As a New York criminal defense attorney who regularly handles drug and narcotics cases, I have successfully defended PCP felony cases. New York’s PCP laws make possession of minimal weights of PCP a felony.
However, our New York criminal defense attorney has successfully exploited a loop hole in the law and the inherent nature of PCP to achieve knockdowns of felony PCP cases to misdemeanors.
PCP is often used by pouring it on mint leaves. When New York police submit PCP for analysis, they often submit the mint leaves also. Then the lab techs usuallly weight the gross weight of the mint leaf and the PCP. However New York’s felony drug laws, mandate that the PCP be over the felony weight limit. Since the lab techs weight the leaves, they cannot distinguish what weight is attributable to the PCP and what weight attributable to the the leaf.
Additionally, PCP evaporates very quickly. As a result, there is usually not enough PCP for retesting. Therefore, at best, the prosecutors in New York can only prove misdemeanor level possession. New York criminal defense lawyer Michael Joseph has won several felony hearings on PCP cases and obtained misdemeanor level dispositions without jail.
