Required

Dumfries Drug Penalties

There is a wide range of drug charges that exist in Virginia and various penalties that could follow them. A drug offense can bring with it the range of possibility of misdemeanors that carry up to 30 days in jail all the way up to crimes which require mandatory minimum sentences. If you are facing drug charges in Dumfries, it is essential to contact an experienced drug attorney in order to mitigate any potential drug penalties in Dumfries.

Short-Term Consequences

When charged with a drug crime, there can be many consequences that face them. If someone is employed by a company that does not like the fact their employee is charged with a drug crime, the company might want to terminate that employment before due process has run its course. That is one possible outcome and the other possible outcome is that if the court is reluctant to free a person on a typical cash or corporate bond, the court might want to monitor that person on supervised release from the jail. This essentially means that that person could be on probation even before they are ever convicted of anything and they would have a supervisor release officer who they would need to report to on a regular basis. Also, they would need to provide drug screens on a regular basis, and their movements would be closely monitored by that officer.

These charges can vary greatly because, under most circumstances, that person is not going to be on supervised release or any kind of program where they have to be worried about being monitored while they are awaiting the trial. This is usually reserved only for those who have significant past drug offender issues or for those who are charged with more severe drug crimes. If someone is charged with a minor possession of a low-level drug, there generally should not be any short-term consequences of drawing a charge.

Avoiding Penalties

If the only thing someone has on their record is a drug crime, then that means that they are found not guilty of that charge under most circumstances. There are, however, exceptions to that rule if they are engaged in what is called a first offender disposition. In Virginia, if someone is charged with possession of drugs and has no prior record of any kind that involves drugs then they can be eligible for a dismissal of that charge.

However, before that charge can be dismissed, they must go through certain conditions that are set forth by the court. They must complete community service hours, must complete a drug assessment and an education program, and must endure a six-month loss of license. If they successfully complete all of those things and have no further violations of the law and after a period of time designated by the court, then they can have the charge against them dismissed.

The only downside to that program is if they have a charge dismissed by that manner, where they were not guilty, but dismissed because the court gave them a break because it was their first time, an individual is not eligible to have that charge expunged off of their record. For that reason, the charge will remain on a person’s record for the rest of their life.

Hiring an Attorney

If a person is prosecuted in Dumfries for a crime involving drugs, they should expect to be prosecuted seriously and face serious penalties for the offense. A Dumfries drug attorney can help provide mitigating evidence and explore the possibilities of potential defenses for their case.