NYC Criminal Possession 5th Degree Defense | NY Penal Law 220.06 Felony Drug Lawyers

NYC Criminal Possession 5th Degree Defense | NY Penal Law 220.06 Felony Drug Lawyers

So your probably sitting in central booking right now or maybe out on bail googling what a “D felony” means for your life. Maybe the cops found half a gram of cocaine in your pocket. Maybe they claim those pills you had were “packaged for sale.” Or maybe your roommate’s stash just turned into YOUR felony charge. Look, we get it. Your TERRIFIED because this isn’t some misdemeanor – its a FELONY that could mean YEARS in prison! And you should be scared! Because NY Penal Law §220.06 turns tiny amounts into life-destroying felonies!

What Makes 5th Degree Possession a Felony?

Let me explain how the smallest amounts become felonies that ruin lives forever. Criminal possession fifth degree happens two ways, and both are designed to trap you. First, specific weight limits that are INSANELY low. Second, ANY amount if they claim you intended to sell.

For cocaine? Just 500 milligrams – that’s HALF A GRAM! We’re talking about something that weighs less than a paperclip turning you into a convicted felon. For heroin or other narcotics? Half an ounce (14 grams). That includes the weight of whatever its mixed with!

But here’s the real trap – “intent to sell” means ANY amount becomes a felony. One pill? Felony if they say you were selling. A tiny bag of coke? Felony if you had plastic baggies or a scale nearby. They don’t need to catch you selling. They just need to CLAIM you intended to sell based on bullshit “evidence.”

What cops use to prove “intent”: Multiple bags (even empty ones). Having more than $100 cash. Text messages about meeting friends. Being in a “known drug area.” Having two cell phones. Owing someone money. Literaly ANYTHING becomes proof of intent to sell according to NY Criminal Jury Instructions.

How Is This Different from 7th Degree (220.03)?

Huge difference that changes everything! Seventh degree (220.03) is a misdemeanor – maximum one year jail, often just probation. Fifth degree (220.06) is a CLASS D FELONY – up to 7 years in state prison, not jail!

With 220.03, you might keep your job, your apartment, your life. With 220.06, your a FELON forever. No voting rights. No gun rights. No government jobs. No professional licenses. Many private employers won’t hire felons. Landlords won’t rent to felons. Your basicaly unemployable and unhousable.

The amounts are ridiculously close too. For cocaine, any amount is 220.03 misdemeanor. But hit 500mg (half a gram)? Suddenly its 220.06 felony. We’re talking about the difference between a penny’s weight destroying your entire future. The system is insane!

Immigration consequences are devastating. Misdemeanor might not affect status. Felony drug conviction? Automatic deportation proceedings for green card holders. Visa revoked. Path to citizenship destroyed. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been here 20 years with US citizen kids.

What Amount of Drugs Triggers 5th Degree Felony?

Here’s exactly what amounts make you a felon under 220.06:

**Cocaine**: 500 milligrams (0.5 grams) or more. That’s about 5-10 “doses” on the street. But remember – if its crack, they test for pure cocaine content, which might be less. Still, half a gram of powder = felony.

**Heroin/Narcotics**: Half ounce (14 grams) aggregate weight. “Aggregate” means they add everything together – multiple bags, different types of narcotics, cutting agents, everything. Fourteen grams is about 140 “bags” of street heroin.

**Ketamine**: Over 1,000 milligrams (1 gram). Or ANY amount if you have a prior ketamine conviction. That’s right – prior possession makes any amount a felony!

**GHB/Liquid Ecstasy**: 28 grams or more aggregate weight. That includes the liquid its dissolved in!

**PCP**: 50 milligrams or more. Tiny amount because PCP is potent.

**ANY controlled substance** with intent to sell – no weight requirement! One Xanax pill becomes a felony if they claim you were selling. This is how most people get charged – not weight, but assumed “intent.”

What’s the Prison Time for 5th Degree Possession?

Don’t let lawyers sugarcoat this – you can absolutely go to PRISON for years. Class D felony means 1 to 7 years in state prison. Not county jail where you might know people. State prison upstate with violent criminals.

First-time offender with no record? Judge could give you 1-3 years. Prior record? 2-4 years easy. Prior drug conviction? 3-7 years mandatory. And that’s before considering plea deals or trial conviction.

Plus 1 year post-release supervision (parole) minimum. Plus fines up to $5,000 or “three times the amount gained” which prosecutors make up. Plus surcharges, fees, drug treatment costs. You’ll be paying for years.

But here’s what they don’t tell you – even “just” probation for a felony is hell. Five years reporting to a probation officer. Drug tests where one failure = prison. Can’t leave the state. Curfews. Program requirements. One mistake and your doing the full 7 years.

How Do Cops “Prove” Intent to Sell?

This is the biggest scam in drug prosecutions. Cops don’t need actual evidence of selling. They use “circumstantial evidence” which means they make it up based on nothing.

Common “evidence” of intent to sell: You had multiple small bags instead of one bag (claiming “packaging for sale”). You had cash on you (drug proceeds!). Your phone had texts about meeting people (drug deals!). You were in a “known drug location” (everywhere in NYC apparently). You had a scale or empty baggies (drug paraphernalia!). Someone else said you sell (unreliable snitch testimony).

