What do you do if you were arrested because you sold 3 ounces of cocaine to an undercover cop

3 ounces of cocaine for sale puts you in the big leagues; try to negotiate a plea to avoid a long vacation in state prison. And please hire a NY state criminal lawyer to help you.

It is always difficult to answer these “What can he get? What’s the worst case scenario? How much time is he facing?” questions. Every criminal case is unique — the facts, the background of the defendant, who the prosecutor is, who the judge is, who the victim is all factor into the formula of how a criminal case will end up. All a lawyer can do is give you very general answers that won’t help you — what the minimum and maximum sentences are and whether they could run concurrently or consecutively is about as far as you can get. You need to find a qualified practitioner in your area who can give a free consultation, but even that will likely not be enough time to get a hard and fast answer on the case’s prospect. That will only come after there has been time to examine the evidence that might be presented and testing the available defenses. Sorry if that seems like I am avoiding the answer, but it is really to vague a question to be able to answer in a short format like this. I can give you some general thoughts at best:

Drug trafficking cases are difficult to assess without having all of the pertinent reports. I would strongly recommend you find an experienced criminal defense lawyer in your area who has previously dealt with drug cases of this magnitude before. The issues you will need to have examined include the method in which the officer identified you as the seller; the manner in which the evidence was stored; the completeness of the paper trail documenting the officer's handling of the drugs from the time it was sold to him, to the time it was secured in the police property room; the paper trail establishing the transfer of the drugs to the lab for testing; the accuracy of the testing procedure; and, a variety of other legal issues that require not only awareness of the issues, but what the typical defects are in regards to each of these issues.

Assuming (as in most cases) that there is at least one identifiable flaw in the State's case, an assessment of how much of an impact the flaw will have on the 'proof' of the case against you needs to be made by an experienced defense lawyer. Only then will you have the knowledge you need to decide whether to accept a plea or take the case to trial.

Under the law of the State of New York, a person who sells more than two ounces of cocaine faces between 8 and 20 years' imprisonment, assuming they do not have prior felony convictions. A good lawyer might negotiate a plea to a lesser include offense carrying a lower prison term. On the other hand, a qualified lawyer would evaluate all the facts, conduct an investigation, and help the client decide whether to proceed to trial. As others have said, the defendant should retain a qulaified, experienced lawyer to represent him.