Comment by byoung2

You weren't unlucky, you just had bad legal advice. There is a reason 95% of cases get settled...the DA doesn't want to waste time in court and risk losing. So they threaten you with some excessive prison term to scare you into taking what seems like a good deal. Your lawyer should have seen through that, or maybe he was inclined to get it over quickly as well? A good lawyer could have gotten the intent to distribute part thrown out or at least gotten a jury to ignore it given that it was orchestrated by the police. You likely could have gotten it reduced to a misdemeanor possession and gotten just community service on your first offense.