Criminal Defense Attorneys in Greenville, SC
A drug arrest in Greenville threatens your freedom, your future, and your record. Whether police found drugs during a traffic stop on I-85, executed a search warrant at your home, or charged you after a Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit investigation, you face serious consequences.
At Fedalei & Reid Law, we move fast to challenge illegal searches, fight trafficking charges, and protect first-time offenders from life-altering convictions. Call (864) 668-1661 for a free consultation.
Key Takeaways for Drug Crime Defense in Greenville
- South Carolina divides controlled substances into five schedules, with Schedule I drugs like heroin, MDMA, LSD, and marijuana considered the most dangerous, while Schedule V drugs are the least dangerous.
- Many possession with intent to distribute (PWID) offenses carry severe penalties but don't always include mandatory minimums; trafficking offenses do and sharply limit judicial discretion.
- If law enforcement violated your Fourth Amendment rights through illegal search and seizure, evidence may be thrown out, potentially leading to dismissed charges.
- First-time offenders may qualify for Pre-Trial Intervention or conditional discharge programs that avoid conviction and keep criminal records clean.
Why Choose Fedalei & Reid Law for Drug Defense
Drug charges require legal counsel who possess deep knowledge of Greenville County courts, understand South Carolina drug laws, and aggressively challenge illegal searches.
Local Greenville Experience and Results
We practice primarily in Greenville County and understand the local landscape. We actively track how the Greenville Police, the Sheriff's Office, and the Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit operate. Our team knows local judges, prosecutors, and court procedures at the Greenville County Courthouse.
We have successfully suppressed evidence obtained through illegal searches, negotiated charge reductions from trafficking to PWID, secured PTI admissions for first-time offenders, and won dismissals when prosecutors could not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Personal Attention and Direct Access
You work directly with your attorney throughout the case. You get direct access to the lawyer handling your case, immediate responses to questions, and personal attention from arrest through resolution. Drug arrests happen at any hour. We respond quickly because early intervention matters.
Free Consultation and Geographic Coverage
We offer free consultations with no pressure and straight answers about your case. We'll review the arrest circumstances, explain potential penalties, identify defense opportunities, and outline realistic outcomes. While we focus primarily on Greenville County, we handle drug cases throughout the Upstate.
What's at Stake in Drug Cases
Understanding the full cost of a drug conviction helps you see why aggressive defense matters from day one.
Criminal Penalties and Mandatory Minimums
Simple possession might seem minor—30 days and a small fine for marijuana—but that conviction follows you for years. PWID charges may bring years in prison. Trafficking charges carry mandatory minimums measured in decades. Judges have no discretion on mandatory minimums. A 25-year trafficking sentence means you serve 25 years regardless of circumstances.
Collateral Consequences That Last Longer
Criminal background checks eliminate job opportunities, particularly in healthcare, education, finance, and positions requiring professional licenses. Landlords refuse to rent to people with criminal records. Professional licensing boards suspend or revoke credentials.
Drug convictions are no longer an automatic bar to federal aid, though schools may still impose discipline. Immigration consequences include deportation for non-citizens. Felony convictions trigger a federal firearms ban unless rights are restored under limited procedures.
How We Improve Your Outcome
Our role is identifying every possible defense, challenging every weakness, and pursuing the best available result. This includes suppressing illegally obtained evidence, negotiating charge reductions, securing diversion programs that avoid convictions entirely, and building trial defenses that create reasonable doubt.
Greenville Drug Enforcement Landscape
Understanding local enforcement priorities helps you understand what you're facing.
Multi-Agency Task Force Operations
The Greenville County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit coordinates sophisticated investigations involving surveillance, wiretaps, and controlled buys. This task force combines resources from the Greenville Police, the Sheriff's Office, SLED, and federal agencies. These investigations often include conspiracy charges, making it critical to have attorneys experienced with complex prosecutions.
I-85 Corridor Enforcement Priority
Greenville sits along the I-85 corridor connecting Charlotte to Atlanta—a major drug trafficking route. Law enforcement focuses heavily on interdiction through traffic stops targeting out-of-state vehicles and rental cars. Officers conduct consent searches of vehicles pulled over for minor violations. K-9 units are frequently deployed. Constitutional challenges to these stops may succeed when officers exceed their authority.
Drug Charges We Defend in Greenville
Drug cases range from misdemeanor marijuana possession to federal trafficking conspiracies.
Simple Possession
Simple possession means drugs for personal use without intent to sell. Penalties under S.C. Code § 44-53-370 depend on drug type and criminal history.
