Background
Our client, A, made a poor choice, purchasing methamphetamine several times and using it on a number of occasions before being caught. A admitted the wrongdoing in full, but the situation was serious because of a prior suspended sentence for the same type of offense many years earlier.
What Was at Stake
Narcotics offenses are punished severely by the courts, and where someone who has already received leniency (a suspended sentence) for the same wrongdoing reoffends, there is a strong likelihood of an actual custodial sentence. Simple contrition was unlikely to be enough to avoid imprisonment.
How Changchun Helped
Rather than a vague plea for leniency, Changchun supported the circumstances favorable to our client with objective evidence. We conveyed persuasively to the court that recovery through treatment and education was preferable to punishment, pointing to ▲ the gap of more than twenty years between the earlier wrongdoing and this incident, which made it impossible to treat A as a habitual reoffender; ▲ the absence of narcotic substances in urine and hair testing, indicating that the dependence was not deep-seated; and ▲ A's admission of all the facts from the earliest stage of the investigation and clear commitment to stopping drug use.
The court imposed a prison sentence but suspended its execution, so that instead of being incarcerated immediately A was placed on probation and in drug treatment education, with the chance to recover within the community. Even where there has been wrongdoing, careful attention to a person's particular circumstances and their prospects of getting back on their feet can change the outcome. Outcomes depend on the facts of each case and may differ.