Misemeanor Possession of Marijuana in Virginia

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Virginia

I was charged with possesion of Marijuana in Stafford County Virginia last night. What happened was we were parked behind a Kohls and a police car came and an officer walked up to the car and said he smelled marijuana, so he then searched all three of us. He found nothing in my possesion or in my pockets at all, but there was a bong in a backpack.
I told the officers that the bong was my cousins and the backpack was mine, and the backpack was not in my possession until the night previously in which my cousin left the bong inside of it, so I was simply going to return it to him that night.

One of my friends admitted to smoking out of it while we were in the car, however I told the officer that I was not in the car until 15 minutes prior to the officers stopping us. I said that I had smoked earlier in the night, 6 hours previously, and that I had not smoked in the car. The officers then said they found marijuana in the car, I personally had no idea there was marijuana in the car. The officers never said where it was found and I had to ask multiple times for them to even show it to me. It was little over an hour before the officers even showed me the "evidence" they had collected.

Another officer also showed up on scene (a 3rd officer) and began talking about a "similar" situation he had where he had stopped a kid named Lenny who had had a smoking pipe and 2 clear empty baggies on him. The 3rd officer said something about tampering with evidence and these were his exact words "I changed the coloring of the baggies and sprinkled some residue on them for court" which is disgustingly dishonest. I wanted to know what are the chances of me getting this dropped to a paraphernalia charge or dropped in general since I didn't know about the actual marijuana in the car. Since I was not charged with paraphernalia and they did nothing about the bong except say "lie in court and this will bite you in the ass".

Your help would be greatly appreciated

First, you're going to need an attorney to handle this case for you. Worst case you can get free legal aid help from the state, it just won't be top notch. Do you know exactly what you were charged with, or at least your case number and the county you're in? I can try and look it up to see exactly what you've been charged with and possible punished handed down by the court.

I doubt there is any way you are going to get this “dropped in general” as the evidence of your guilt is overwhelming. The only way it will be dropped to a paraphernalia charge is if you can work that deal with the prosecutor.

The police are not going to give you a presentation of the evidence right there on the side of the road, back at the station, or anywhere else – No matter how many times you demand they do so. The presentation of evidence happens through the discovery process and in court.

It is the rare pothead that does not claim, “I personally had no idea there was marijuana in the car.” So, nobody is going to buy that. In fact, I don’t buy it. Even if everything else in your post is 100% accurate, I don’t buy that you were out with two of your pot smoking friends, had a bong with you, your “friend” smoked pot inside your car “parked behind a kohls,” and you spent 15 minutes inside that car before the cop showed up…yet, you had no idea that there was marijuana in the car. I seriously doubt that a prosecutor, judge, or jury would buy it either.

Get an attorney and take the best deal he/she can get for you with the prosecutor.