Earlier this week the Fourth Circuit Solicitor dismissed a possession of marijuana with intent to distribute charge against Officer Dominick Robinson. Robinson was a school resource officer. He has been suspended without pay since his arrest.
According to WPDE news:
Investigators say Robinson confiscated the drugs from a case he was working and didn’t immediately turn them in as evidence at the Darlington Police Department. They say he went out of town for some training and forgot the drugs were at his home.
Investigators say the evidence was mishandled, but it doesn’t appear there was [any] criminal intent.
The article is short and it raises more questions than it answers. Presumably the “case he was working” was a school case. How can it be that he took the drugs home? If the case involved a student, then there are two logical scenarios.
One, the student was detained until he or she could go before a family court judge for a detention hearing; or two, the parents were called to pick up the student. Either scenario should require a Department of Juvenile Justice screening. That’s a lot of paper work to be turned in and processed. How could Robinson process the case without turning in the drugs.
Drug cases are different than other crimes for many reasons. Two obvious reasons are testing and chain of custody. In a drug case, the state must prove that the drugs are really drugs. They have to be tested by someone certified to test drugs. The state also has to prove that the drug tested is actually what they took from the defendant. Simply stated, the state must show where the drugs have been and who handled them.
I believe it’s safe to say that the state’s case against whoever the officer took the drugs from is completely blown now. Even if that person was an adult, it’s still hard to imagine a scenario where the officer would take the drugs home.
Another question concerns the charge against the officer. Simple possession is a lessor included offense of possession with intent to distribute. If the investigators found no evidence of criminal intent, does that mean the officer was charged with simple possession instead? It certainly appears that he could be. That’s unlikely because, according to the article, Robinson will return to work next week.
Like I said, the article doesn’t give us much information. Maybe it’s best just to do two things: One, don’t put too much faith in what we read in the news about suspects; and two, presume everyone innocent until proven guilty. After all, isn’t that what we teach?
