Unlawful Possession Marihuana 225.01

[vin@65]

Hi, 

 

I am currently on my OPT and my H1 got picked up this year(not approved yet). Recently i got a speeding ticket for going 86mph on a 65mph in New York state and the cop kinda smelled marihuana inside the car and he searched me and my vehicle and found a small half smoked smoke(which was not lit) inside the cigarette box in the car(i was not aware that i had this cigarette box in the car since it was in a trash cover). He issued me a court appearance ticket for UNLAWFUL POSSESSION MARIHUANA section 221.05. So i am really worried about my status of my H1 visa will this affect my H1 visa. when i researched about this situation i have found that the court may say to pay $100 and the case might be sealed or closed. So what kind of judgement should i expect. I will plead NOT GUILTY for this case. So Will the case be dismissed, and say if the case has been sealed/closed or dismissed will it still show up on my records in the future. Please suggest me on how would this impact me in the future and do i require an attorney for this. Thanks.

[JimH]

23 hours ago, Pruthvin said:

Hi, 

 

I am currently on my OPT and my H1 got picked up this year(not approved yet). Recently i got a speeding ticket for going 86mph on a 65mph in New York state and the cop kinda smelled marihuana inside the car and he searched me and my vehicle and found a small half smoked smoke(which was not lit) inside the cigarette box in the car(i was not aware that i had this cigarette box in the car since it was in a trash cover). He issued me a court appearance ticket for UNLAWFUL POSSESSION MARIHUANA section 221.05. So i am really worried about my status of my H1 visa will this affect my H1 visa. when i researched about this situation i have found that the court may say to pay $100 and the case might be sealed or closed. So what kind of judgement should i expect. I will plead NOT GUILTY for this case. So Will the case be dismissed, and say if the case has been sealed/closed or dismissed will it still show up on my records in the future. Please suggest me on how would this impact me in the future and do i require an attorney for this. Thanks.

You should be lucky that cop did not did not arrest you but just gave you a ticket to appear in court. On your court appearance date, Judge or Clerk will decide if they can file a criminal charge against you. If I am correct, criminal charge is not yet filed against you so you should not worry about your H1 approval process. To be sure, you can run self criminal background check and it should come clean.

Find a good criminal defense lawyer(don't worry about money) and appear in court and have this case dismissed(assuming all you are saying is truth). Whether case can get dismissed on your court appearance date or not depends on how much evidence DA's office has against you and what information you revealed to the cop. I am not a criminal lawyer but I highly recommend that you talk to a qualified defense lawyer. You are in a better situation compared to the people who get arrested on first encounter with cops.

[vin@65]

1 hour ago, deterdangler8 said:

You should be lucky that cop did not did not arrest you but just gave you a ticket to appear in court. On your court appearance date, Judge or Clerk will decide if they can file a criminal charge against you. If I am correct, criminal charge is not yet filed against you so you should not worry about your H1 approval process. To be sure, you can run self criminal background check and it should come clean.

Find a good criminal defense lawyer(don't worry about money) and appear in court and have this case dismissed(assuming all you are saying is truth). Whether case can get dismissed on your court appearance date or not depends on how much evidence DA's office has against you and what information you revealed to the cop. I am not a criminal lawyer but I highly recommend that you talk to a qualified defense lawyer. You are in a better situation compared to the people who get arrested on first encounter with cops.

Thanks a lot for getting back to me regarding this. The evidence they have on me is they found a very small quantity(0.2/0.3g) of it which was already half smoked and left in a empty box. And i also found out that how it got left in the car. one of my mutual friend who is from CA broke his leg bad couple of weeks ago and the doctor suggested him to take marihuana occasionaly instead of the drugs which he prescribed because they might affect his liver. I told the cop that i dint check the car before i started from boston(MA) to ohio. I started around 3:00am and he caught me around 10:00am in the morning. So if i plead NOT GUILTY and explain this to the judge what might be the possible out come of this situation. Also if i end up paying the fine and plead not guilty will it still be on my records in the future if so for how long. Also could you please explain little bit about opening that criminal charge. It really means a lot to me. Thanks. 

[pagladeewana]

Get a good lawyer and you should be able to get this one dismissed assuming that you have no other criminal record. Since you were not arrested and have not been convicted no impact of h1.

Getting convicted for a drug offense is totally a different ball game . But going by the facts of your case i dont think judge will throw the book .

 

But do get good lawyer, dont worry too much about money.

