Walk It Through: The Friend Who Stopped Breathing
Pills on the table, a call for help, officers in the hallway, and cash in a drawer.
At an apartment, a friend who took pills is breathing slowly and will not wake up.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One night and one apartment. Selling the pills, a death from the overdose, a lease violation and federal charges 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.
- Good faith call for helpSeeking emergency medical help in good faith and in a timely manner for someone who reasonably appears to be overdosing, which keeps the caller from being held criminally responsible for possession and underage or public drinking.
- Conditional dischargeFor a person with no prior drug conviction, the court deferring the case and placing the person on probation, then discharging the person and dismissing the case without a conviction once its terms are met.
- ForfeitureTaking property exchanged for, traceable to, or used to facilitate a drug violation, on a petition filed within ninety days after the seizure.
- Credible corroborative evidenceEvidence worthy of belief that corresponds to one or more elements of the offense. An officer may arrest without a warrant for domestic battery after observing it, together with an allegation from the victim or a witness.
- Domestic batteryUnlawfully and intentionally making insulting or provoking physical contact with, or causing physical harm to, a family or household member.
- Family or household memberSpouses and former spouses, people who live or lived together, intimate or dating partners, people with a child in common, and a list of relatives by blood and marriage.