Introduction
In many states, there’s a fine line between simple possession, and possession with intent to distribute. In the state of Oklahoma evidently getting caught with a small amount of marijuana is a felony. Officer Dallas Lang preformed a routine traffic stop on I - 40 in Okmulgee County Oklahoma, when he searched Mr. O’ Brian car, he noticed the driving carrying 130 jars of marijuana with a street value of 160,000.00 in the trunk of his car. Kevin O’Brien was arrested and taken to Okmulgee County jail where he will be held for drug distribution with the intent to sale. Oklahoma happens to be one of the strictest states when it comes to felony possession, any amount of marijuana will earn Mr. O Brien jail time. Officer Dallas …show more content…
O’ Brian appears at his preliminary hearing, he will listen to the County’s District Attorney state the evidence found against him. The District Attorney has to present enough evidence against Mr. O’ Brian to convince the judge a crime was committed. In the case of Mr. Kevin O’ Brian, the District attorney has found enough evidence to receive a probable sentence of 4 years, with bail set at $100,000.00. If the District Attorney did not find enough evidence, but were able to charge him for a lesser crime, the defendant’s attorney would ask for bail to be reduced. The reasoning behind verdict of 4 years is because of Oklahoma’s State Laws. I believe I’ve mentioned earlier, that Oklahoma has one of the strictest laws against marijuana. After doing some digging, I’ve found a website called Norml.org, “Working to Reform Marijuana Laws”. After reading over Oklahoma’s Laws and Penalties, I found a list of Offenses accompanied with Penalties, Incarceration time, and Max Fines. In the State of Oklahoma, if you are found with 25-1000 pounds of Marijuana with the intent to sale or distribute, it’s considered a felony with 4 years to life as incarceration time, and a max fine of $ 100,000, overall I agree with this finding. After the preliminary hearing, the defense team and the prosecutor will appear before the judge and make pre-trail motions. Pre-trail motions are efforts made to set boundaries for trail. At this point the defense may have a couple of tricks up …show more content…
Why Mr. Kevin O’Brien’s car was searched in the first place? Officer Dallas Lang states it was a routine traffic stop, that’s it! The question is did Officer Lane have “Probable Cause” to search the vehicle...the answer to this million dollar question is no. Nothing was mentioned in the video in reference to Mr. Kevin O’ Brian given Officer Lang any indication that drugs were in the car. If Mr. O’ Brian was impaired, some of these indications would of been obvious, when Mr. O’Brien rolled the window down. First indication would be Officer Lane noticing smoke exiting the car window, if smoke wasn’t present, Office Lang would smell signs of marijuana in the car. When a person is around someone that has smoke marijuana it’s a dead give away. If smoke or the smell of marijuana weren’t present at the time of the traffic stop, Officer Lane would have noticed other indication, such as symptoms, given by the driver. Such symptoms would be bloodshot eyes, Fast hart rate, lack of coordination, sleepy, and showing sings of being lethargic. Officer Lang never stated seeing anything in Mr. O’ Brian’s lap, or seeing any signs of pipes, shredded leafy debris, eyedroppers, cigarette rolling papers or small metal clips in Mr. O’Brien’s driver set or anywhere in the car. After reading a little on Probable Cause, I went a little further to see if Officer Lang needed a warrant to search his car.
In many states, there’s a fine line between simple possession, and possession with intent to distribute. In the state of Oklahoma evidently getting caught with a small amount of marijuana is a felony. Officer Dallas Lang preformed a routine traffic stop on I - 40 in Okmulgee County Oklahoma, when he searched Mr. O’ Brian car, he noticed the driving carrying 130 jars of marijuana with a street value of 160,000.00 in the trunk of his car. Kevin O’Brien was arrested and taken to Okmulgee County jail where he will be held for drug distribution with the intent to sale. Oklahoma happens to be one of the strictest states when it comes to felony possession, any amount of marijuana will earn Mr. O Brien jail time. Officer Dallas …show more content…
O’ Brian appears at his preliminary hearing, he will listen to the County’s District Attorney state the evidence found against him. The District Attorney has to present enough evidence against Mr. O’ Brian to convince the judge a crime was committed. In the case of Mr. Kevin O’ Brian, the District attorney has found enough evidence to receive a probable sentence of 4 years, with bail set at $100,000.00. If the District Attorney did not find enough evidence, but were able to charge him for a lesser crime, the defendant’s attorney would ask for bail to be reduced. The reasoning behind verdict of 4 years is because of Oklahoma’s State Laws. I believe I’ve mentioned earlier, that Oklahoma has one of the strictest laws against marijuana. After doing some digging, I’ve found a website called Norml.org, “Working to Reform Marijuana Laws”. After reading over Oklahoma’s Laws and Penalties, I found a list of Offenses accompanied with Penalties, Incarceration time, and Max Fines. In the State of Oklahoma, if you are found with 25-1000 pounds of Marijuana with the intent to sale or distribute, it’s considered a felony with 4 years to life as incarceration time, and a max fine of $ 100,000, overall I agree with this finding. After the preliminary hearing, the defense team and the prosecutor will appear before the judge and make pre-trail motions. Pre-trail motions are efforts made to set boundaries for trail. At this point the defense may have a couple of tricks up …show more content…
Why Mr. Kevin O’Brien’s car was searched in the first place? Officer Dallas Lang states it was a routine traffic stop, that’s it! The question is did Officer Lane have “Probable Cause” to search the vehicle...the answer to this million dollar question is no. Nothing was mentioned in the video in reference to Mr. Kevin O’ Brian given Officer Lang any indication that drugs were in the car. If Mr. O’ Brian was impaired, some of these indications would of been obvious, when Mr. O’Brien rolled the window down. First indication would be Officer Lane noticing smoke exiting the car window, if smoke wasn’t present, Office Lang would smell signs of marijuana in the car. When a person is around someone that has smoke marijuana it’s a dead give away. If smoke or the smell of marijuana weren’t present at the time of the traffic stop, Officer Lane would have noticed other indication, such as symptoms, given by the driver. Such symptoms would be bloodshot eyes, Fast hart rate, lack of coordination, sleepy, and showing sings of being lethargic. Officer Lang never stated seeing anything in Mr. O’ Brian’s lap, or seeing any signs of pipes, shredded leafy debris, eyedroppers, cigarette rolling papers or small metal clips in Mr. O’Brien’s driver set or anywhere in the car. After reading a little on Probable Cause, I went a little further to see if Officer Lang needed a warrant to search his car.