Mephedrone Trial - Federal Police

[Rudolf]

So a friend of mine in Aus was caught importing mephedrone a while back. At that time he thought it was legal (he did a reasonable amount of research as well)

However down the track he found out it wasn't so, and was subsequently searched by the feds after they seized some coming through the mail. He has been charged under the drug analogue act. As it was for importation, it is a federal matter.

He is looking to plead not guilty in a hearing coming up. The prosecution wants him to be fined several thousand dollars and have a criminal conviction recorded.

Has anyone else been through this and have any tips for him?

 

[Verybuffed]

How long ago are you talking?

 

[tuna]

Well unless your a big supplier, dogging on other people is not going to get you off like they might say. -- *achem!*

So scratch that.

Did you leave evidence on your computer, did you use you actual credit card, and was it EMS/courier or any registered signed mail, or just plain mail? Whats the amount?

If you don't want a federal record, you might want to get a good lawyer!

The funny thing is, even though ignorance is no excuse, it is funny how the media said the AFP admitted they didn't exactly know the legal status themselves about a year ago, along with your ACA and Today Tonights, showing you HOW TO BUY MEPHEDRONE ONLINE!

And also, everyone that watches TV news (for a laugh or for real) saw how to order it online, so did your worst enemy using a Mastercard / Visa gift card (hopefully you used a gift card, and destroyed it after, right?) ordered some to you just to get you in trouble.

 

[tuna]

If your a fed trying to collect information, you already know all this, and I don't think anyone's going to give up a good secret about how to get off these charges. See a thread a few down. Maybe get in contact with that "lolz" guy i was just reading a thread about legal stuff. He might have better information??

 

[rolls_]

Cough up big for a lawyer that has beaten the charges before, you should be able to track someone down if you spend a week researching prior charges, but if he bought it in his name and theres evidence to support him paying for it and ordering it to his home address I really doubt there is much he can do.

 

[tuna]

Open Wifi credit card theft is pretty easy and common. All the judges know about how they can download free porno on their iphone when theyre at certain locations. Thanks to IE your credt card and form details are always saved in a file you cannot access without the h4x0r knowledge

Id like to know who actually came to the door with the state and local cops and what three letter group they were with.

 

[static_mind]

Is this the first time someone has been charged with 4-MMC under the analog act?

 

[tuna]

no..

 

[Rudolf]

He did have a good lawyer, however couldn't afford it after a while and was forced to go back to legal aid... Real just system huh?... Anyway computer was completely clean including ISP log, and no purchase evidence was found. However when searched they found a reasonable amount on the premise... He is being charged for several counts of importation (supplier sent one order in individual sachets), one charge of possessing equipment and one of possession.

He is not looking to defend the fact that he imported, simply advise the court that he made a mistake of fact in regards to it's legality, and he must show cause with the reasonable steps he took to come to the conclusion it was legal.

This is a letter from the previous solicitor.

"I attended court today and adjourned your matter until the ---- for further mention.
I have also received more material from the DPP.
I spoke to a barrister today at some length about the matter and the legal position is quite complicated.
Your defence would be that you made a mistake of fact in that you thought that the drug was legal. However, if your mistake was a mistake in law they you would not have a defence. The commonwealth legislation is convoluted on the point and there are a number of High Court cases which discuss the law in the area.
I will need to set aside some time to research the legal position before I can give you an opinion of your prospects on a hearing. I intend to do this next week.
I have previously advised you what the Crown will seek as a penalty if you plead guilty.
At this stage I understand your instructions to be that you wish to push ahead to plead not guilty.
My fees would be as follows;
1. Plea of Guilty - $1500 plus GST
2. Plea of not guilty - preparation $1500; and $1500 for each day of hearing. (plus GST). I expect the hearing would take 2 to 3 days.
Before we proceed any further, I suggest that I complete the research, so that I can give you informed advice as to your prospects on a hearing.
In addition I will be able to give you an opinion as to whether you will be able to achieve a sentence which does not involve the recording of a conviciton.
Can you please place $1500 Plus GST into our trust account.?"

And Tuna you are right. He remembers those reports when even the feds didn't know if it was illegal or not...

What he needs is a precedent of a similar matter where a court has ruled in favour of the defendant where he was arguing a mistake of fact, preferably in regard to prohibited substances. My friend is no criminal. He is a contributing member to society and hasn't even had as much as a speeding fine before. I don't think its fair to ruin his life over something like this. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[MrIbis]

^It just hasn't happened mate.

