One of the most common criminal cases in the Municipal Courts of New Jersey is an individual accused of Possession of Drugs or Drug Paraphernalia. A conviction of this criminal offense at the municipal level carries serious penalties including a financial penalty of up to $1,650.00, a driver's license suspension of up to 2 years, imprisonment in County Jail for up to 180 days (i.e. 6 months), and up to 5 years of probation. Sometimes, these criminal charges can be resolved without a criminal conviction, license suspension, and jail through a first offender program. The individual is placed on unsupervised probation for a period of time and the criminal charges will be dismissed by the Municipal Court if probation is completed successfully.
However, when the case involves drugs in a car, the Police will issue a traffic summons to the driver/operator for a violation entitled possession of drugs in a motor vehicle. This ticket is in addition to and separate from the criminal charges. It may appear to be a relatively minor and redundant accusation, but a conviction of this violation carries a very serious and mandatory penalty of a 2 year license suspension. Surprisingly, since this offense is technically not a drug offense under the criminal code, there is no legal requirement for the voluntary dismissal of the ticket after the completion of the first offender program. Thus, it is possible for a person to complete the program successfully, return to Municipal Court for the dismissal of the criminal charges, and the prosecutor can lawfully refuse to dismiss the ticket for possession of drugs in a motor vehicle. A defense attorney can avoid this injustice by entering into a written plea agreement at the time the individual first applies to the program in order to confirm that the dismissal of this offense will occur after the successful completion of the program.
In sum, a knowledgeable, trained, and experienced defense attorney is able to anticipate and handle critical issues and legal nuances in order to protect the rights of the client.
Vache Edward Bahadurian, Esq.
201-996-1161
http://www.veblaw.com
