Sex Offense and Felony Drug Charge Dismissed

A client in the St. Louis area was allegedly masturbating in his car at a convenience store. When confronted by officers, the client was apparently (possibly simultaneously) also smoking marijuana in a pipe. He was arrested on the misdemeanor drug charges. At the station, he was asked if he had anything illegal in his pockets, to which he replied, “Only an Aderrall.” When asked if he had a prescription, he said, “No.” The client was charged with a sex offense, felony drug possession (yes, possessing Adderrall without a prescription is a felony in Missouri), possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

HPE&F took the case over from another attorney nearly two years into the case. At that time, no acceptable deal could be obtained. After thoroughly investigating the case, the HPE&F discovered that the client did, in fact, have a prescription for Adderrall from 2009. At the time, he had been diagnosed with situational ADHD and ordered to take the medication “as needed” with no end date specified. HPE&F immediately scheduled depositions of the arresting officers and further discovered that the client was never properly Mirandized and that no reasonable person (i.e. non law enforcement) would ever have been able to see him masturbating in his car.

According to the officers, the client was parked to the side of the 24 hour convenient store, the parking lot was essentially abandoned, and the client’s car had tinted windows. The case was set for jury trial. After filing numerous motions to dismiss the case and to suppress evidence, the felony drug case was dismissed by the state, as was the sex offense.

Ultimately, the client pled guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession and misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia with fines (no probation or jail time). Needless to say, the client was extraordinarily happy with the outcome. To the prosecutor’s credit, after carefully examining the deposition transcript and prescription, she was more than willing to discuss an amicable outcome. Without the hard work of defense counsel, however, this outcome would not have been possible.