Drug court and drug diversion programs in Madison County, Alabama
If you are charged with possession of drugs in Madison County, Alabama, you may be able to avoid conviction by completing an appropriate drug counseling program.
📞 Call to speak with a Huntsville criminal defense lawyer about your case.
If you are charged with felony possession of drugs, there are two primary programs.
The first program is called the "Pretrial Intervention Program". This program, "PTIP" for short, is offered by the District Attorney's Office and run by the District Attorney's Office. The prosecutor assigned to your case is the gatekeeper as to whether or not you will be permitted to participate in this program. If this is something that you'd like to participate in, your lawyer will negotiate on your behalf to see if the prosecutor agrees.
To be admitted to this program, you need to have a relatively clean record, and you will be required to write an admission explaining your unlawful possession of whatever drugs you're accused of. He also must agree that if you fail out of the program, your admission can be used against you in a trial, and neither you nor your lawyer can object to the introduction of this admission; this means that it's extraordinarily likely that you would be convicted if you went to trial since your admission will be admitted into evidence. If you fail the Pretrial Intervention Program, you will be prosecuted for your possession of drugs, and you are subject to any penalties provided by law.
The Pretrial Intervention Program has a default length of two years; however, under some circumstances, a person may be able to complete it in as short as six months.
The second program is called the "Drug Court Program." This program is not used as frequently but is still sometimes made available. In the Drug Court Program, you appear before a judge and plead guilty. Unlike a traditional guilty plea, however, the judge will not find you guilty at that time but will withhold any finding of guilt and allow you an opportunity to participate in the drug court program.
The consequences of failing drug court are more severe than those of failing the pretrial intervention program. To enter into a drug court program, a plea agreement will be made between you and the state of Alabama. That plea agreement will include a specific period of incarceration that will be imposed if you fail to complete the requirements of the drug court program. The most significant difference between the Drug Court and the Pretrial Intervention Program is that a person who fails out of the Drug Court Program is typically sentenced directly to prison. Drug court may be offered to a person who would not qualify for the pretrial intervention program. While failure can result in harsh consequences, completing this program allows a person to avoid a conviction and having a felony record.📞 Call to speak with a Huntsville criminal defense lawyer about your case.
