensland Legal Services Commission. They should be able to advise you if you have been overcharged.

 

The guys have given you some ideas of possible outcomes. Be prepared with receipts, references, doctor's reports etc.

 

Don't forget you come under the earlier provisions - given the recent amendment the prosecution may need to prove that you were trafficking in the first instance for any of these charges to hold.

 

Good luck.

[bobby joe]

Hello to everyone!

 

Just wanted to say a big thankyou to you all as i have had an overwhelming response approx 17 post in 24 hours. There has been some great info here and i have be reading and re-reading what has been said.

 

I will be off to see my new lawyer on thursday and will be taking some of this info with me to see what they can do to help my case.

 

I have been reading alot of older bust stories by googling them and finding a few people whom have had larger amounts and walked away with suspended sentences and the like.

 

I am hoping that my 12 months worth of clean drug tests and been doing some volunteer work in the community helps bring me into a better light for the judge.

 

> Grace i will do that actually in re to getting a summary bill to see exactly where the $7700 i spent went to? PRob on Lawyers holidays overseas! - Yeah just want to get this thing over with and face the music on this one. OVer a year and still getting stuffed around. Also what was the link on the 127 no cost to be awarded drugs misuse act? Sounds interesting. Does that mean that i don't have to pay any fine despite the outcome of the case?

 

Am getting some references happening i could not have asked my old employer as they would have freaked out. So i guess friends / Girfriend possibly people in the community it is.

 

Once again i thankeveryone for the words of wisdom and the comfort it brings me to get this out there and have people reply esp so quickly. You are worth your weight in ....... well gold i'll say for now to avoid legal complications .

Cheers!

[grace]

> Also what was the link on the 127 no cost to be awarded drugs misuse act? Sounds interesting. Does that mean that i don't have to pay any fine despite the outcome of the case?

 

I have seen drug cases where the prosecution have sought costs orders up to $1,800 for each matter. Reading through the prosecution's outline of argument or trial transcript there was no explanation as to what the costs were for and the judge did not ask.

 

The Defendants did not know to object so the judge awarded costs against them. Generally costs orders would be sought to cover trial costs ie counsel, witnesses etc but are not to be awarded in drug cases.

 

So don't let the prosecution pull that one on you.

 

A fine is entirely different. You need to pay your fine however you can ask the court for time to pay it off or have it deducted from your centrelink payment or wages through SPERS.

 

You can also access judgments through the Queensland court website at <http://www.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/>

 

All the best with the new lawyer.

 

grace

[bobby joe]

Hello again

 

a quick update----->

I went to the Lawyers last week and have now applied for Legal aid which i should get aok they tell me.

 

So the run down is this. In August i will be going to the supreme court for sentencing on 3 of the 5 charges being:

1. Manufacting dangerous drug "weed"

2. Possessing Dangerous drug "weed"

3. Posses things used in commision of a crime : Lights fans etc

 

The other charges of tainted property "$1500" and possess utensil "bong" will be staying in the magistrates court for god knows how long unless the prosecution decides to drop them.

 

So therefore i will be getting sentenced on the 3 above charges with a possibility of a jail sentence. If i don't get a jail sentence for the growing etc, the other charges still in the lower court could come back and bite me on the arse.

 

Is this common to happen with charges getting split, i thought they would just run all the charges at once in the one case? Not split half for one court and half for the other for the same matter. I really want to get this over with all in one hit. The lawyer tells me that if for example i do get a jail sentence for the growing then most likely the would run the other two charges concurrent witht he growing to get it all over with which means i would have to plead guilty to them which i don't want to because the money was 100 percent legit and i have all me receipts / account statements for it. If i plead guilty i will lose the money also and have jail which is a hard knock.

 

Anyways if anyone has any ideas on why they would do this i would love to hear from someone.

I will be meeting with a barrister etc in approx 3 weeks and he should be able to shed some light on the topic.

 

A friend suggested that i should send a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions showing him my clean drug tests / value to the community etc so they don't try to build up a huge case against me before the sentencing. I don't know if anything like this would be worthwhile but willing to give anything a shot at this point and has anyone else tried this sort of thing?

 

PEace out thanks again. Will keep you posted on the situation as more develops.

 

Bobby