The Dartmouth police seized 200 pounds of marijuana resulting in two individuals, Ricardo Zamora, and Joseph Zamora being charged with trafficking in marijuana and conspiracy to violate the drug laws. Trafficking in marijuana is an offense that carries with it a mandatory minimum jail sentence of three years with a maximum sentence of 15 years. Trafficking charges are heard in the superior court. While the details of this incident are unclear, in a drug trafficking charge a Massachusetts drug crimes lawyer will attempt to explore motions to suppress to exclude evidence, determine what evidence that the Commonwealth has to prove that the defendant possessed over the governing amount of illegal narcotics.
In this case, the Commonwealth would have to prove that the defendants possessed over a 100 pounds of marijuana to trigger the mandatory three year sentence. According to the news account, the defendants possessed over 200 pounds. In addition to trying to exclude evidence based on constitutional issues, a Massachusetts criminal defense attorney would also attempt to see if the charge can be reduced to require a lesser sentence in the event of a disposition.
