Immediately before you caught up with him, he threw down several glassine envelopes filled with what turned out to be cocaine. The prosecutor finished his direct examination, and now the defense attorney has begun cross-examining you. He asked if you had the suspect in your sight the entire time between when you identified him as the one who sold to the undercover officer and when you put the handcuffs on him. Your arrest report didn’t mention it, but for a couple of seconds you slipped as you went around the corner of the alley and fell. During that short time, the suspect had proceeded a considerable distance down the alley.
You do not think there was anyone else around, and you are as sure as you possibly can be that it was your suspect who dropped the bags, but you know that if you testify to this incident truthfully, the defense attorney might be able to argue successfully that the bags were not dropped by the suspect and get him acquitted of the much more serious charge of possession with intent to distribute. What should you do?
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