Drug charges can come with extremely serious penalties, especially for people with prior convictions . For example, one woman arrested in Texas was sentenced to life in prison in January 2018 after she pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and other related offenses.
The woman was arrested in June 2017 as a passenger in a vehicle during a traffic stop on Highway 105. During the stop, a drug-sniffing dog made a positive alert and the police found over 420 grams of methamphetamine. The drugs were found near the woman’s seat in the car along with $18,000 in cash. Following her arrest, she failed to appear in court; however, she was arrested again in August 2017. This time, she was carrying 220 grams of methamphetamine as well as $6,500 cash. She was returned to the original county where she was arrested and charged with a first-degree felony for intent to deliver a controlled substance.
This was not the woman’s first offense, a factor that played into the life sentence. She had previously been imprisoned in Texas in 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2012, all in cases related to the sale or transportation of illegal drugs. She was also imprisoned in Louisiana in 2000 for drug charges. As part of the plea agreement, she did not face federal or other local charges for additional alleged drug crimes in 2016 and 2017.
The case serves as an illustration of the willingness of state and local officials to pursue lengthy sentences in drug crimes, even when the case is resolved with a guilty plea. For people facing drug charges of any kind, retaining a criminal defense lawyer can be essential in order to alleviate the potential penalties.
