Possession Control Substance (St. Lucie County)

Facts: Our client ordered what he believed to be an herbal supplement online. Unfortunately, the herbal supplement contained a controlled substance sometimes used as a hallucinogen. The package was intercepted in the mail and law enforcement waited for our client to bring the package into the home then obtained a warrant and located the package.

Result: The substance in question is not a common substance and the substance came in the form of what appeared to be tree bark. We did have to wait some time for the lab results, but once they came back we immediately set the deposition of the toxicologist. Based on our deposition and case law provided that it was an affirmative defense that our client did not know the illicit nature of the substance we were able to secure a dismissal for our client.