Marijuana:
- 28 grams or less: First offense misdemeanor, up to 30 days' jail and $100 to $200 fine
- Second or subsequent offense: Up to 1 year's jail and $200 to $1,000 fine
Cocaine:
- First offense: Misdemeanor, up to 3 years' imprisonment and $5,000 fine
- Second offense: Felony, up to 5 years' imprisonment and $7,500 fine
- Third offense: Felony, up to 10 years' imprisonment and $12,500 fine
Schedule I/II Narcotics and LSD:
- First offense: Misdemeanor, up to 2 years' incarceration and $5,000 fine
- Second offense: Felony, up to 5 years' imprisonment and $5,000 fine
- Third offense: Up to 5 years' imprisonment and $10,000 fine
Other Schedule I-V Controlled Substances:
- First offense: Misdemeanor, up to 6 months' jail and $1,000 fine
- Second offense: Up to 1 year's jail and $2,000 fine
Possession with Intent to Distribute
PWID charges apply when police believe you planned to sell drugs. Penalties vary by drug and prior convictions under S.C. Code § 44-53-370 and S.C. Code § 44-53-375. For powder cocaine, a first PWID offense carries up to 5 years and $5,000 fine; penalties climb with prior convictions. Different, harsher rules apply to crack cocaine.
The state relies on quantity-based presumptions. Possession of more than 1 gram of cocaine, 28 grams of marijuana, 15 tablets of MDMA, 2 grains of heroin or fentanyl, or 4 grains of opium creates rebuttable presumptions of distribution intent.
Other factors prosecutors use include digital scales, multiple baggies, large cash amounts, text messages about transactions, customer lists, and weapons. Repeat PWID convictions may trigger mandatory minimums (5 years on a second offense, 10 years on a third).
Drug Trafficking
Trafficking means possessing quantities above specific thresholds. These cases carry mandatory minimum sentences that judges cannot reduce.
South Carolina Drug Trafficking Penalties (Mandatory Minimums)
Penalties based on aggregate weight under S.C. Code § 44-53-370 and S.C. Code § 44-53-375
| Drug Type | Quantity (by aggregate weight) | Mandatory Minimum Sentence | Fine |
| Marijuana | 10-100 lbs | 1-10 years | $10,000 |
| 100-2,000 lbs | 25 years | $25,000 | |
| 2,000-10,000 lbs | 25 years | $50,000 | |
| 10,000+ lbs | 25-30 years | $200,000 | |
| Cocaine or Methamphetamine | 10-28 g | 3-10 years | $25,000 |
| 28-100 g | 7-25 years | $50,000 | |
| 100-200 g | 25 years | $100,000 | |
| 200-400 g | 25 years | $150,000 | |
| 400+ g | 25-30 years | $200,000 | |
| Heroin/Opioids | 4-14 g | 7-25 years | $50,000 |
| 14-28 g | 25 years | $100,000 | |
| 28+ g | 25-40 years | $200,000 |
These mandatory minimums eliminate judicial discretion regardless of mitigating circumstances.
Tactics for Challenging Drug Charges in Greenville
Every drug case turns on specific facts. Effective defense requires examining how police found the drugs and whether evidence was legally obtained.
Challenging Illegal Searches and Seizures
Police might have obtained evidence through improper searches without a proper warrant, without probable cause, or by searching areas not covered by a warrant.
Common violations include:
- Traffic stops without reasonable suspicion
- Vehicle searches without consent or warrant
- Home searches based on invalid warrants
- Searches exceeding warrant scope
- Coerced consent through threats
- K-9 alerts that unreasonably extend traffic stops
If law enforcement violated your Fourth Amendment rights, evidence may be thrown out. When drugs get suppressed, prosecutors may dismiss charges entirely.
Constructive Possession Defenses
If drugs were found near you but not on you, the prosecution must prove you had knowledge and control of the drugs. Drugs found in shared vehicles, apartments with roommates, or common areas create reasonable doubt.
Chain of Custody and Lab Testing Issues
Drugs must be properly documented and handled from collection. Any break in the chain of custody raises questions. Lab errors happen. Challenging test results may reveal that substances weren't actually illegal drugs or that quantities were less than charged.
Lack of Intent for PWID Charges
Arguing that drugs were for personal use provides a defense against PWID charges. Prima facie presumptions based on quantity are rebuttable. Defense strategies include demonstrating quantity consistent with personal use, showing the absence of distribution paraphernalia, and challenging measurements.
Fighting Greenville Prosecutors
Prosecutors pursue drug cases aggressively, but they must prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt.
How We Protect Your Rights
We file motions to suppress evidence, challenge search warrants, attack illegal stops, and expose Fourth Amendment violations. We consult forensic experts who challenge lab results and identify chain of custody problems. We interview witnesses, review body camera footage, and investigate officers' histories. We leverage weaknesses to negotiate favorable plea agreements.
Having an attorney who knows Greenville County courts and challenges illegal searches changes everything. Prosecutors treat represented defendants differently. Courts take constitutional challenges seriously when experienced attorneys raise them.
First-Time Offender Programs in South Carolina
Not every drug arrest leads to a conviction. South Carolina offers alternatives for eligible defendants.
