We read about sizable drug possession busts all the time that involve Union County. Well, there was certainly a sizable one last Friday. In this regard, a Union County man from Elizabeth was charged with possession of between $8,000,000 and $10,000,000 of heroin. The arrest is believed to be the largest seizure of pure heroin (i.e. was not cut for distribution) in related County history.
Possession with Intent to Distribute is a First Degree Offense when it involves 5.0 ounces or more of Heroin. These charges undoubtedly carry a First Degree Grade and the crime is punishable by ten to twenty years in prison. It may be, however, that this suspect will be charged as a Leader of a Drug Trafficking Network and even Maintaining a Drug Production Facility, given the extraordinary quantity of heroin and the fact that it was not yet packaged. If charged with these offenses too, this gentleman very well may be exposed to a jail term covering most of his remaining life.
When the stakes in a Union County heroin case are as high as this one, there is sometimes little downside to pushing the prosecutor to the limit. What I mean is that there may be so much mandatory jail involved and such a hard line taken by the prosecutor, that the defense has limited relative exposure in fighting the seizure and even forcing the case to trial. Whether the Union County suspect has any success in this regard may hinge on the experience and knowledge of his criminal attorney. I can tell you first hand, however, that good heroin distribution defense lawyers do not come cheap on First Degree charges.
