On the merits, personally, I'm fairly confident that the defendant here did indeed actually commit at least one drug offense, and not merely attempt to do so via Facebook. Here are the relevant messages:
"[O]n April
23, 2020, Tainewasher received a Facebook message from
“Trigger Tre” stating, “I really need em ill get em off yu
fasure,” and asking, “Do yu have em or not[?]” Tainewasher
replied, “No I don’t . . . I was selling them for someone I will
have more later.” A few days later, on April 29, 2020,
Tainewasher messaged Trigger Tre that she “got pills.”
Trigger Tre replied, “Rn?” (meaning right now), to which
Tainewasher replied, “Yea.”
On April 27, 2020, Tainewasher received a message
from another individual asking if she “ha[d] any blk” (a term
for heroin). She replied that she could “get you some,”
which she would “[t]rade for shards” (a term for
methamphetamine). On April 28, 2020, Tainewasher wrote
back that, “I have dark” (a term for heroin), and the two
messaged about the logistics of a meet-up.
And on June 9, 2020, Tainewasher received a message
from yet another individual, who asked, “U know where I
could get a ball of shards[?]” (a term for 3.5 grams of
methamphetamine). Tainewasher replied, “Yea I’ll have it in a bit.” Approximately one hour later, Tainewasher
responded, “I have it,” and “[o]n my way.”"
Was there police surveillance or other evidence of the underlying transaction(s)? No. But I'm fairly confident that, yes, at least one drug deal actually went down. (Particularly the last one.)
Now, am I certain of that fact beyond a reasonable doubt? Probably not. Which is Judge Graber's principal point.
But, FWIW, I would bet a lot of money that it did, in fact, actually happen.