Pre-Trial Intervention
PTI allows first-time offenders to complete supervision and treatment instead of prosecution. Successful completion results in dismissed charges with no conviction, and you may pursue expungement. Eligibility requires no prior drug convictions, simple possession or lower-level charges, prosecutor approval, and completion of drug education or treatment. PTI programs usually last 6-12 months.
Conditional Discharge
Conditional discharge authorizes courts to defer prosecution. You plead guilty, but the court withholds adjudication. After you successfully complete probation (typically 1-2 years), the court withdraws the guilty plea and dismisses the charges. Violation of terms results in a conviction on the original guilty plea.
Drug Court
Drug court provides intensive treatment-focused supervision as an alternative to incarceration. Participants undergo regular court appearances, frequent drug testing, substance abuse treatment, and case management. Drug court takes 12-18 months but keeps defendants out of prison while addressing addiction.
What to Do After a Drug Arrest in Greenville
The hours following arrest are critical. What you say and do can shape the entire case.
Protect Your Rights Immediately
Exercise your right to remain silent. Do not answer questions about drugs, ownership, sources, or other people. Do not consent to any search. Request an attorney immediately and repeatedly. Do not discuss your case with cellmates. Jails record phone calls.
Preserve Evidence That Helps Your Defense
After bond release, gather everything related to your arrest:
- Copy all arrest paperwork
- Write down everything you remember about the stop, search, or arrest
- Note exact statements officers made
- Identify witnesses
- Photograph the arrest location
- Save text messages and phone records
Maintain Documentation Throughout Your Case
Keep organized records of all court paperwork, receipts for bail and attorney fees, documentation of treatment or counseling, drug test results, employment records, and character references. Bring all information to your attorney.
The Greenville Drug Arrest Process
After arrest, you're transported to the Greenville County Detention Center for booking. Bond hearings occur within 24 hours. Misdemeanor marijuana possession is heard in Greenville Municipal Court or Magistrate Court. Felony drug charges proceed through General Sessions Court at the Greenville County Courthouse (13th Circuit).
FAQ for Drug Crime Charges in Greenville
What should I do if the police want to search my car during a traffic stop?
Do not consent to any search. Politely state, "I do not consent to any search." If officers search anyway, do not resist physically, but maintain that you did not consent. Your clear refusal creates a record that helps your attorney challenge the search later.
Can I get my drug charge dismissed if this is my first offense?
First-time offenders may qualify for Pre-Trial Intervention or conditional discharge programs that result in dismissed charges after successful completion. Eligibility depends on the specific charge, the amount of drugs, and prosecutor discretion. Simple possession cases have the best chances. Contact an attorney immediately to evaluate eligibility.
Will a drug conviction in Greenville affect my driver's license?
South Carolina no longer imposes automatic driver's-license suspension solely for drug convictions. Former S.C. Code § 56-1-745 was repealed. However, DUI-related drug cases follow different rules.
Can police charge me with trafficking even if the drugs weren't mine?
Yes. South Carolina law allows trafficking charges based on constructive possession. If drugs are found in your vehicle, home, or property, and prosecutors prove you had knowledge and control, you face trafficking charges based on the quantity present. Strong defenses exist for constructive possession cases, particularly when multiple people had access.
Does a drug conviction prevent me from owning a gun in South Carolina?
A felony drug conviction triggers a federal ban on firearms possession under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). While you might regain some limited state-level firearm rights, the federal ban remains unless a pardon or expungement meets federal standards. This consequence makes fighting for a non-felony outcome critical in any serious drug case.
What is the difference between simple possession and Possession With Intent to Distribute (PWID)?
Simple possession involves possessing a small quantity of drugs for personal use. PWID involves possessing drugs with the intent to sell, manufacture, or distribute. South Carolina law, under S.C. Code § 44-53-370, creates a rebuttable presumption of distribution intent when the quantity exceeds specific thresholds (for example, more than 1 gram of cocaine). Prosecutors use other evidence like packaging materials, scales, and cash amounts to prove the intent element.
Can I get my drug charge expunged in South Carolina?
Yes, you can get a drug charge expunged in South Carolina in specific circumstances. Successful completion of a Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI) or Conditional Discharge program makes the charge eligible for expungement.
Some first-offense misdemeanors, like simple possession of marijuana, may also become eligible for expungement after a set period, provided you maintain a clean record.
Expungement eliminates the public record of the arrest and charge.
Take Action Now to Protect Your Future
A drug arrest in Greenville creates urgent legal problems that require immediate attention. Evidence disappears, witnesses' memories fade, and deadlines for challenging illegal searches approach quickly.
At Fedalei & Reid Law, we dig into every detail of your arrest, challenge constitutional violations, negotiate with prosecutors, and fight for the best possible outcome. Whether you're facing simple possession or serious trafficking charges, we stand with you at every step.
Call (864) 668-1661 now for a free consultation. No pressure. Straight answers. We'll review your situation, explain your options in plain English, and start building your defense immediately. Your freedom and your future are worth defending.