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Then after I waited like a year my lawyer calls and said that hes no longer my lawyer beause the case has been dropped without predjudice
I guess to be on the safe side, you should probably contact your former lawyer and find out exactly what the meaning of "dropped without prejudice" is, in reference to your individual case.
http://www.jacksonnewspapers.com/news/x576544434/Meth-case-against-Sullivan-dropped-without-prejudice
I see in the link I've provided someone else in WV made mention of a case being "dropped without prejudice," and it looks like that language might mean
the state would be barred from bringing new charges in the case.
If I were in your situation, I really WOULD try to find out how your case came to be "dropped without prejudice," so you'll know upon what grounds the charges were dropped, in case this ever comes up again.
now my main concern is that in West Virginia there is no statute of limitations on felonies(my charges were delivery of a controled substance) since it was my first offense do you think that they will bring back the charges and if they do how long is it till they usually would do this cause man I dont want them to wait till my bay is like 5 and then I get charged and leave his life.
If the state were, for some incredibly weird reason, to re-open your case and begin investigating and collecting evidence, seeking indictments against you, it could take as much time as they need to build their case against you. There really isn't any set time limit on this sort of thing especially since they're operating with no statute of limitations for felony offenses.
I personally don't think they'd bother with bringing all this stuff up again, if it were really dismissed or dropped, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right? This is why I suggested you contact the lawyer who handled your case before and
find out WHY the charges against you were dismissed. That's important information for YOU to know.
Did you ever receive or sign any paperwork or documentation about this after the charges were dropped? You might want to read them a little more closely if you still have them.
Also does anyone know a good lawyer in the northern panhandle part of wv, and if they do have video on me when would my lawyer be able to file a motion to view the evidence against me.
I'm not from your area, so I don't know of any good lawyers around the panhandle. I'm certain that if you take some time to look through your yellow pages, however, you'll be able to find someone who can at least answer your questions. Or, if you do happen to contact your previous lawyer, maybe you can ask them to refer you to someone who has a great deal of experience with cases like yours, if they're unable to represent you again (or you don't want him / her back) for whatever reasons.
Any lawyer worth their briefcase is going to want to review and examine the evidence against their client at the pre-trial conference or hearing. It's the standard procedure for handling cases where a proper defense must be prepared. Think about it:
if a defense lawyer has no idea what kind of evidence exists to convict their client, how can they expect to be able to provide any sort of defense?
The pre-trial conference / hearing is also where they'll determine which evidence will be admissible in court, and specify which witnesses will be allowed to testify. At this time the defense attorney would have access to the evidence against their client and would be able to file a pre-trial motion to suppress potentially damaging evidence (a video, for example), and / or witness testimony against their client. This is also where the process of "discovery" happens, which accounts for all the information, evidence, witnesses / informants, and other resources gathered to prove the guilt of the defendant.
At any rate, your best bet is going to be to find out why your charges were dismissed, and maybe even try to find some record of this dismissal. I think you'll sleep better at night once you figure all this out. If you can get a lawyer to explain to you
how criminal charges are dismissed, you'll probably feel a lot better about your personal situation, too.
Good luck.