I know of importation cases, including those related to mephedrone.

put it this way, your friend was foolish to assume anything. The ACC have been big on the trail of mephedrone, especially those higher up the chain. In the case i know of thats happening here in victoria, the ACC are chasing a few players they know of - and believe me the evidence they have is quite impressive. Their methods aren't just raiding your house either.

Anyway, your friend should probably plead guilty. Ignorance doesn't excuse one from the law - and when you're messing with drugs - you should probably assume they're illegal, even if they're in a gray area in your eyes.

If you want some advice, pm me, i may be of some assistance.

 

[Rudolf]

Cheers Ibis. Just tried a pm but I'm not able to yet (greenlighter...)

 

[Meph Trial]

Move to AusDD Cheers

[MOVE THIS TO THIS TREAD PLEASE http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=529433 ]



Pretty much every firm that has faced these charges this year has looked into this defence in some detail.

To summarise, the charge of importation of a border-controlled substance, 307.4 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code states



I assume that because of the $1500 fine the CDPP is offering as a sentence, your charges relate to importation without commercial intent which is 307.4.

The Federal charge of importation carries with it a fault element of "recklessness". This means the Commonwealth Prosecutor only has to prove from the evidence that the defendant was "reckless" as to whether the substance being imported was a prohibited substance. Keeping in mind how convoluted analogue legislation is, and practically impossible for the lay person to understand, common sense would suggest that there is a good case for arguing the defendant made a genuine mistake.

Nevertheless, if you do decide to follow this line of defence, you can expect it to cost you a lot more money and the Commonwealth prosecutors will throw everything at you because they have already secured guilty pleas in these exact situations and will not want them being challenged.

While I'm not aware of any similar matters of mistake of fact vs mistake of law in regards to drugs, this post detailing a High Court ruling is a must read for any lawyer interested in this defence. My instinct is that a judge ruling on this defence would be likely to determine it as a mistake of law, and therefore not a valid defence.

If the verdict is guilty, the defendant will receive a conviction. In Federal sentencing, any sentence above a bond carries a mandatory conviction, this is non-negotiable unless you can negotiate a bond for a sentence.

Please get the best counsel you can afford and best of luck.



What makes you think this system is supposed to be fair? The legal process, especially in these cases, is simply a political exercise. The AFP and the CDPP are simply acting out in response to media attention, making headlines to reassure the public that "something is being done". It has nothing to do with any proven dangers of the substance involved, nothing to do with striking a blow to major organised crime and cares nothing about the consequences of imposing a drug importation conviction on someone who was not dealing and may genuinely have acted in good spirit to determine the substance's legality.

Does fairness really matter as much as securing convictions in an election year?

Do you think the AFP Assistant Commissioner and the Commonwealth prosecutors in these operations actually sit around and debate whether these prosecutions are just?

 

[9725]

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=529433

Pretty much every firm that has faced these charges this year has looked into this defence in some detail.

To summarise, the charge of importation of a border-controlled substance, 307.4 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code states

307.4 Importing and exporting border controlled drugs or border controlled plants--no defence relating to lack of commercial intent

(1) A person commits an offence if:

(a) the person imports or exports a substance; and

(b) the substance is a border controlled drug or border controlled plant.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years, or 400 penalty units, or both.

(2) The fault element for paragraph (1)(b) is recklessness.

I assume that because of the $1500 fine the CDPP is offering as a sentence, your charges relate to importation without commercial intent which is 307.4.

The Federal charge of importation carries with it a fault element of "recklessness". This means the Commonwealth Prosecutor only has to prove from the evidence that the defendant was "reckless" as to whether the substance being imported was a prohibited substance. Keeping in mind how convoluted analogue legislation is, and practically impossible for the lay person to understand, common sense would suggest that there is a good case for arguing the defendant made a genuine mistake.

Nevertheless, if you do decide to follow this line of defence, you can expect it to cost you a lot more money and the Commonwealth prosecutors will throw everything at you because they have already secured guilty pleas in these exact situations and will not want them being challenged.

While I'm not aware of any similar matters of mistake of fact vs mistake of law in regards to drugs, this post detailing a High Court ruling is a must read for any lawyer interested in this defence. My instinct is that a judge ruling on this defence would be likely to determine it as a mistake of law, and therefore not a valid defence.

If the verdict is guilty, the defendant will receive a conviction. In Federal sentencing, any sentence above a bond carries a mandatory conviction, this is non-negotiable unless you can negotiate a bond for a sentence.

Please get the best counsel you can afford and best of luck.

My friend is no criminal. He is a contributing member to society and hasn't even had as much as a speeding fine before. I don't think its fair to ruin his life over something like this.

