Presumption of Sale, Rebuttable in my state. Question.

[smoke headies]

1.25 oz or more of Marijuana in my State is considered "Presumption of Sale, Rebuttable"

Punishable Up to 1 year in Jail, $2,000 fine.

What does Rebuttable mean?

My friend just got busted with a little over 1.25 oz. His bail was only around $100. He said that it was all personal use (which it actually was), but still got written up for "Presumption of Sale"

Thanks for the help folks.

 

[smoke headies]

Ok, I did a little homework (I guess I should have done that before) but I still have a question.

Rebuttable presumption: Presumed fact based on the proof of other facts. Most presumptions are rebuttable, which means that the person against whom the presumption applies may present evidence to the contrary, thus nullifying the presumption. If a person has not been heard of for seven years by people who should have seen him, he may be presumed dead - but this presumption is rebutted if he turns up!

So this makes sense, however how can my friend prove with evidence that the marijuana WAS actually self use? (it really was self use)

 

[whodi]

Get a lawyer of course

 

[Blue Dot]

Funny thing is, in america you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

That is, it's the prosecutions burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the mj was for sale but the politicians just did an end around this by making you prove your innocence, which is never the way US law was supposed to be and shows how clearly biased drug laws are compared to regular laws.

 

[smoke headies]

I know the law is f#$ed up

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Rebuttable means your attorney can argue that the presumption is wrong. Legally, a "presumption" in a statute means it's proven just by meeting a certain criteria. Kinda like how blowing a .08 automatically means you are drunk driving and you can not argue that you weren't drunk in court. In your example, it means that by possessing 1.25oz of weed, it is presumed to be for sale (aka intent to distribute). However, since it is rebuttable a defense lawyer can try to show the judge/jury that it was not meant for sale.

 

[smoke headies]

Is there any good way to show that is was personal smoke? Not by just throwing a bag of weed in front of the judge?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Not really a good way that I know of but Im not a lawyer and I don't know the specific circumstances of your friend's case. Like for example, if it was during a house raid and no scales or plastic baggies were found, there could be a rebuttal that the tools necessary to resell were not found so therefore it wasn't for sale. Just an example of how that could be argued.

 

[libby]

Th1s 1s me...............go buy half the amount you had, make x amount of jo1nts, sl1gher b1gger than the norm, we1ght them, 1nclude the we12ght of the paper... put them to the judge 1nstead,we know the real we1ght 1s double, he knows that, but 1t won't look half as bad.

 

[hempzi]

Laws like this make me nervous. I like to keep quite a large head stash and I don't sell.

The justice system in this country is fucked up. Guilty until proven innocent.

How did your friend get busted, in a car or at home...