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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    Default Will a Drug Paraphernalia Citation Affect Firearms Rights

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas

    I have a spotless record. I am not a marijuana smoker and never have been. We scheduled a family vacation this summer to visit my sister and her fiancé in Denver. While she watched our kids, my wife, her brothers and myself helped clean out her mother’s storage unit who passed away 5 years ago. We have been paying on it and it was time to clean it out.

    We rented a new Chrysler minivan and sorted through all of the boxes and what to keep.

    Her brothers have used the van multiple times during our week visit and are avid marijuana smokers and residents of Colorado and I know they have smoked in the van. They are also delinquents.

    My job was to drive the van back to Florida where we reside with all of my mother in laws past goods.

    I leave Colorado and have been driving non stop. I’m in the middle of knowhere Texas and am pulled over by a state trooper for “speeding”. I’m going 62 in a 55.

    He immediately comes up to the window and says I was speeding but that is just a warning. Asks me to step out of the vehicle and come sit with him in his car. I do not know what is going on at this point. I told him I’m coming from Colorado loaded up with all my mother in laws stuff whompassed away. He asks me if there are any drugs or weapons in my vehicle and I say of course not. He asks to search my vehicle and I say of course. I asked why?!

    He said I’m on the biggest drug trafficking route in Texas and it’s a very common route they take. He did not say he smelled marijuana or anything. He then asks me if he can search my vehicle. I said absolutely.

    He searches entire van, every box, and in the passenger side floor he found a small pipe and a small marijuana bud on the back floor. I told him that I just came from Colorado, explained others were using the van and that is not mine!- I’m sure he has heard this a million times before. I could not smell marijuana in the car and he never said he did. He said I could throw out the marijuana bud but he will have to write me a citation for Drug Paraphernalia. My heart sank.

    My inlaws deny leaving a pipe in the van and my reputation is now being tarnished.

    I tried calling some high end lawyers but they wouldn’t even take my case because it’s a petty class c misdemeanor and put me down the pipeline to someone who would. The lawyer who has met with the prosecutor who said I have to do 30 days deffered adjudication and it will be dismissed. They also agreed to immediately expunge it after completion because the justice of peace forgot to even send it over all this time...

    I’m thinking this is all over but it’s not even started almost 3 months later?!?!

    My lawyer friend in florida said a deferred adjudication is for class A misdemeanors or felonies. I called Lawyer in Texas and he said in Texas it’s different and called the same for class C misdemeanor “probation” although it’s not like real probation.

    My next predicament. I’m a firearms collector. I have multiple forearms waiting at a FFL for me to pick up. How am I supposed to pick these up when this hasn’t even started yet! I just got a document to sign yesterday and hasn’t even gone into the court.

    They admitted their mistake and agreed to expunge it immediately after 30 days.

    Regardless, how am I supposed to fill out a FFL transfer when they ask question 11.e

    Are you a unlawful user of marijuana or addicted to any other forms..etc etc”

    I’m NOT a marijuana user and this is pure BS. I just want this to be over and now this is affecting me beyond.

    My inlaws are such idiots and have a criminal record a mile long. Now I’m paying the price for all this. Just very frustrated right now.

    How do I answer that question now and Can I go get my firearms?!!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Will a Drug Paraphernalia Citation Affect Firearms Rights

    Quote Quoting Groot2
    View Post
    My lawyer friend in florida said a deferred adjudication is for class A misdemeanors or felonies. I called Lawyer in Texas and he said in Texas it’s different and called the same for class C misdemeanor “probation” although it’s not like real probation.
    Florida and Texas are different states, and thus have different laws.
    Quote Quoting Groot2
    How am I supposed to pick these up when this hasn’t even started yet! I just got a document to sign yesterday and hasn’t even gone into the court.
    You're talking about your plea bargain, and your deferral, in Texas? If you want an earlier court date, with the plea bargain already worked out, talk to your lawyer about whether you might be able to get an earlier date on the court's docket.
    Quote Quoting Groot2
    They admitted their mistake and agreed to expunge it immediately after 30 days.
    Your post is confusing. If you are stating that you did enter your plea in Texas and have completed your deferral, it's not clear what court date you're waiting for. If the court in Texas admits that it should already have processed your expungement, it's not clear why that has not already been done.
    Quote Quoting Groot2
    Are you a unlawful user of marijuana or addicted to any other forms..etc etc”
    The question on Form 4473 is "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?" You are stating that you are not a user, and have not nor have ever been addicted to, marijuana (and I'll reasonably infer, to any other drug). On its face, the question asks about the present -- not, "Were you in the past a user..." or "Were you in the past addicted..." -- and thus, on its face, it's reasonable to answer "no" even if you are in recovery. The wrinkle I could see depends upon the recency of your Texas proceeding, and what may have been said in court.

    Was your plea in Texas a no contest plea? If you entered a guilty plea, what did you confess in association with that plea? If you confessed to using marijuana, that would raise a potential issue with a denial, even if you get an expungement. Especially if you confessed to something more than mere possession, I suggest you run the details past your Florida lawyer friend.

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