Walk It Through: The Ounce In The Glove Box
A stop, marijuana in the car, the one ounce line, conditional discharge and the car itself.
During a stop for a tag light, an officer finds a small bag of marijuana in the glove box.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A small amount found at a stop. Hemp, medical claims, distribution charges, federal law, and how the stop itself is judged are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- ForfeitureThe loss to the state of property connected with drug offenses, such as equipment, conveyances, money and proceeds, decided by a judge on a petition from the Attorney General or the solicitor.
- Conditional dischargeProbation without a judgment of guilt for a first time drug possession charge, ending in dismissal of the proceedings when completed. It is not a conviction, and may happen only once for any person.
- Pretrial interventionA solicitor's program that ends, on successful completion, in a noncriminal disposition of the charge, after which the person may ask the court to destroy the arrest records.
- Prima facie guiltyWhat possessing more than the amounts the drug section lists, such as more than one ounce of marijuana, makes a person of possession with intent to distribute.