We’ve seen cases where having Ziploc bags in your kitchen became “evidence” of drug packaging. Where Venmo payments for rent became “drug transaction evidence.” Where being unemployed meant you “must be selling drugs for income.” Its complete bullshit but juries believe cops.

The worst part? Once cops claim “intent to sell,” your bail skyrockets. Possession might be $1,000 bail. Intent to sell? $10,000 or more. Your stuck in Rikers for months unable to fight your case. They use jail to force guilty pleas.

Can 5th Degree Be Reduced to a Misdemeanor?

Sometimes, but its hard and depends entirely on the prosecutor’s mood. If the weight is barely over the limit (like 510mg of cocaine), they might reduce to 220.03 misdemeanor. If there’s problems with the search or evidence, they’ll deal. If your young with no record and a good story, maybe.

But don’t count on reductions. DAs love felony convictions for there stats. They’ll offer “great deals” like pleading to a Class E felony instead of D. Your still a felon! Or they’ll offer the felony with probation “to avoid jail.” Your still destroyed!

Treatment programs like drug court exist but have insane requirements. Daily court appearances for months. Intensive outpatient programs. Total sobriety with constant testing. One relapse and your doing prison time. Most people can’t complete them.

The best chance is challenging the case completely. Attack the search. Attack the “intent” evidence. Attack the weight calculations. Make them prove every element. Sometimes they’d rather dismiss than risk losing at trial.

What Are the Collateral Consequences?

Felony drug conviction destroys everything beyond just prison:

Employment? Forget it. Most applications ask about felony convictions. Background checks show it forever. Professional licenses revoked – nursing, teaching, real estate, everything gone. Even Uber won’t hire felons.

Housing? Good luck. Public housing bans drug felons. NYCHA has lifetime bans. Private landlords run checks. You’ll be living in illegal basement apartments or homeless shelters.

Education? No federal student aid with drug felonies. No Pell Grants, no loans. Private schools won’t accept felons. Your dreams of improving yourself through education? Dead.

• Immigration – deportation for non-citizens, even legal permanent residents
• Voting rights – lost until you complete parole
• Jury duty – banned from serving
• Gun rights – gone forever, even for hunting
• Child custody – family court uses it against you
• Travel – many countries won’t admit drug felons

Why Are Weight Calculations So Important?

The difference between 499mg and 500mg of cocaine is the difference between misdemeanor and felony. Between probation and prison. Between keeping your life and losing everything. Every milligram matters!

Labs make mistakes constantly. Scales aren’t calibrated properly. Moisture affects weight. Packaging gets included wrongly. Field test weights differ from lab weights. We’ve seen cases where “600mg” became “450mg” after proper testing – felony to misdemeanor!

For crack cocaine, its even more complex. They have to determine pure cocaine content, not total weight. Street crack might be 50% pure. So 1 gram of crack might only have 500mg of actual cocaine – right at the felony line.

Aggregate weight for narcotics means they add everything together. But what if some bags have heroin and others have fentanyl? Different drugs but they aggregate them anyway. What about cutting agents? Included in weight even though there not narcotic.

Common Defenses to 5th Degree Possession

The search is usually illegal. Cops need probable cause, not just suspicion. “Smelling marijuana” doesn’t justify searching for cocaine anymore. Stop-and-frisk is supposedly over but they just call it something else. We file motions to suppress evidence from illegal searches.

Lack of knowledge is a defense. If someone left drugs in your car, apartment, or bag without your knowledge, you didn’t “knowingly” possess them. But you need evidence supporting this – not just your word.

Lab errors happen constantly. Chain of custody problems. Contamination. Missing evidence. False positives from field tests. We demand independent testing. We challenge every step of evidence handling.

Intent to sell is often unprovable. Having multiple bags doesn’t mean selling – users buy in bulk for better prices. Having cash is normal. Text messages could mean anything. We destroy there circumstantial “evidence.”

Why Spodek Law Group for 5th Degree Possession?

Most lawyers tell you to take the first plea deal because fighting felonies is hard work. “Take the E felony, avoid prison!” But your still a felon forever. We actually FIGHT these cases because we know what’s really at stake – your entire future.

We attack weight calculations down to the milligram. We hire independent labs to retest. We challenge every aspect of how they determined “intent to sell.” We file aggressive motions to suppress evidence. We investigate whether cops planted or inflated evidence (happens way more than you think).

We know every drug court program, every diversion option, every possible reduction. But more importantly, we know when to reject bad deals and fight. Sometimes the DA would rather dismiss than risk losing at trial. We’re not afraid of trial.

We coordinate with immigration lawyers if needed. With employment lawyers about professional licenses. With housing attorneys about keeping your apartment. Drug charges affect everything – we protect everything.

Call us RIGHT NOW at 212-300-5196
Half a gram shouldn’t equal half your life in prison!

Every single day you wait makes things worse! Evidence “degrades” (convenientely for prosecutors). Witnesses disappear. That video showing cops planting evidence? Deleted. The lab destroys samples after testing. Time is NOT on your side!

Don’t let 500 milligrams turn you into a felon! Don’t let cops’ lies about “intent to sell” destroy your future! Don’t plead guilty just to get out of Rikers! Fight back with lawyers who understand that this isn’t just about drugs – its about your entire life!

Disclaimer: Prior results don’t guarantee future outcomes. Every case depends on specific facts and circumstances. But we promise to fight harder than anyone to keep you from becoming another felony statistic.