My Friend OD’d. Can I Be Charged with a Crime If I Cover It Up?

Destroying or hiding evidence is a criminal offense

My Friend OD’d. Can I Be Charged with a Crime If I Cover It Up?

Consider scenario: you are struggling to get clean, but when your friend tells you that they scored, you decide to meet up with them to shoot up. When you come to, you realize that your friend is dead of an overdose. You panic, not wanting to get in trouble for doing drugs or for the death itself. You start working to remove any traces of drugs and your presence at the house. You even delete text messages from both your and your friend’s phones. You then leave and try to forget that it ever happened. Can you be charged with a crime?

According to a criminal attorney in Riverside, CA, the answer to that question is you could be charged with a crime. Under California law, it is a criminal offense to willfully destroy or hide evidence that may be relevant to a trial, police investigation, or other proceedings. If you are convicted of destroying or concealing evidence — a misdemeanor — you may be sentenced to up to 6 months in county jail and fined up to $1,000.

To prove that you destroyed evidence of a crime, a prosecutor must demonstrate that:

  • You acted willfully and knowingly;
  • You destroyed or concealed any evidence; and
  • You did so during a legal proceeding.

For purposes of California criminal law, willfully means with a purpose or intention to commit a criminal act (such as destroying evidence). Knowingly means that you knew that what you destroyed or concealed would be used as evidence. Finally, a legal proceeding includes a criminal investigation by law enforcement, an inquiry, or a trial.

There are a number of possible defenses to this charge. For example, if you did not act willfully, then you cannot be convicted of the offense. Similarly, if whatever you concealed or destroyed is not actually evidence, then it is not a crime. For example, if you went to your friend’s room to get some intimate items that they wouldn’t want their family to find, that would likely not be a crime, because those items aren’t evidence of a crime. Finally, if there is not a legal proceeding at the time that you destroyed or concealed evidence, then that is a defense.

If you conceal or destroy evidence after a friend dies of an overdose, you may or may not be charged with a crime depending on what was happening at the time that you acted. If no one knew about the death and there was no active investigation or court case, then you may not get charged with this crime. However, if you came back to the house after the police had been there to try to remove any trace of evidence that you were there, you may be charged with this crime. A seasoned criminal attorney in Riverside, CA can help you determine whether you might be prosecuted for this type of offense based on the specific facts of your case.

At the Chambers Law Firm, we work with clients who have been charged with a range of California crimes. To learn more or to schedule a free initial consultation, contact us today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com.

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