Source: https://www.texascriminallawyerblog.com/category/drug-offenses/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 11:45:41+00:00

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Law enforcement officials in Texas have used a variety of tools to help them investigate suspected drug-related offenses. Some of these tools have resulted in profound injustice in the form of wrongful convictions. A kit used by many officers around the state to test substances they believe are an illegal drug has returned “positive” results for substances later revealed to be innocuous. By the time more accurate test results were available in many of these cases, defendants had already pleaded guilty rather than risk going to trial against what police had represented as incontrovertible evidence of guilt. Now, the Houston Police Department has announced that it will no longer use these field kits, but not because of concerns about justice. Instead, the department cited risks posed to officers from opiate exposure during testing. Still, this is welcome news for Texas criminal defense advocates.
In any criminal prosecution, the state has the burden of proving every element of the charged offense, as it is defined by statute, beyond a reasonable doubt. Field-testing kits are often used by police to test substances believed to be cocaine. The relevant criminal charge would likely be possession of a controlled substance in Penalty Group 1. This would require proof beyond a reasonable doubt of four elements: that a defendant (1) possessed a controlled substance (2) that is included in Penalty Group 1, (3) that the defendant did so “knowingly or intentionally,” and (4) that the defendant did not have a valid prescription for the substance from a medical doctor. Tex. Health & Safety Code §§ 481.102(3)(D), 481.115(a).
In a cocaine possession case, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the substance is, in fact, cocaine. The requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt means that the “finder of fact” concludes that no reasonable doubt exists as to whether the substance is cocaine. The “finder of fact” is either the judge presiding over the case or a jury of the defendant’s peers. Results from a drug-testing kit routinely used by police can appear very convincing, unless the defendant is able to challenge the accuracy or validity of those test results. An innocent defendant without the resources to challenge the test results might choose to plead guilty rather than risk turning the decision over to a jury.
Most states in the U.S. now allow, to some extent, the sale, possession, and use of marijuana for various purposes. Several states, beginning with Colorado, have effectively legalized recreational use of marijuana in small amounts. Many of these states, however, only allow the use of specific marijuana-derived products for specific medical uses, under a doctor’s supervision. Texas is among the states that have only slightly eased restrictions on marijuana. Even the minor recent changes to state law, however, have resulted in significantly different priorities between the federal and Texas criminal justice systems. Marijuana remains a highly controlled substance under federal law, but since 2014, Congress has barred federal law enforcement from interfering with state medical marijuana programs. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently lobbied Congress to repeal this provision, but a Senate committee approved renewing it this summer. Shortly afterwards, Texas issued the first license under this state’s medical marijuana law.
Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, meaning that Congress has deemed it to have “no currently accepted medical use.” 21 U.S.C. §§ 812(b)(1)(B), (c)(I)(c)(10). Texas also continues to treat marijuana as a strictly controlled substance in most circumstances, but in 2015, the Texas Legislature enacted the Texas Compassionate-Use Act (TCUA). This law allows the use of “low-THC cannabis” for the treatment of intractable epilepsy, defined as a “seizure disorder” that has persisted after the patient has tried “two or more appropriately chosen and maximally titrated antiepileptic drugs.” Tex. Occ. Code §§ 169.001(2), (3). The TCUA establishes standards for the licensing of “dispensing organizations” and registration of individuals involved in producing, distributing, prescribing, and using low-THC cannabis. See Tex. Health & Safety Code § 487.001 et seq.
Despite the many layers of administrative procedures put in place by the TCUA, it still violates federal law, at least in a technical sense. Federal law enforcement officials, from the President and the Attorney General (AG) down to individual DEA agents, have taken a wide range of views on whether federal law should supersede state medical marijuana programs. The view of the current AG appears to be that federal drug enforcement efforts take precedence, but Congress has generally disagreed.
Courts have identified numerous exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s search warrant requirement, meaning that law enforcement may conduct a search without first obtaining a warrant if they can demonstrate that the situation falls under a recognized exception. They must still demonstrate probable cause to believe that the search would yield contraband or evidence of criminal activity. The “border search exception,” however, goes further than most exceptions. It states that law enforcement, specifically the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), can conduct searches of people and property entering the U.S. without a warrant, and without probable cause under some circumstances. Two Texas drug crime-related searches and seizures at a border crossing in early 2017, using high-tech imaging equipment, demonstrate how searches at or near the border can be different from searches elsewhere.
The border search exception is based in part on the sovereign right to control entry to the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that customs officials may search mail and other items arriving at the border without a warrant. United States v. Ramsey, 431 U.S. 606 (1977). With regard to searches of people and their property, the court has held that people have a lessened expectation of privacy at border crossings. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 515 (1983). Law enforcement can stop vehicles at fixed checkpoints for the purpose of immigration enforcement, even without any specific suspicion about individual vehicles, and they can refer some vehicles to a “secondary inspection area.” United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 563 (1976).
Congress has given immigration officials the authority to perform these types of immigration enforcement functions up to 100 miles from international borders within the U.S. 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(3). When law enforcement officials are not operating out of a fixed checkpoint, such as by pulling over individual vehicles on public roads, the Supreme Court has held that they must be able to demonstrate probable cause. Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266 (1973). Fixed checkpoints therefore provide law enforcement with their greatest amount of power to conduct warrantless searches.

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