Madison NORML

Source: Capital Times
Pubdate: 13 February 2007
Author: Mike Miller

MARIJUANA CASE LIGHTS UP COURT

Pro-pot group plans protests at hearing

A minor marijuana charge could generate some heat in the Dane County courthouse Wednesday as Circuit Court Judge Patrick Fiedler rules on a motion in which the prosecution and defense seemed to have switched sides.

The prosecution has moved to dismiss without prejudice a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana and resisting an officer against Chris Lankford, 31, of Madison, who was charged with passing a joint to Devin K. Dutilly, 23, during last year's 36th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival in Madison.

Oddly, it would seem, defense attorney Peter Steinberg is opposing the motion to dismiss. But both Steinberg and Assistant District Attorney Karie Cattanach, who is prosecuting the case, have reasons for their positions on the dismissal issue.

As in most small-time drug cases, Cattanach offered the defense a deal in the case that would involve Lankford, who has no prior criminal record, pleading guilty or no contest but he had to accept the deal by the time of the final pretrial conference.

When Lankford declined the deal, Cattanach moved to dismiss so she could refile the case as a felony charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. Steinberg contended that was a vindictive action and at one point asked that Fiedler remove Cattanach from the case, which Fiedler declined to do.

In briefs filed with the court, Cattanach said "there has been no vindictiveness on the part of the state," and that "the defendant was given an offer that fully stated if rejected at the final pretrial the state would issue felony charges. That is what the state now seeks to do."

But that position also infuriates members of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and other pro-marijuana activists.

"Why is this even before the court?" asks Gary Storck, one of the co-founders of the Madison branch of NORML. "Dane County is facing a money shortage. Why is it being wasted on this?"

Storck and others plan to picket the courthouse in protest before the 11:30 hearing in Fiedler's court, then hope to have several people attend the hearing in support of Lankford.

"People are really angry about this. They feel victimized," Storck said. "It could have been any of them" who were arrested during the annual protest of marijuana laws.

Lankford and Dutilly were arrested at the start of the parade when University of Wisconsin Police Officer Michael Mansavage saw Lankford slip a joint to Dutilly.

When Mansavage searched Lankford, according to his report on the incident, he found five more whole joints and one half-smoked joint on Lankford and arrested him. Dutilly was also arrested and his case is set for a plea hearing, indicating he accepted a plea deal.

Mansavage is one of two UW officers who arrested and pepper-sprayed longtime activist and marijuana advocate Ben Masel as he gathered signatures for his run for the U.S. Senate at the Memorial Union last summer. Masel is fighting a trespassing ticket in that case and also plans to file a civil lawsuit in the near future.

Storck said neither the State Capitol police nor the City of Madison police made any arrests at the march and festival in October and that people have been smoking marijuana as a protest at the events for more than 30 years.

Citing recent violence in the city, Storck said that "people don't feel safe on the streets of Madison, but they don't feel threatened by a guy smoking a joint."

Steinberg has also filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case, a motion which will be heard later if Fiedler declines to dismiss the case. In that motion Steinberg contends that while Lankford was being held at the UW Police station he asked for a pen and paper to write down notes to later give to his lawyer. Mansavage copied those notes, even though they were privileged communications between Lankford and his lawyer, Steinberg alleges.

Mansavage's report concedes he copied the notes and kept the copies in the case file.