Question

You are a public defender, and today you find yourself representing a 54-year-old African-American man named Winfred who was arrested the night before and charged with illegal possession of methamphetamine. Your caseload is high, and you expect to see at least another dozen defendants before you can go home for the night. You only have about ten minutes before you and Winfred will be called before the judge to enter a plea. You learn that your client had some prescription diet pills in his possession when he was stopped by the police for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Winfred, however, says that he wasn’t drunk and that he wasn’t under the influence of any drugs but that he was confused after leaving new construction job and was that he was not familiar with. He tells you that he is not as young as he used to be and that he suffers from arthritis. He says that he bought the pills from a friend who told him that they would give him the energy he needed to stay alert and keep working throughout the day. He didn’t know what they were, and he didn’t think about the possibility that they were illegal or that they could result in his arrest. He has since learned of the potential legal consequences, however, and is now afraid of losing his job if he is convicted of a drug crime. He says that he needs the money his job pays to support himself and his wife and that she has no one else to care for her. As your ten-minute consultation draws to a close, you wonder how you should advise Winfred. You know that, technically speaking, he has broken the law, but you also know at if he pleads guilty to possession of a small quantity of this kind of controlled substance, he is likely to be found guilty put on probation. With a probationary sentence, he could continue working and earning an income. Even better, a simple plea deal would allow you to move on to your next client. On the other hand, you believe that you might be able to convince the judge that Winfred did not know that he was in possession of a controlled substance and that therefore he did not possess the necessary mens rea to support a finding of guilty. However, a plea of not guilty could mean that this case could go to trial—and that could take a lot of time. If Winfred ended up being found guilty of possession of a controlled substance, he could conceivably be sentenced to serve time behind bars.

After you lay out the possibilities, Winfred tells you he wants to plead guilty. Do you agree with his decision?

Answer 1

Yes, I am agree with his decision for this act because-

What Winifred did was unintentional and he used metamephatine just for the sake of getting a energy or to be active without any proper knowledge of the substance properties but still it is a part of an illegal activity which can lead to sentence of jail.

It is better to plead guilty and ask the judge to listen the case where I will defend him with the points that winifred was not aware of that he was in a possession of a controlled substance and that too was in a small quantity.

This shows he was not a habitual person of the substance and took it by mistake and without knowing the actual usage of it.

This will help winifred to get out of case with the mercy from the judge and he will not be jailed and can be warned for the future actions and could be relived.

Thanks