I Was Stopped And A Drug Dog Sniffed Out Drugs In My Car. Will The New Hemp Laws Affect My Case?

As of June 1, it became legal in Texas to possess hemp-derived products that contain CBD and less than 0.3 percent of THC. This means that the drug dogs that are out on the street who have been trained to detect cannabis (all of which was previously illegal) are unable to differentiate between cannabis that has THC and cannabis that doesn’t have THC or contains very low levels. If you were to be pulled over now in a car while carrying CBD-containing cannabis without any THC, and a drug dog search were ordered, the dog would alert on your vehicle which would prompt a full search by the officer, the officer would then find the marijuana, and decide whether or not to arrest you, even though you had done nothing wrong. Because of this, searches which occur after June 1, 2019 with the use of the old dogs (which are currently all dogs on the street in use by APD) are subject to being challenged. If you have a drug case that occurred after this date and involved a search by a drug dog, then you should contact an attorney for a consultation to see if your case can be dismissed.

Furthermore, there is even an argument that any drug dog search in an open case is subject to challenge, irrespective of whether or not the drug seized was marijuana. When the legislature makes a change to a law that affects the punishment of an offense and lowers the punishment level, that change is assumed to be retroactive unless the legislature specifically says that it is not retroactive, and in this instance, the Texas Legislature did not declare their changes to classification of cannabis to not be retroactive. Because the punishment for certain types of cannabis products has been lowered to nothing, the distinction between hemp and marijuana now applies even to cases before June 1, 2019, and also to drug dog searches that did not ultimately involve any marijuana whatsoever.

The implications across the state are huge, but the bottom line is that if you have an open drug case of any kind where a drug dog was used that you have not pled to or been convicted of, you should contact a competent attorney to litigate this issue successfully and get the search and any drugs found tossed out of court.

Am I Eligible For Pretrial Diversion In Travis County On A First-Offense DWI If I Refused To Take A Blood Test and Made The Officers Get A Warrant?

There are 254 counties in Texas, and Travis County considers itself the most liberal or progressive county, despite being the last to implement pretrial diversions for DWIs. Pretrial diversions for DWIs are programs that allow someone who has no previous criminal history to have their case dismissed upon the successful completion of certain requirements. In order to qualify for pretrial diversion in Travis County, you can’t have been in an accident associated with your DWI, your blood alcohol concentration must have been below 0.15 percent at the time of testing, there must have been no involvement or alleged involvement of drugs, there must be no prior offenses as well as no prior criminal history, and you must have consented to either the breath or blood sample in the case.

First-time offenses that occur after September 1 of 2019 will be eligible for pretrial diversion assuming that the only deficiency was that you refused to submit a specimen of breath or blood. These cases will also be eligible for deferred adjudication after September 1. It is somewhat unknown how the landscape is going to change in terms of negotiations for these types of offenses going forward. Currently, the pretrial diversion program is a pretty intensive program that requires an ignition interlock device for a full year and monitoring for a full year before you can get your charges dismissed. It’s possible that it may change in this new landscape, but it would be speculative to say.

For more information on New Hemp Laws In The State Of Texas, a free case evaluation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (512) 478-9898 today.