NCJ Number
168766
Journal
The Advocate Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1996) Pages: 22-32
Date Published
1996
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Trial attorneys in Kentucky should realize that drug cases involve multiple legal issues and that such cases should be aggressively prepared at the pretrial stage and then actually tried by jury.
Abstract
Defense counsel should always consider having the alleged drug examined by someone other than the prosecution's expert. Since almost all drug cases involve some suppression issue, search and seizure motions should be considered under the 14th amendment and Section 10 of the Kentucky Constitution. Additional authority can often be found in the Kentucky Rules of Evidence and should be included in any suppression motion. Aggressive defense practice requires that the defense attorney review the validity of prior convictions. Many drug cases involve the use of an informant, and defense counsel is entitled to the informant's name and address if the informant is an eyewitness. The defense attorney should recognize, however, that Kentucky law related to "surveillance location privilege" precludes a defendant from questioning a police officer about his or her precise location at the time of surveillance. Defense strategies should focus on such issues as lack of knowledge, misidentification, lack of possession, possession versus trafficking, quantity, entrapment or other inappropriate police conduct, and insanity. Defense strategies should also consider double jeopardy, police officer testimony, chain of custody issues, the court's discretion to void a conviction, collateral criminal activity, the use of tape recordings, drug paraphernalia, firearms possession, and forfeiture. A table of drug cases is provided.