Tried for drug trafficking as a repeat offense, he was acquitted by the courts due to forgetting his signature

It was an “anti-narcotics” operation that was derailed due to procedural flaws. On the morning of December 16, investigators from the Albi police station went “on hold” in Cantepau to monitor a “deal point” in the neighborhood. All day long, they observed the little maneuver of the salesman installed in the lobby of the building and the “lookout” positioned outside. The first, well known to the police, was quickly identified. The police see him interacting with the customers who flock in, each time dipping his hand into a flower bag to exchange products for money.

The sales continue: between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., no less than 184 transactions are recorded. The next morning, the police returned. The salesman takes his post again at 10 a.m. He wears the same clothes as the day before and always uses the same bag. The investigators then initiate the arrest. Alerted by the lookout, the man fled and got rid of the bag but was caught a little further away. €710 in cash was found on him, while the bag, also recovered, contained 26 grams of cocaine and 55 grams of herbal cannabis.

Tried in immediate appearance

Interviewed in police custody, this forty-year-old denies the facts outright, ensuring that he only sells contraband cigarettes, of which investigators will find no trace, either on the premises or at his home which is searched. Placed in pre-trial detention on December 18, he was tried immediately this Friday by the Albi criminal court for drug trafficking as a repeat offender.

With already 23 convictions on his record, a probationary suspension in progress and the elements collected by the investigators during their surveillance, he was at great risk. But at the opening of the hearing, his lawyer, Me Eric Soulans, raised objections of nullity, having noticed in the file that several reports had not been signed by the police officers, in particular those of the surveillance and of his arrest.

Nullity of the minutes

The defendant refused to answer most of the questions asked by the president, citing his right to silence. “He doesn't care at all about justice,” denounced prosecutor Cyril Padilla, quite annoyed by the procedural flaws raised at the last moment by the defense. He formally requested a sentence of 2 years in prison with continued detention and the revocation of a previous 6-month suspended sentence.

After deliberating, the court could only confirm the nullity of the surveillance and arrest reports, and therefore “the nullity of subsequent acts”, before acquitting the defendant. The forty-year-old will leave the remand center to return home the same evening.