[JimH]

On 6/1/2017 at 7:40 PM, Pruthvin said:

Thanks a lot for getting back to me regarding this. The evidence they have on me is they found a very small quantity(0.2/0.3g) of it which was already half smoked and left in a empty box. And i also found out that how it got left in the car. one of my mutual friend who is from CA broke his leg bad couple of weeks ago and the doctor suggested him to take marihuana occasionaly instead of the drugs which he prescribed because they might affect his liver. I told the cop that i dint check the car before i started from boston(MA) to ohio. I started around 3:00am and he caught me around 10:00am in the morning. So if i plead NOT GUILTY and explain this to the judge what might be the possible out come of this situation. Also if i end up paying the fine and plead not guilty will it still be on my records in the future if so for how long. Also could you please explain little bit about opening that criminal charge. It really means a lot to me. Thanks. 

Did you hire a defense attorney yet? If not go and do that first. You should hire a best defense attorney available in your city/state and start reading state rules regarding how long it appears on your record. For example, for MA there is a website "masslegalhelp". Trump administration is very strict in criminal prosecutions so you should be even more careful. Also in criminal cases, prosecutors have to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, so assuming what you are saying is true, even if this case goes to Jury trial, you may not get convicted (but please note there will be lot of ifs and buts). Also start reading into criminal cases to understand how trial works and what are the things judge looks at. Good Luck!

[vin@65]

On 6/6/2017 at 11:11 AM, deterdangler8 said:

Did you hire a defense attorney yet? If not go and do that first. You should hire a best defense attorney available in your city/state and start reading state rules regarding how long it appears on your record. For example, for MA there is a website "masslegalhelp". Trump administration is very strict in criminal prosecutions so you should be even more careful. Also in criminal cases, prosecutors have to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, so assuming what you are saying is true, even if this case goes to Jury trial, you may not get convicted (but please note there will be lot of ifs and buts). Also start reading into criminal cases to understand how trial works and what are the things judge looks at. Good Luck!

Yes, i did hire a criminal attorney and we have pleaded not guilty and he got me 25hours of community service to get the case dismissed(ACOD). But when i asked him that will it affect me if i travel out of country even after the case is dismissed he told me to consult an immigration attorney to make sure. So i want to know if it still stays on the record after ACOD and if so,  for how long. Since i came on a F1 visa and right now i am on my OPT and my H1 got picked. So i want to know will it still affects my H1 or current visa status. Also will i face any problems regarding JOBS in future(when a background check happens will it show up??)  and also with the immigration if i TRAVEL OUT OF COUNTRY after the ACOD. Since i read that in drug possession charges(221.05) it will stay for a very long time in the federal records. Please let me know regarding this issue. It means a lot to me. Thanks.

[vin@65]

On 6/2/2017 at 0:05 AM, pagladeewana said:

Get a good lawyer and you should be able to get this one dismissed assuming that you have no other criminal record. Since you were not arrested and have not been convicted no impact of h1.

Getting convicted for a drug offense is totally a different ball game . But going by the facts of your case i dont think judge will throw the book .

 

But do get good lawyer, dont worry too much about money.

Yes, i did hire a criminal attorney and we have pleaded not guilty and he got me 25hours of community service to get the case dismissed(ACOD). But when i asked him that will it affect me if i travel out of country even after the case is dismissed he told me to consult an immigration attorney to make sure. So i want to know if it still stays on the record after ACOD and if so,  for how long. Since i came on a F1 visa and right now i am on my OPT and my H1 got picked. So i want to know will it still affects my H1 or current visa status. Also will i face any problems regarding JOBS in future(when a background check happens will it show up??)  and also with the immigration if i TRAVEL OUT OF COUNTRY after the ACOD. Since i read that in drug possession charges(221.05) it will stay for a very long time in the federal records. Please let me know regarding this issue. It means a lot to me. Thanks.

[pontevecchio]

The TRUMP Administration has no connection to NY State Law. NY state considers possession of less than 25 gm of Marijuana a minor offense involving a fine. No arrest is involved in this case. Experience is NOT necessarily the best Teacher in matters such as this.  The OP will be OK in the long term and he does need to involve an Immigration lawyer and needs to explore what NY rules are about Expungement specially in a rehabilitative disposition of a matter considered on par with a traffic ticket. He also needs to remember Marijuana stays in the system for a relatively long time and depending on any surprise drug tests he may again be surprised. There is NO trial involved. 100 USD fine is the end of the matter. A second time with a small amount is a 250 USD fine.