Yesterday morning my friend awoke to the sound of knocking on his door. The sheriff was looking for his roommate who had violated parole and had a warrant to search the house for him.

Among a bit of weed and some paraphernalia, the pigs stumbled upon my friend's closet grow. He had 12 plants in all.
The cops took most of the paraphernalia, the weed, and all of the plants, but only ticketed my friend with possession of under two ounces. He has a court date for sometime in May.

My friend has an immaculate record prior to this. Possession of under two ounces in Texas has a maximum penalty of 180 days incarceration and/or $1000 dollar fine. Usually, a first offense with possession would be no huge deal, but my friend is worried because of the plants.

Will this be used as evidence against him in court or will they just act as if he only had some weed? Should he seek legal council with a lawyer?

Basically: Should my friend be worried about serving time for this first offense of possession, or will this be treated as just any other possession charge? Will his closet grow fuck him?

Thanks,
ijsmlb :(

That sound pretty fishy... he gets the minimum charge for weed in Texas on 12 plants.

I can only think of three reasons:
A. Cops got some free weed.
B. The cops were ridiculously cool.
C. They'll give him the max sentence on the lesser charge.

I'm gonna bet on C unfortunately.

Don't worry about it man. He'll probably get put on probation for a year (bout 95% likely) but its probation for a misdeameanor so he wont be tested that often.

http://norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4566

No added charges for growing in TX, that's why he's not getting charged with anything but possession. However, when it hits court they may wanna pull some intent to distribute shit, because I've heard sometimes they consider each plant a QP of bud, even if it was just a sprout...

He definitely should get the best attorney he can afford ASAP...