Drug Trafficking Defense Attorney in Salt Lake City, UT

Drug Trafficking Defense Overview

Utah Criminal Defense: Drug Trafficking

If you have been charged with drug trafficking, you were almost certainly arrested with a significant amount of drugs on you, near you or within your
control. So what happens next? What more does the state need to convict? What chance do you have of beating the case or catching a break?

As hopeless as your situation may seem right now, don’t assume it can’t get better or that hiring a criminal defense attorney won’t make any difference.

I’m Catherine Cleveland, a Salt Lake City-based criminal defense attorney with more than a decade of drug trafficking defense experience in Utah’s state and federal courts. If you hire me to handle your case, I will work directly with you from beginning to end and aggressively seek the best possible results on your behalf.

Because many drug cases involve questions of due process and the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, I start by conducting an exhaustive review of the facts and the laws that could potentially impact your case. As part of that process, I will also explore fact-based defenses involving actual vs. constructive possession issues and possession for personal use.

As an experienced defense lawyer, I also know when fact-based or constitutional defenses are not likely to work. Shifting my focus to negotiation and plea bargaining, I use the working relationships I’ve established with Utah’s state and federal prosecutors and my knowledge of local law enforcement agencies to get charges reduced or obtain favorable sentencing terms.

Drug Corridors and Traffic Stops

In Utah, as in other states, certain roads and highways have been identified as drug trafficking corridors and targeted by law enforcement. Because drug trafficking is a priority for federal prosecutors, state and local law enforcement agencies often receive additional federal funds to make these arrests. To make arrests, however, they have to pull people over. To do that legally, officers need to have a reasonable reason to stop you. To search your car in connection with a stop, they need to have probable cause.

Regardless of whatever you may have been told about your own case by the highway patrol or a prosecutor, you need to know that even the strongest drug case can fall apart if law enforcement officers didn’t have legally justifiable reasons for their actions, which is a fairly common occurrence.

I have defended a number of out-of-state residents who were charged in connection with drug trafficking following a traffic stop on interstates 15 or 80. In many of these cases, I have been able to use the facts and, in some cases, actual video of traffic stops taken by law enforcement to secure dismissals, acquittals, reduced charges, alternatives to prison and downward departures from drug sentencing guidelines.

Trust Your Drug Trafficking Defense to an Experienced Lawyer

If you would like a free telephone consultation to discuss your case, call my Salt Lake City office at 801-456-2211 or toll free at 877-753-1247. You can also call or contact me online to arrange a confidential, face-to-face consultation for a reasonable fee.

Free phone consultations ● All major credit cards accepted
Available 24/7 ● Reasonable FLAT FEE[TR1]

Catherine Cleveland, P.C. is a Salt Lake City law firm providing criminal defense representation to clients throughout Utah and in both state and federal court cases.

Other Frequent Case Types

• Juvenile Crimes in Salt Lake City, UT
• Sex Crimes in Salt Lake City, UT

Areas of Practice

• Drug Trafficking Defense
• Criminal Law