On March 28, Chuck Lanehart successfully negotiated a deal for pretrial diversion in a rural Texas county. His client, a young college girl, had been stopped by a DPS Trooper for speeding.

When the trooper took the client’s ID to check for warrants, the trooper claimed he smelled marijuana and searched the client’s vehicle. No marijuana was found, but several grams of legally-purchased THC edibles from Colorado were found. As a result, the first time offender was charged with a second-degree felony.

Chuck filed a motion to suppress the evidence based on an illegal search, and the DA offered pretrial diversion to avoid a contested hearing on the matter. Instead of facing the possibility of up to 20 years in prison, Chuck‘s client will have her case dismissed following a one-year informal probation. She will immediately be eligible for an expunction with no permanent criminal record.