Drug Cases & PWID in Bucks County

Frequently, the police will arrest 1 or 2 individuals when they allege that they observe a hand-to-hand transaction.  The police officer/detective (who are frequently undercover) will state that they saw "U.S. currency be exchanged for small, unknown objects".  Then, they will charge the "seller" with Possession with Intent to Deliver Narcotics.  

Is that enough to make an arrest?  

A very important case in these matters is Commonwealth v. Percy Thompsen.  There are numerous factors that the court should consider in determining if there is probably cause to arrest in a similar hand-to-hand fact pattern.  Some of the factors include:

• Was the activity in a high-crime area?
• What time of the day did the activity occur?
• What is the background/experience of the officer?
• How many sales were observed?
• What were the actions of the individuals upon approach by the police?  

Probable Cause in Drug Cases

The court makes a big issue that an officer's significant training is not enough for probable cause.  There must be a nexus between the experience and the observations.  

I had a case like this once and I beat the case, but for wildly different reasons (the Commonwealth withdrew the charges right before the trial).  I did, however, feel like I would have won on Percy Thompsen because there were a lot of factors, including lack of visibility, that did not give the officer's probable cause to make the arrest.