A drug possession lawyer’s first steps in building a defense against possession charges in Chattanooga involves a complete interview of the alleged offender and understanding the progression of events that led to the arrest. From there, a seasoned attorney orders police reports, body and dash-camera footage, and any other open records to learn what police and investigating officers observed during the arrest. Understanding the officer’s perspective is often key to a constitutional challenge later in the case.
Once evidence is gathered from both the alleged offender and the officer’s perspective, the attorney is able to file a request with the district attorney to obtain additional evidence, such as lab reports or officer training history, to build a complete picture of the case and the surrounding circumstances. If there were witnesses or criminal informants, a lawyer could utilize a private investigator’s ability to enter the community innocuously and report what these other individuals might have observed. Criminal informants in larger drug cases are often unknown until much later in the case and typically cannot be identified without a special filing with the court.