Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Drug Charges Without Drugs�Guilt by Association, Conspiracies, Party to the Crime Liability

I cannot advise you without representing you and knowing all of your facts. However, it is common, especially for federal authorities, to prosecute conspiracy charges solely based upon eyewitness testimony without hard evidence of drug possession. This can include situations where someone was never apprehended with the drugs and is instead charged with distributing only as a coconspirator. Such defendants are exposed to the same maximum sentence as those who are personally caught with the drugs, and sometimes face even longer sentences. These cases are often won or lost based upon the strength the informants' testimony, i.e., their credibility. Often there is more than one informant, and sometimes, there are dozens of informants against previously un-apprehended parties. The government often assumes that these are the leaders in the drug dealing conspiracy; smart or powerful enough to have their "dirty work" done by others and thereby not get caught themselves. Often, such accused "kingpins" are the last persons in the conspiracy to settle their case with the government and become an informant. Those who "snitch" first often come out of such a scenario the best, since the ones who snitch last sometimes end up being charged as the leaders. This can cause such an alleged �kingpin� to receive a much longer sentence than the others if he or she is convicted by the jury. The witnesses also sometimes receive time off their sentences for assisting the government. The moral of the story? Don't associate with drug users, since you could end up being their scapegoat, even if you were not involved. Luckily, authorities rarely proceed in such cases without corroborating evidence such as wiretaps, surveillance, "Penn Logs" of phonecalls on a given line (which are public information and obtainable without a warrant). There usually are also chemical tests of drugs which were seized from the others. Finally, there often non-drug charges such as homicides, kidnappings and assaults against competing gang members. Unfortunately, it is conceivable for all of these to paint a false picture of guilt and for the innocent to be convicted. However, the jury system, luckily, is very good at discovering the truth.