All Charges Dismissed in Florida Cocaine Trafficking Case
Florida (PRWEB) November 18, 2013 -- In the State of Florida vs. Jeffrey Lamont Patterson, a cocaine trafficking case, law enforcement officers arrested a man in rooming house during the execution of a search warrant by the local street enforcement unit. The suspect was charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. (Case #56-2012-CF-000183-A, Circuit Court of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in and for St. Lucie County, Florida)
According to court documents, law enforcement believed that the suspect lived in the residence because he kept his dogs in kennel runs in the backyard. According to the records, officers saw the suspect run into a bathroom at the rear of the residence and could hear the man flushing items into the toilet.
The defendant retained the services of T. Charles Shafer, Attorney at Law to represent him in the case, according to court documents. Attorney Shafer, with help from Investigator Jeremiah Lyons, was able to locate the owner of the home. The homeowner was prepared to testify that Shafer’s client did not reside at the rooming house. All utility records obtained showed other peoples’ names. The client boarded his dogs at the rooming house because insurance restrictions did not permit the animals to be housed at his residence, according to court records.
According to the case records, Investigator Lyons proved that it was not possible to see the hallway from the window where the officers said they had seen the defendant entering the bathroom, nor was it possible to hear the toilet being flushed through the closed front door of the residence.
Records obtained from a number of other search warrant incidents involving the same lead enforcement officer demonstrated that this officer claimed to hear a toilet flushing on several occasions, thereby allowing his men to break through the door, court documents show.
Other individuals present in the rooming house when it was raided were located and questioned. They testified that Shafer’s client was at the residence feeding his dogs only minutes before the officers arrived, according to court documents. The defense argued that although the defendant was discovered in the rear bathroom when officers broke through the front door, he was not trying to hide anything, but was simply washing up after feeding and petting his animals.
According to court documents, on the eve of the trial the state entered nolle prosequi, a legal phrase meaning unwilling to pursue. It is a phrase used in many jurisdictions in criminal prosecutions that describes the prosecutor’s decision to voluntarily discontinue criminal charges either before a trial or before a verdict is reached. Thus, all charges were completely dismissed against the defendant, court documents show.
Since 1986, T. Charles Shafer has practiced criminal defense in Fort Pierce, Florida. He received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of South Carolina and his law degree from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Prior to receiving his law degree, attorney Shafer represented federal inmates before parole boards while a member of the UNC Prisoners’ Rights Project. After working as a public defender for three years, he worked several more years in private practice. In 1991, he opened his own law firm.
Today, Attorney Shafer is AV Preeminent® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®, which is the highest rating assigned to an attorney and a direct indication that he or she is highly regarded by their peers and in the legal community. To arrange a consultation with attorney Shafer regarding your criminal case, please call (888) 617-7654 or visit his website online at http://www.tcharleslaw.com.
Charles Shafer, T. Charles Shafer, Attorney at Law, http://www.tcharleslaw.com/, +1 (772) 467-2601, [email protected]
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