Drug Bust Made at Knoxville Bar
Another Knoxville bar has been closed down under the nuisance law, resulting in the arrest of five patrons on whom police found an assortment of illegal drugs. The following patrons were cited for the following charges:
• Michael Penrod for sale or delivery of schedule II drugs • Michael Brown for sale or delivery of schedule I drugs, possession of schedule II drugs for resale and possession of schedule IV drugs for resale • Dean Koss for possession of schedule II drugs for resale • Wayne Sherrod for possession of schedule II drugs for resale • Jennifer Evans cited for possession of drug paraphernalia
In Tennessee, drug offense penalties are classified by schedules and by the amount of the drugs involved, with possession, sale, or manufacture of a Schedule I drug being the most serious and a Schedule VII drug being the least serious. Here, the defendants are mostly charged with possession or sale of Schedule II drugs. Schedule II contains substances such as cocaine, codeine, oxycodone, morphine, and methadone. In most circumstances, possession of Schedule II drugs with the intent to sell them is a Class C felony in Tennessee which carries a maximum of fifteen years of incarceration. Possession of Schedule IV drugs would obviously carry a less severe penalty and possession of drug paraphernalia is a misdemeanor in most cases.
Under Tennessee law, it is much more serious to possess drugs with the intent to sell them than merely possessing them for personal use (often known as “simple possession”). Thus, a key issue in many felony drug prosecutions is whether or not the defendant intended to sell the drugs that were in his possession or merely use them for his own purposes. This is usually determined by the amount and type of drugs in the defendant’s possession, the defendant’s criminal history, and the circumstances surrounding the arrest. An experienced criminal defense lawyer can assist a defendant in these cases in persuading the jury that the defendant did not intend to sell the drugs that were allegedly found in his possession, hopefully enabling the defendant to avoid a lengthy prison stay.
Source: http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=13086762
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