What makes you think this system is supposed to be fair? The legal process, especially in these cases, is simply a political exercise. The AFP and the CDPP are simply acting out in response to media attention, making headlines to reassure the public that "something is being done". It has nothing to do with any proven dangers of the substance involved, nothing to do with striking a blow to major organised crime and cares nothing about the consequences of imposing a drug importation conviction on someone who was not dealing and may genuinely have acted in good spirit to determine the substance's legality.

Does fairness really matter as much as securing convictions in an election year?

Do you think the AFP Assistant Commissioner and the Commonwealth prosecutors in these operations actually sit around and debate whether these prosecutions are just?

 

[weewaa]

how much did he import?

 

[PsiloSubNaut]

Removed unneeded posts.

 

[thestudent14]

I think if MrIbis Pm's you, you should be able to reply.
Not certain of that, but I think thats the way it works until you're a bluelighter (50 posts)

I'd hate to see something like this ruin someones career. If he is trying to pleed non-guilty I definately advise trying to get that lawyer back. Also any research he can do in his spare time to find anything that shows he thought it was legal, e-mails, text message, facebook posts anything provided the dates pre-date the purchase.

If it is a larger quantity though, I wouldn't even bother. It's alot easier to say I saw this stuff was legal on ACA and Today Tonight then it is if it's a large quantity that could be sold to other people.

Best of luck and please keep us updated.

 

[PsiloSubNaut]

I think if MrIbis Pm's you, you should be able to reply.
Not certain of that, but I think thats the way it works until you're a bluelighter (50 posts)

You are only able to PM bluelight staff (mods, smods, admins) until you have reached bluelighter status (50 post count).

This is mainly in place to stop new members from trying to score drugs by PMing people who post about substances which they have recently sampled.

 

[thestudent14]

My bad then, must've only been mods that I had PM'd when I first joined BL all those 9 months ago.

 

[Rudolf]

Pretty much every firm that has faced these charges this year has looked into this defence in some detail.

To summarise, the charge of importation of a border-controlled substance, 307.4 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code states



I assume that because of the $1500 fine the CDPP is offering as a sentence, your charges relate to importation without commercial intent which is 307.4.

The Federal charge of importation carries with it a fault element of "recklessness". This means the Commonwealth Prosecutor only has to prove from the evidence that the defendant was "reckless" as to whether the substance being imported was a prohibited substance. Keeping in mind how convoluted analogue legislation is, and practically impossible for the lay person to understand, common sense would suggest that there is a good case for arguing the defendant made a genuine mistake.

Nevertheless, if you do decide to follow this line of defence, you can expect it to cost you a lot more money and the Commonwealth prosecutors will throw everything at you because they have already secured guilty pleas in these exact situations and will not want them being challenged.

While I'm not aware of any similar matters of mistake of fact vs mistake of law in regards to drugs, this post detailing a High Court ruling is a must read for any lawyer interested in this defence. My instinct is that a judge ruling on this defence would be likely to determine it as a mistake of law, and therefore not a valid defence.

If the verdict is guilty, the defendant will receive a conviction. In Federal sentencing, any sentence above a bond carries a mandatory conviction, this is non-negotiable unless you can negotiate a bond for a sentence.

Please get the best counsel you can afford and best of luck.



What makes you think this system is supposed to be fair? The legal process, especially in these cases, is simply a political exercise. The AFP and the CDPP are simply acting out in response to media attention, making headlines to reassure the public that "something is being done". It has nothing to do with any proven dangers of the substance involved, nothing to do with striking a blow to major organised crime and cares nothing about the consequences of imposing a drug importation conviction on someone who was not dealing and may genuinely have acted in good spirit to determine the substance's legality.

Does fairness really matter as much as securing convictions in an election year?

Do you think the AFP Assistant Commissioner and the Commonwealth prosecutors in these operations actually sit around and debate whether these prosecutions are just?

Thanks mate, I'm sure that will help him a lot. Proving he didn't act recklessly would involve showing evidence that he took reasonable steps to ensure what he was doing was not illegal, although this may a bit of a stretch as it was simply phone calls, online research and word of mouth. Nothing that would hold up in court.

I'll advise him to plead with his lawyer to see if they can set up a payment plan. Otherwise, do you think legal aid will be of any use in such a case?

 

[Rudolf]

how much did he import?

About 8 grams in separate envelopes (which they are arguing is 8 counts of importation (even though it was simply one order which was not requesting to be sent separately) and found with 20 grams.. Plus scales.