How Can You Be Charged with Manufacture of Drugs when You Only Have Possession

My question involves criminal law for the state of: WV

I had a swarm of officers knock on my door to ask me some questions and once I stepped outside i was no longer allowed to go back in while the officers waited for a search warrant. After a couple hours they were able to do their search and found 1 bag of meth and less than an eighth of weed total drugs. They took my husbands safe with all money he had saved including our change and some old coins saved for our kids, some keys and cameras and a cpl cell phones. There was nothing illegal in it. However they left my safe that had everything illegal after they took out my scales and a spoon and (2) gram bags of weed. They also took some baggies off my shelf and put it with it all so they cld try to say I was selling but I told them have a reasonable explanation. Yes I have scales because I hate to get ripped off. Everyone wants to get what they pay for. Yes i had my less than an 1/8 of weed in two baggies because I figured itd keep it from dryin out so I put it in the baqggies that they found on a shelf with my beads and jewelry. I just bought the baggies the day before. Now my question is, how in the world can they charge me with manufacture of a controlled substance 1 &2?

I suggest you discuss the issue with your attorney and no one else. You appear to be going up the river.

Which is why I am asking on this forum before I do go up river because I dont understand how this happens.

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Quoting mommaB1982

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Which is why I am asking on this forum before I do go up river because I dont understand how this happens.

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Easy.

It's a game society plays with drug dealing criminals. Charge you with the maximum, take away your valuables, get you to spend thousands on a lawyer, then let you plead to a lesser charge so you get put in a prison cell for a few years where you belong.

I think it was the scales and baggies.

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§60A-4-401. Prohibited acts A; penalties.
(a) Except as authorized by this act, it is unlawful for any person to manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture or deliver, a controlled substance.

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http://www.legis.state.wv.us/WVCODE/...p=60a&art=4#04

I suspect it is a matter of semantics. Often a particular law may prohibit acts A, B, C, D and E. However, when someone commits one of those prohibited acts, for the sake of expediency for booking, processing and charging purposes the violation may simply be referred to as A, even though the person committed D.

Section §60A-4-401. (a) of your state’s uniform controlled substance act makes it unlawful for any person to manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture or deliver, a controlled substance.

Having drugs, scales and baggies suggests you are a dealer who is in possession with intent to deliver. That falls within the manufacture/deliver prohibition. I suspect any act that falls within the definition of §60A-4-401. (a) is routinely referred to as manufacture, even if it just involves delivery, simply because that is just the language of the charging system.

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As L-1 points out, sometimes the title of the charge is just a brief paraphrase of the statute. What matters is the particulars (which any lawyer would be first to inquire about). While you are charged with a violation of the "Manufacture" statute, it includes "intent to deliver" which appears to fit the vague description of your nefarious activity.

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Quoting mommaB1982

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They took my husbands safe with all money he had saved including our change and some old coins saved for our kids, some keys and cameras and a cpl cell phones. There was nothing illegal in it. However they left my safe that had everything illegal after they took out my scales and a spoon and (2) gram bags of weed.

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Would that be because they could access the contents of your safe, but not your husband's?

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Quoting mommaB1982

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They also took some baggies off my shelf and put it with it all so they cld try to say I was selling but I told them have a reasonable explanation..... Yes i had my less than an 1/8 of weed in two baggies because I figured itd keep it from dryin out so I put it in the baqggies that they found on a shelf with my beads and jewelry.

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So your explanation of having the little baggies that drug dealers use is that you use them for your jewelry hobby, but as coincidence would have it you were also using them for your drugs?

At this point the police are looking at you being in possession of (a) drugs, (b) scales, (c) baggies used by drug dealers, (d) drugs bagged in small quantities consistent with the intent to engage in individual sale.... They also didn't come to your home by accident.

What caused them to respond, in numbers, to your home with the suspicion that you were selling drugs? If they were working with a C.I. they would normally have a warrant before they arrived. Have you seen the affidavit in support of the search warrant? Had they recently intercepted somebody who accused you of selling him drugs found in his possession?

I've heard people argue that they portion control things for their own benefit, but I've not heard that anybody bought that story in court.