South Florida Attorney Gets Drug Trafficking Case Dropped

Summary:

A 39-year-old male was met with several drug trafficking charges after his bag was searched on a Royal Caribbean Cruise. His case was later dismissed as a result of effective strategy and defense by our attorney, Scott Simmons, who emphasized a lack of evidence to prove our client is guilty. 

Facts of the Case:

The case began when a Broward police officer was called to Port Everglades to meet with agents for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. These agents received a tip that our client brought various narcotics onto a Royal Caribbean Cruise. Upon arrival to our client’s room on the ship, the agents searched his bag and found narcotics such as MDMA, cocaine, ketamine, and GHB. After being read his Miranda rights, our client explained that the bag did not belong to him, it belonged to another man aboard the ship. A very important fact of this case was that bags are transported to rooms by cruise employees. Our client was then detained and taken off the ship, and the rest of his items were taken for a secondary search. 

The defendant was met with the following charges:

• Trafficking in Cocaine
• Trafficking in Phenethylamines
• Sell Schedule 2 Hallucinogens
• Possession of Gamma Hydroxybutyrate

Process and Result:

To get this case dismissed, Scott Simmons put forth a great amount of effort to prove that our client was not the owner of the bag in question, and was improperly searched. There were multiple strategy sessions in place to gather details about the incidence and speak to our client about what took place. There were multiple motions filed for this case. For example, a motion to preserve evidence was filed. This motion was crucial to preserve all of the footage of our client on the cruise and anyone who dealt with his items.  Additionally, Scott filed a motion for issuance of subpoena duces tecum for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Nicevision Player and a motion for continuance. In this case, there was an initial arrest of our client and an arraignment held. Additionally, there were hearings done and a final hearing to deem the case nolle prosequi.

Final Result:

Due to significant defense and tactics by Scott Simmons, this case was nolle prossed. Scott demonstrated that multiple calls were made were made to legal counsel and the sheriffs office requesting documents and evidence, and these requests were ignored and they failed to provide the items. Therefore, the lack of evidence provided caused this case to be dismissed. The prevailing fact was that the drugs were delivered to our client’s room, and someone could hae easily placed the drugs in his bag.