#161 Gladstone Drug Possession

Join Wiseman Lawyers Traffic Lawyer Andrew Wiseman at Gladstone Magistrates Court as he represents a client charged with Drug Possession. Watch Andrew explain what happened in the courtroom, along with the outcome which he achieved and how he achieved it.

All right, today I'm in Gladstone Magistrates Court. Today's actually our first flying job since COVID, well again, really. We've been doing a lot of regional appearances during COVID but it's been all over the phone because the courts have been shut down to physical attendances. And whilst we have finalised a lot of matters regionally, like [inaudible] and the likes, it's all been by telephone appearances. So from our office in East Brisbane, basically on a conference call. Courts are reopening and as are airlines. We've done some regional jobs since the courts have opened but no actual flying jobs. I did a Chinchilla job a couple of weeks ago but obviously I drove there from Brisbane. But again today, flew up from Brisbane to Gladstone for our first regional physical court attendance since before COVID. Today wasn't a driving matter. You'll note from our branding and previous websites, we do drug, alcohol and traffic offending and occasionally we'll get a current client or a friend of a current client or someone who's just sourced us out wanting to do something that's not actually driving but it's still within that drug, alcohol and traffic offending umbrella.

So sometimes we'll get a drunk disorderly or carrying on well drunk or drug possession that's separate to a driving offence. And that was the case today. It was low level drug possession charge. I mean, you're not going to go to jail for a first time offence so it's debatable as to whether or not everyone needs a lawyer when they go to court for first time, low level drug offending. But some persons who were in a job where a conviction for such an offence could have major ramifications, may think it's necessary or appropriate and that was the case today. So again, I'm not claiming my client was at risk of jail or anything like that. Even if she was unrepresented there was no way she was going to get more than a fine or perhaps probation if they agitated the bench.

But yeah, she wasn't at any risk of jail but she was pretty keen on making sure there was no blemish on her recording hence her, sorry on her history, hence her seeking us out. Basically we got her to do everything we get all of our clients to do with regard to online form information. There's an online form we got all of their clients to fill out. It tells us all about you, your background, any underlying issues and how you got yourself into this pickle. We got the client to get references based on a template we give all of their clients but also letters from mental health providers and, not addiction, but dependency counsellors. Got all those in order before court. Met her at court this morning.

So I flew up from Brisbane today. We met her at court this morning, grabbed the conference room, ran through my submissions and procedure and the steps I was going to take in the courtroom. We went in there. The magistrate who knows me well from other jurisdictions closer to Brisbane who's now, for whatever reason up here, I'm not sure if he's here permanently or just relieving, but he knows me well from my previous appearances in other jurisdictions. He was very happy with the documents that were provided at the outset. My submissions were minimal given all that work was done, not just by myself, by the client prior to today. Look, the long and short of it is, she was granted what's politically known as drug diversion but it's really a good behaviour bond. So she's been given a three month good behaviour bond with a $200 recognisance. So what that means is, there's $200 hanging over your head. If you are of good behaviour and you do a short seminar that is a part of the bond on drug offending, so if you can go three months through that seminar and not re-offend, the $200 will evaporate and that'll be the end of it. [inaudible] And again, if this client [inaudible] is very important.

Whereas if you do offend in that three months, the $200 can drop down. You have to pay it and then obviously be sentenced for the new offence. But yeah, so three months, good behaviour bond, $200 recognisance. So she won't have to pay the $200 unless she breaches the bond. No conviction recorded. Client's very happy. I'm Andrew Wiseman at Gladstone Magistrates Court. Thanks for watching.