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About drug cases
Our drug laws are some of toughest anywhere. The mandatory minimum jail sentences prosecutors can request even in most first offense cases are quite severe.

Selling Drugs
When we picture drug dealers, we imagine a big guy driving around in a Lexus luring school children to try drugs. That must have been what our legislators were thinking about when they passed our drug laws. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Most drug cases are much less dramatic. People sell small quantities of pot, heroin, ecstasy or whatever they have in their homes, or on their own streets. Most sales involve $10 or $20. Police run “sting” operations to make arrests. Often, an undercover cop buys a small quantity from his target. After several small purchases, he tells the dealer that he can “move” a couple hundred grams or more of cocaine (for example). He then busts his target for dealing large quantities. This kind of case carries a penalty of FIFTEEN YEARS IN JAIL, MANDATORY. No parole, no probation, no reduction of sentence for any reason.

So what can Attorney Gindes do to help me if I am arrested for drug possession or distribution?
Attorney Gindes has represented scores of people charged with drug offenses, all the way from a minor first offense possession of marijuana cases to serious allegations of dealing in large quantities of drugs. Attorney Gindes stands by his remarkable record of success in these cases.

How can Attorney Gindes win my case?
Motions to suppress: Attorney Gindes is an expert on motions to suppress drugs. What does that mean? We all have certain constitutional rights that police can’t violate. One of those rights is to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. When the police violate your rights, the evidence they seize can be thrown out of court. That’s what a motion to suppress is.

For example, a few years ago Attorney Gindes represented two teenagers from Salem. A cop stopped their car, supposedly because the windows were tinted too dark. When the officer approached the car, the driver put down his window, and the officer detected a “strong odor of marijuana.” The cop ordered the two occupants of the car to get out, and when the door opened the officer saw some pot in “clear view.” The driver got a ticket, and both teenagers were arrested.

Attorney Gindes conducted a motion to suppress on the search. He showed that the car windows were standard issue from the dealer, and were not “tinted too dark.” Clearly, the officer did not have reason to stop the driver. Result: the case was thrown out!

In another case, Attorney Gindes’ client, Peter (his name has been changed), was seen by police coming out of a house in which police suspected drugs were being sold. The police stopped Peter and asked him where he was coming from. Peter said “a friend’s house.” When the officer asked for the “friend’s” name, and Peter said, “I don’t know,” and ran away. Other officers caught Peter and tackled him. The officers found a small amount of cocaine in Peter’s pants.

During the motion to suppress, the police admitted that the building Peter came out of had more than one unit, and the officer did not know which unit Peter had visited. The officer was also forced to admit that Peter had not engaged in any suspicious or criminal behavior before being stopped. Attorney Gindes argued that “mere flight” (running from the police) did not mean the client could be stopped and searched. Result: the case was thrown out!

There are other defenses to drug cases if the facts do not support a motion to suppress. There are usually issues about who actually possessed drugs (for example, if they are found in a car with passengers, or in an apartment with more than one tenant). Sometimes the police charge possession with intent to distribute when a person is arrested with relatively small quantities of drugs, meaning the charges may be able to be reduced.

Regardless of what issues your case raises, you can count on Attorney Gindes to develop the most effective strategy possible to deal with your case. Many times he can help you avoid a record of convictions, even if you do not want to go to trial.