As a NJ criminal defense attorney, I occasionally find myself in a no win situation.  A recent cocaine distribution case arising out of Ocean County and Monmouth County serves as a good example.

We were retained to represent an individual allegedly in possession of approximately 1,000 grams of cocaine. The arrest occurred in Monmouth County but was in conjunction with an Ocean County task force investigation.  The incident took place almost a year ago now and a bail motion failed to succeed in reducing bail below $1.0 million.

For approximately one year now, I have been attempting to get the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office to move on this distribution of cocaine case. I am in a difficult position, however, as the prosecutor on the case is threatening to indict my client on a kingpin charge.  If I press the prosecutor too much, I can count on a kingpin indictment yet my client and his family are all over me to do something.  Do I file a motion to suppress and virtually assure that my client is exposed to the potential for a life sentence under the kingpin statute or do I continue to calm the client and his family.

Heavy cases involving distribution of cocaine in New Jersey can be both complex and exciting to handle. There are often interesting legal issues which work their way into these cases, however, the flip side is that prosecutors typically take a hard line with significant weight cocaine charges. This is precisely the dynamic facing our NJ cocaine distribution defense attorneys in this case.