So, What happened at the trial?
After listening to 2 officers and the man in question describe the event, the jury deliberated for approx. 1 hour, and found him guilty of possession of cocaine.
Even though he said the drugs belonged to his sister and he was trying to protect her, we still thought he was guilty because he admitted that it was his pipe with cocaine residue inside in the same cigarette box. The cigarette box happened to be in his front pants pocket. This was discovered after he ran into a ditch trying to make a left turn while fleeing from the sheriff’s car. The sheriff was trying to pull him over for not having a tag light. He said he tried to get away because he thought his license was suspended. Hum… We didn’t get to stay in the courtroom to hear his sentencing, but I don’t think it helped that he pled guilty to 6 previous felonies.
In cases like that where the prosecutors have a really, really good case the defendent has nothing to lose by insisting on a jury trial because the prosecutors aren’t about to offer a deal. I sat on a case very briefly where a man was identified by a woman as being the man that hid in her closet and attacked her and he was picked up a few minutes later within a block of her apartment. That was all I really found out before they sent us all home and said he’d changed his mind and the prosecutors had cut a deal where he would plead guilty and get something like six months taken off of a 20 year sentence.