Criminal defense
Robbery and firearm charges
Norwalk Superior Court
Not-guilty verdict
Criminal defense
Long Beach Narcotics Trafficking Defense Lawyer
A sales or trafficking case is built differently from a possession case: surveillance, informants, phone records, and sometimes a wiretap, assembled over months before anyone is arrested. Defending one means attacking how it was built. Call now to schedule a consultation.
Patrick S. AguirreCriminal defense attorney · Long Beach4.6 out of 5 from 41 Google reviews. 25+ years of experience Patrick handles your case personally
Call now 562-471-3512 Schedule a consultation Fee quoted up front, before you decide Callback request
Talk with our office
Leave your contact information and, if helpful, a short general summary. The office will follow up.
Thank you.
The office received your contact request. If your matter is urgent, call 562-471-3512.
The charges
Sales, transportation, and manufacturing
Possession for sale under Health and Safety Code 11351 and 11378, and sale or transportation for sale under 11352 and 11379, are felonies carrying terms of up to five years, with higher terms for transportation across county lines. Manufacturing a controlled substance under 11379.6 carries three, five, or seven years. Proposition 47 did not touch any of them.
Offering to sell is a complete offense, which surprises people: an agreement to sell with the specific intent that the sale occur is chargeable even where no drugs ever existed. That makes recorded calls and messages the centre of many cases, and it makes the difference between talk and intent the thing being argued about.
Sources: Health and Safety Code 11351 — possession for sale; Health and Safety Code 11352 — sale, transport for sale, or offer to sell; Health and Safety Code 11378 — possession for sale of methamphetamine and other specified substances; Health and Safety Code 11379.6 — manufacturing.
The enhancements
Weight, priors, and location
Quantity drives the sentence more than the charge does. Health and Safety Code 11370.4 and 11379.8 add escalating consecutive terms based on weight, beginning at kilogram thresholds and rising steeply. Because the enhancement is tied to the weight of a substance containing the drug rather than the pure drug, how the laboratory weighed and sampled the material is a real issue, particularly with mixtures, liquids, and packaging included in the total.
Other enhancements attach for offenses near schools, for involving or selling to minors under Health and Safety Code 11353, and for specified prior convictions under 11370.2. Where the case alleges a group, gang allegations under Penal Code 186.22 or conspiracy under Penal Code 182 may be added, each carrying its own proof requirements.
Sources: Health and Safety Code 11370.4 — weight enhancements for cocaine, heroin, and specified substances; Health and Safety Code 11379.8 — weight enhancements for methamphetamine and others; Health and Safety Code 11353 — using a minor, or selling to a minor; Health and Safety Code 11370.2 — prior conviction enhancements.
How they are built
Informants, surveillance, and wiretaps
Long-term narcotics cases rest on three things. Confidential informants, who are usually working off their own cases and whose reliability, payments, and prior statements are discoverable and frequently damaging. Surveillance, which records what officers saw but not what they assumed. And communications, from phone records, extractions, and in the largest cases a wiretap.
Wiretaps are heavily regulated. California requires a detailed application and a judicial finding that normal investigative techniques have been tried and failed or are unlikely to succeed, plus minimisation of interception of unrelated conversations. Defects in the application, in necessity, in minimisation, or in the notice given afterwards can take an entire prosecution’s evidence out of the case.
Alongside that, the ordinary Fourth Amendment work: the stop, the search, the warrant, the tracking device, and the phone. And the disclosure fight, because informant identity, benefits given, and officer misconduct records are often the most valuable material in the file and are rarely produced without a motion.
Sources: Penal Code 629.50 — the application required for a California wiretap order; Penal Code 1538.5 — motion to suppress; Penal Code 1054.1 — the prosecution’s disclosure duties.
Federal
When narcotics cases go federal
Quantity, interstate or international movement, firearms, or an existing federal investigation can move a case to federal court, where the arithmetic changes completely. 21 U.S.C. 841 carries mandatory minimum sentences keyed to drug type and quantity, and 21 U.S.C. 846 makes a conspiracy punishable the same as the completed offense, so an agreement can carry a mandatory minimum without any drugs being seized from the defendant.
