Here is an all too common scenario: A young person or group of young people travel to Colorado for a vacation. While in Colorado these people legally consume cannabis products. At the end of the trip, they decide to bring some cannabinoid products back to Texas. If you are unfamiliar with the geography of Texas, I'll provide you with a little background. The main highway in Texas to travel to and from Colorado is 287. The main cities in North Texas along 287 are Amarillo, Childress, Wichita Falls, and Decatur. Law enforcement along 287 have been overrun with Cannabinoid arrests. In short, if you are under 30 and pulled over for a traffic violation, your vehicle will be searched if you tell the officer that you were coming from Colorado. Outside of actual marijuana, most people are surprised to learn that ALL of the cannabinoid products available in Colorado are felonies in Texas!
My firm has been handling a lot of these cases in Decatur. I wanted to take a moment to praise the Wise County District Attorney's Office. The Wise County DA's office has a lot of ways that they can handle these types of cases. To their credit, they have taken the high road and decided to do the right thing. Every case if different, but I will outline how the Wise County DA's office generally handles this type of case for a first time offender. Normally, they will offer a program called pretrial diversion (PTD ). First, you have to hire an attorney to be eligible for PTD. What is PTD? Generally, it is a 12-month program where the participant agrees to take random drug tests and perform community service. If the participant successfully completes the program all charges will be dismissed and the participant will be eligible for an immediate expunction! An expunction is a court order for all information relating to an arrest to be destroyed. In short, an expunction means that the arrest never happened.
As you can see, this is the best deal going. Keep in mind that most DA's offices in Texas do not offer this type of program. Hats off to the Wise County DA's office.
If you or a loved one has a drug case in Decatur/Wise County call my office. I can help you negotiate entry into a PTD program.