PCP Trafficking

The controlled substance phencyclidine is more commonly known as PCP or angel dust. It was created in the 1950s as an intravenous anesthetic, but nowadays it is used as an illegal hallucinogen. PCP is considered dangerous, and it can trigger paranoia, anxiety, and an inability to distinguish fantasy from reality. Prosecutors take PCP trafficking seriously. It is important to consult a Bradenton PCP trafficking lawyer if you are being investigated for or have been charged with trafficking. Hanlon Law fights for people who have been accused of trafficking in PCP, GBL, GHB, LSD, and many other drugs.

PCP trafficking, like other drug trafficking charges, is a charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence. Mandatory minimum sentences require a judge to sentence someone to at least a certain set amount of prison time. They tie the judge's hands and do not allow them to tailor sentences based on the circumstances. If you are convicted of PCP trafficking, you will face a mandatory minimum sentence in prison, unless certain extremely limited conditions exist.

Moreover, PCP trafficking is not an offense limited to drug lords or people with extensive contact with the criminal underground, as you might assume from television shows. Instead, you can be charged with PCP trafficking simply for possessing the threshold amount of 28 grams of PCP. You can also be charged for buying, selling, transporting, or making the threshold amount of PCP or a PCP-containing mixture. The penalties become steeper with the more PCP that you have over 28 grams. A PCP trafficking attorney can help Bradenton residents understand the consequences that they may face.

If a police officer catches you with 28-200 grams of PCP, and you are charged, you can face a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 years’ incarceration and a $50,000 fine. If a police officer catches you with 200-400 grams of PCP, you can face a mandatory minimum sentence of 7 years’ incarceration and $100,000. If a police officer catches you with 400 grams-150 kg. of PCP, you can face a mandatory minimum of 15 calendar years’ incarceration and a $250,000 fine.

If you are caught with 800 grams or more of PCP, and you knew that the probable result of trafficking it would be another person's death, you may face capital felony charges. Capital felonies can result in a death sentence. In Florida, death sentences must be a result of a penalty phase proceeding under Florida Statute section 921.141.

It can be stressful to be investigated for and charged with PCP trafficking. However, in order to secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a tough standard. It is important to consult an experienced Bradenton PCP trafficking attorney who can develop a strong defense. It may be possible to raise a reasonable doubt about one or more elements of the PCP trafficking charge. For example, perhaps your activity was not knowing. Or, for another example, perhaps the prosecution is not able to establish all of the elements necessary to show constructive possession of that amount of PCP.

Sometimes there are constitutional or procedural defenses. For example, if the police violated your Fourth Amendment right to be free from illegal searches and seizures when they seized the PCP at issue, it may be possible to get that evidence suppressed. The jurisprudence involving illegal searches and seizures is complicated. There may have been an illegal search and seizure if, for example, you were pulled over based on a police officer's hunch rather than a reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, and this was how the threshold amount of PCP was found. In other instances, there may have been another constitutional violation, such as a Fifth Amendment violation. If you were pulled into a custodial interrogation and not given your Miranda warnings, and you confessed to knowing about the PCP, we may be able to get your statement suppressed so that it is much harder to establish the element of knowledge that is crucial to a PCP trafficking conviction.

If you have been charged with PCP trafficking or with trafficking in any other substance, such as cannabis, cocaine, meth, or oxycodone, you should retain an experienced criminal attorney. Will Hanlon has represented people accused of or investigated for drug crimes since 1994. Call Hanlon Law at 941.253.0254 or complete our online form.