Relevant conduct can bring in quantities never charged, and a prior conviction noticed under 21 U.S.C. 851 raises the mandatory minimum. The safety valve and cooperation are the principal routes below a mandatory minimum, and both involve decisions with long consequences that should be made with counsel early rather than late. Federal matters are covered on the federal criminal defense page.
Sources: 21 U.S.C. 841 — manufacture, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute; 21 U.S.C. 846 — conspiracy; 21 U.S.C. 851 — enhanced penalties for prior convictions.
The consequences
Immigration and collateral effects
A conviction for possession for sale or trafficking is an aggravated felony for immigration purposes, which generally means mandatory detention, deportation, and permanent inadmissibility, with almost no discretionary relief available. For a non-citizen the immigration analysis has to drive the defense strategy from the first week, not be considered after a plea is negotiated.
A felony conviction also carries a lifetime firearm prohibition, asset forfeiture exposure, and licence consequences.
The office
How the Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre handles these cases
The office has defended narcotics cases in Long Beach and across Los Angeles County for nearly three decades. In a trafficking case the work is discovery and motions: the informant, the warrant, the wiretap, the laboratory, and the weight. Those are the places where cases of this kind actually change shape.
No outcome is promised here. The firm has offices in Long Beach and Downey and speaks Spanish.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions
How do they prove I intended to sell?
Circumstantially, from quantity, packaging, scales, cash, phones, and an officer’s opinion. There is rarely direct evidence. Each of those has an innocent explanation that can be supported: a quantity consistent with heavy personal use, packaging from how it was purchased, and cash from work. The officer’s opinion is evidence, not fact, and it can be examined.
The drugs were weighed with the packaging. Does that matter?
It can matter a great deal, because weight enhancements are tied to thresholds. How the laboratory weighed and sampled the material, whether packaging or liquid was included, and whether every package was tested rather than one of them are issues that can move a case below a threshold.
Can I find out who the informant is?
Sometimes. Where the informant was a percipient witness to the charged conduct, the defense can move to disclose their identity, and the prosecution must in any event disclose benefits, payments, and prior inconsistent statements. This is usually the most productive area of discovery in an informant-driven case.
Why would my case be in federal court?
Quantity, movement across state or national borders, firearms, or a federal agency having run the investigation. It matters because 21 U.S.C. 841 carries mandatory minimums keyed to drug type and weight, conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. 846 carries the same penalties as the completed offense, and relevant conduct can include quantities never charged.
Selected case results
Criminal defense results
A selection from 55 documented results
Criminal defense
Serious felony charges
Riverside Superior Court
Not guilty on all charges after three years in custody
Criminal defense
Domestic violence charge
Westminster Superior Court
Charge dismissed at trial
Client experiences
What clients say
★★★★★
12 counts 2 felony charges DISMISSED … he got him out of jail FAST.
★★★★★
I just walked out of court a free man after getting my case dismissed.
From the beginning to the end, Patrick and his professional office staff kept us informed on any updates, concluding the case with a dismissal!
Best defense attorney in town. … He cares about his clients and takes every case seriously. The staff is friendly and caring.
Meet your attorney
Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre
A Professional Law Corporation
The future of your case may depend on a successful outcome. It can be stressful to go through the legal process alone—but thankfully, you don’t have to.
The Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre will stand up for clients’ interests and rights, providing high-quality representation in personal injury cases and criminal defense matters throughout California from its Long Beach office.
We work with you and for your best interests. Our legal team is compassionate, hard-working, and tenacious—fighting to get the job done right when it matters most. No case is too complicated or insignificant for our full attention. Our clients may move forward into a brighter future free from worry about past mistakes.
We’re the legal team that never gives up. When you need an attorney who will fight for what’s right, turn to us, and we’ll do everything in our power to help. No matter how challenging your situation may seem, there is hope.
“Courage is the most important attribute of a lawyer.”
Robert F. Kennedy
Consultations by appointment
Talk to a defense attorney today
The earlier an attorney is involved, the more options you have. Call now or request a callback and the office will reach out.
Callback request
Talk with our office
Leave your contact information and, if helpful, a short general summary. The office will follow up.
Thank you.
The office received your contact request. If your matter is urgent, call 562-471-3512.