| Platapus |
06-04-11 05:16 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by mookiemookie
(Post 1677360)
If someone's a heroin addict, can you bust them for possession of heroin? I mean they had to have possessed it at some point in order to become addicted. The law says no, you can't.
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That is an excellent analogy. Common sense tells you that if a person is under the influence of cocaine, for example, that they must have had possession, even for the shortest of time. But if the addict has injected/injested/ect all of the drug, the law says that you can't convict them of possession. After all, there is no drug left to bring to the courtroom as evidence. How can the court convict someone of possessing something when there is nothing to possess?
Yes many times the law appears not to make sense and I will certainly agree that the law is complicated. Perhaps overly complicated.
And this is why juries need to be briefed on the law, its elements and how the judicial system works concerning proof - because it is not intuitive to non-legally educated people. |
