I have an up coming court case on Monday and am charged with possession of a small quantity of heroin and cocaine. I have been arrested and given a police caution 7 years ago for possession of cocaine and two years ago for possession of valium. I have no other criminal history. I am being tried at a Magistrate Court and at at this point have not taken legal advice, what are the likely outcomes for sentence? I have pleaded guilty when interviewed by Police.
HiThank you for your question and welcome to Just Answer. I will try to help with this. Please RATE my answer OK SERVICE or above.Are you charged with simple possession?If so, whats your defence?
Yes simple possession. I have confessed and hence will please guilty. Obviously I need to present mitigating factors which are:
- I have signed up for drug rehab and have started an opiate substiute.
- I am due to see a drug counsellor next Friday after trial
- I am attending NA meetings
- I had signed up to another voluntary drug support program prior to being arrested and was waiting to see a doctor
- I have a family
- I have a fairly good education and run my own property advisory company
- I sincerely XXXXX XXXXX actions
- I have a genuine wish to stop using drugs permanently
The obvious agrivating factor is that I have been arrested 7 and 2 years ago for class A and C possession respectively.
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That will be why they didn't give you a caution at the police station then.Under normal circumstances you would get a fine of £100 on each count or one day in custody deemed served. The fact of your previous matters will be an aggravating feature pushing the sentence up to a community order. You never really can rely on magistrates to make sensible decisions though so that could happen.Normally though for a person of limited offending the penalties for simple possession for personal use would be a fine.They may adjourn it off for a pre sentence report to see if you have any issues that can be addressed basically because heroin isn't a recreational drug but a wasting one. Personally I would resist that because you don't have any of the acquisitional offences that one would expect from an addict although the counter argument is that all that means is that you can afford your habit.Hope this helps. Please remember to rate my answer either OK SERVICE or above and then I will give you related information for free.