I’m Charged with What? – A Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer explains the law you’ve been charged with violating
Some crimes are straight forward, like speeding. More often, the law is difficult to understand. As a Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer, I’ve gone to law school and deal with the criminal code every day. I’m going to show you how to understand the law you’ve been charged with violating.
Code
The law is made of statutes. These statutes, or code, are made up of elements. If the government fails to prove just one of the elements, its entire case is lost. As a Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer, I’ve had clients charged with “doctor shopping.” The actual code reads:
It is unlawful for any person knowingly and intentionally to acquire or obtain possession of, to procure or attempt to procure the administration of, to obtain a prescription for, to prescribe or dispense to any person known to be attempting to acquire or obtain possession of, or to procure the administration of any controlled substance by misrepresentation or failure by the person to disclose his receiving any controlled substance from another source, fraud, forgery, deception, subterfuge, alteration of a prescription or written order for a controlled substance, or the use of a false name or address;
This statute seems very complex! But let’s break it down into individual sections: (1) “It is unlawful for any person knowingly and intentionally to…” Most code begins just like this. A Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer understands that the key word here in “intentionally.” The government must prove your intended to do the crime. If you committed the acts prohibited in the code but did so by accident or mistake, you have not committed a crime.
Next: (2) “acquire or obtain possession of, to procure or attempt to procure the administration of, to obtain a prescription for, to prescribe or dispense to any person known to be attempting to acquire or obtain possession of, or to procure the administration of any controlled substance…” The important phrases here are “obtain possession”, “obtain a prescription for” and “procure the administration of.” A Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer knows that often code uses language that seems redundant, but cuts through to the meaning. What this code is saying is receiving drugs, receiving a prescription for drugs, or having a doctor give you drugs during a doctor visit are all equal.
Next: (3) “by misrepresentation or failure by the person to disclose his receiving any controlled substance from another source” A good Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer understands the nuance of this code. What this section is saying is that you cannot misrepresent any fact that was material to getting a prescription. For example, you cannot claim to have a bad back just to get pain meds. Also, you cannot withhold that have already received a prescription for the drug you are seeking.
**Subjective Interpretation** I would interpret this code as only requiring you to answer any questions about current prescriptions honestly; if a doctor fails to ask you about your prescriptions, you have no duty to tell him yourself. I’m sure the government disagrees.
Last: (3) “fraud, forgery, deception, subterfuge, alteration of a prescription or written order for a controlled substance, or the use of a false name or address.” Again, a Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer sees through the redundancy. This section merely makes it a crime to forge or alter a prescription, or use other false information. For example, you cannot ad a 0 onto the number of pills you are supposed to receive. Also you cannot get a prescription under a fake name.
In sum, to show you broke this law, the government would have to prove that: (1) You (2) intentionally (3) got drugs, or a prescription for drugs, or were given drugs at a doctor visit (4) by telling a doctor (5) you had an ailment you didn’t have, or that you already had a prescription for drugs (6) or you forged a prescription.
If the government fails to prove even one of these elements, you win. Ask a Salt Lake City Criminal Defense Lawyer for legal advice regarding your specific drug case.
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
utah criminal defense
,utah criminal defense attorney
,utah criminal defense lawyer
,utah criminal defense lawyers
Law, rules, regulations, and policies are what keep society within limits, and if implemented well, peace and order can be maintained.
A person charged of a criminal case need a knowledgeable, well experienced and an effective defense lawyer to help him on his case. He needs to face trial and he must represented by a defense attorney.
If you need to defend yourself against criminal charges, there are many criminal defense attorneys in Utah who can help you fight for your rights.
Although hiring a criminal lawyer may be costly, most people need to hire lawyers to competently represent them in the court.
If you have been accused of a crime that you are innocent of, what you have to get is the services of a trustworthy criminal attorney.
Television soap operas commonly illustrate the reality of the courtrooms when the innocent are convicted of the crimes they were not guilty of committing while the guilty gets to stroll away free.
In USA, one of the leading brands that offer diverse and high quality products promoting proper hygiene is Difresh USA. If you are looking for the best opportunity to grow and have the opportunity for a new business Difresh USA can help you for they are looking for Exclusive Local Distributors
Getting clean and refresh doesn't sacrifice the place where you are for it should be a habit. Having a healthy body will allow you to do things right and good. And no matter where you are you should practice a healthy and proper hygiene even in little things you do.
Maintaining a healthy and proper hygiene badly needs products that are truly effective and could truly answer our need for this. No matter where we are and at anytime we want to get clean we basically need these products right away and only Difresh USA can supply these in a very easy way
The key reason why some firms thrive while some implode during an financial recession is still a puzzle to many people business-owning business owners. Some wrongly assume that all businesses should suffer via recessionary cycles. But the truth is that some companies are usually essentially recession-proof, and it is not necessarily because they are much larger, better known, or a lot more generously capitalized.
Companies like Arch Coal (ACI) and Massey Energy (MEE) watched his or her stock climbed.
Website Flipping is done mainly in the United States which involves buying an asset online, particularly a Website and promptly reselling it for making good money. Generally, flipping can be applied to assets, but it can also be applied to the Websites when it comes to internet based business.
Website Flipping denote to developing or purchasing a website and then setting it up and selling it for extra income. However, if one spends time to create, optimize and get traffic to your website you will get the right amount of money for it.
Earning income or extra money from online sources is easy but one need to know there are some advantages and disadvantages involved in it. So follow this easy and new technique of making money online which requires basic knowledge of computers and little bit of tweaking ideas. This new way of making money is called "Website Flipping". Nowadays, this is the latest trend in online world and a lot of online business persons are snagging the right moment to earn money from this. One has to do little
Five factors have combined to create a dramatic increase in the focus on compliance management in recent years for investment advisor firms. 1. High profile accounting irregularities. 2. Heightened media and political scrutiny. 3. Increased SEC enforcement activity. 4. Raised expectations on the burden of proof of compliance. 5. Shift to longer, more detailed SEC examinations. Consequently, there is a greater need for a comprehensive compliance monitoring system that can meet the increasing dema
One of the main issues impacting compliance officers today is the difficulty of monitoring the personal trading activities of employees in accordance with best practice and industry regulations. Adherence to rules such as SEC Rule 17j-1 and Rule 204A-1 and adoption of the best practices recommended by the SEC can be very time consuming and distracting for any compliance department.
Discuss this Article
