Towson, Maryland Criminal Lawyers The Herbst Firm HomeFirearm in a Drug Trafficking Crime
Maryland lawmakers are consistently trying to increase the penalties for gun crimes and one of the strongest tools available is the implementation of mandatory prison sentences. Gun offenders who have a felony or other disqualifying conviction, such as second degree assault, already face a potential mandatory 5 years in prison if convicted under the public safety code. Most people are aware that state and federal laws provide drastic punishments for felons found in possession of firearms, but in Maryland even those with no prior criminal record face the possibility of prison time if drugs are present with a gun. Criminal Code Section 5-621 provides a means to punish gun offenders regardless of their record with the firearm drug trafficking charge. This offense is a felony itself and carries up to 20 years in prison with the first 5 being without parole. Recent changes in state drug laws have affected when this offense can be charged, but that doesn’t mean law enforcement will get it right. This could lead to a person being held without bail due to more serious charges being filed than appropriate.
Firearm drug trafficking requires the state to prove possession of a firearm under “sufficient circumstances to constitute a nexus to the drug trafficking crime”. This means the gun and the drugs must have some sort of connection. Police have been trained to say that drug dealers often carry firearms in order to protect themselves during transactions with large amounts of money and/or from being victims of robbery or theft. As a result of this boilerplate language a nexus or connection will likely be found if the gun and drugs are in the same vicinity. Ultimately though it would be up to the jury to decide whether there is evidence of a connection. An example would be if the police execute a search warrant and find drugs in a common area of a house and a gun in a bedroom. The state would argue a connection is satisfied because the gun and drugs were under the same roof, but an experienced criminal defense lawyer should be able to convince a jury otherwise during a trial. This argument is much weaker if the defendant is alleged to have been transporting CDS and a firearm in the same vehicle, so a possible defense under these facts would be to argue an illegal search and seizure.
