The rapper Twista, whose real name is Carl Mitchell, was taken into custody on March 24 in northwest Indiana on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession. He was in Indiana to perform at a concert, but the concert was canceled due to his arrest.
Reportedly, the Rolls Royce in which he was riding was pulled over by law enforcement officers for allegedly following the vehicle in front of it too closely. Police claim that when they approached the car, they could smell marijuana inside. The driver of the Rolls Royce reportedly told the officers that the occupants had smoked the marijuana together.
Police then searched the vehicle, finding some marijuana in a fake can. Police said they found about one-half of an ounce of the drug. Mr. Mitchell, who is 42 years old, was taken into custody on a $500 bond. He released a statement that police should concentrate on investigating and arresting people for serious crimes rather than something like possession of marijuana.
When people are charged with drug offenses, the potential penalty will depend upon the amount of the drug, the type of the drug, whether it was being sold or if it was possessed with the intent to sell it, among other factors. People who are charged may want to get help from a criminal defense lawyer in order to build a strategy to counter the charges. One possible defense that sometimes can be asserted is that the traffic stop that led to the search and seizure of the drugs was made without the necessary probable cause.