Thread by @radleybalko

Thread: This week I’ve been court watching in rural Kentucky.

Yesterday I spoke with two people facing a felony charge because of a concept called “constructive possession.”

You most commonly see this when a cop finds drugs after stopping a car with 2 or more people ...

... and no one claims the drugs. It lets police charge everyone for the drugs. But in these 2 cases, it wasn’t a car, but a house. “John” caught a charge because he and his wife were visiting a relative when the police raided the house and found some meth.

In KY, possession ...

... of any quantity of a drug other than pot is a felony. To convict under constructive possession, a jury must find that the defendant knew about the drugs and had the ability to exert control over them. In John’s case, the police argued mere knowledge of his relative’s ...

... drug habit was enough to infer knowledge of the meth in the house. Which is absurd.

The other case is even worse. “Amanda” is a house cleaner. A client hired her and her husband to help take down an old barn on the client’s property. Turns out that someone living at the ...

... client’s house had missed a court date on a drug charge. Police arrived to serve a bench warrant, searched the house, and found some meth. They then charged everyone on the premises with felony possession.

Again, the police say if she knew someone at the house was ...

... facing drug charges, they can infer her knowledge of drugs on the premises.

Both John and Amanda said the cops told them they’d drop the charges if either turned informant, or gave a tip that panned out.

Both also said their lawyers told them the charge won’t hold, and ...

... advised them to go to trial.

But Amanda is on her third appearance for the charge. She isn’t sure her employer (a local motel) will keep letting her off. She has also spent a lot of money in a private lawyer.

John has a prior drug charge...

... from 2008. Instead of bail, the judge offered him pre-trial monitoring with an ankle bracelet. It costs $400/month (which John pays).

Unable to afford bail, and worried he’d lose his own job (he has 5 kids, works as a grave digger), he accepted. He didn’t realize the case...

... would drag out 5 months. He’s now out $2,000. Unlike bail, he doesn’t get that back if he’s acquitted. He told me though he’s innocent, if he’d known all of this, he’d have pled guilty just to avoid the cost and hassle.

Attorneys here tell me thsee cases are not unusual.

Nor is the idea of police bringing charges that will never hold up, merely to generate leads or coerce cooperation.

(And in this part of the state, nearly everyone knows someone they could report for at least possession of meth.)

For the C.J. system, these people are more a tool — a means to generate more arrests — than human beings with jobs, families, and basic dignity.

A quick correction on this thread: I wrote that possession of any illicit drug other than pot is a felony in Kentucky. This isn’t quite true — possession of meth, opioids, LSD, PCP, cocaine, roofies are all felonies. For other drugs, it’s a misdemeanor. However ...

... attorneys here have also told me that the state’s evidence tampering laws have been so broadly interpreted that people who try to hide or dispose of a drug like pot when pulled over or approached by a cop are often charged with felony evidence tampering. This includes ...

... actions like stuffing the drug into a bra or putting under a seat. This, even though possession of the drug itself is only a misdemeanor.