Death Penalty
The most serious of all trafficking in cocaine cases occurs when a person is accused of trafficking in cocaine 150 kilograms or more. As a criminal defense lawyer, I can tell you these cases present the most desperate of circumstances because losing has such severe consequences. Someone convicted of trafficking in cocaine 150 kilograms or more will not only be sentenced to a minimum penalty of life in prison, but he/she will be ineligible for any form of discretionary early release, except for pardon, executive clemency, or conditional medical release.
As serious as these penalties are, they are actually not the most severe.
If the court determines that a person intentionally killed an individual or counseled, commanded, induced, procured, or caused the intentional killing of an individual and such killing was the result during the commission of in addition to committing trafficking in cocaine, they are subject to the DEATH PENALTY.
In the alternative, if the court determines that the defendant’s conduct in committing trafficking in cocaine led to a natural, though not inevitable, lethal result, then he/she is also subject to the DEATH PENALTY.
These offenses are referred to as the capital offense of trafficking in cocaine. In essence, they are similar to the felony murder rule, which makes a person liable for murder when someone is killed in the commission of a felony, even if the person charged had no direct involvement in the killing or had no intention of killing someone.
Clearly, the killing of another person in the course of committing a trafficking in cocaine is very serious. Such offenses amount to first degree felony within a first degree felony.
The law considers the crime of trafficking in cocaine to be one that carries a grave risk of death or danger to the public. The law also maintains that a reckless disregard for human life is implicit in when someone knowingly commits trafficking in cocaine.
Such circumstances complicate matters very much for a criminal defense attorney. In a sense, a criminal defense lawyer representing a person accused of trafficking in cocaine with felony murder or capitol trafficking in cocaine literally has two distinct cases to defend against.
While the factual scenarios are likely very consistent and inextricably linked to each other, the procedural battles that will ensue in court are very complex. Anytime the death penalty comes into play, legal procedure gets very complicated. Put simply, the extra procedure exists because the law recognizes that a person’s right to due process is strongest when the government not only wants to take away a person’s freedom, but his/her life as well.