Madison NORML

The settlement ends a long roller coaster ride of a case that began on Sunday, October 8, 2006, as hundreds of attendees of the 36th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival prepared to march up State St. to the Capitol for the fest’s annual parade ("Dane County -- Felony for one joint?," click here). As Chris allegedly handed a friend a white cylindrical object, they were pounced upon by UW police officer Michael Mansavage, and arrested. While in police custody, Lankford requested writing materials to write a note for his eventual attorney. Officer Mansavage then illegally made copies of the notes and put them in Lankford’s file. Lankford had to spend the night in jail for 5 and a half alleged joints, but the nightmare was only beginning.

Lankford’s attorney, Peter Steinberg, refused to settle the case when the DA offered a misdemeanor plea, because a number of issues had not been considered, like the note and bad search. The Dane County DA then charged Lankford with felony distribution (of one joint) while practically simultaneously announcing that (all other) marijuana cases under 25 grams would now be charged as a civil offense, and that Dane County “did not have a marijuana problem” ("Capital Times: Judge opens door to felony in pot case" click here), and ("WMTV Channel 15: Dane Co. District Attorney Won't Prosecute Some Marijuana Cases," click here, ("Watchdog Column: A dangerous criminal, take two," click here).

In late April, on the eve of a preliminary hearing that would have put both the facts of the case and Officer Mansavage on the stand, an offer was suddenly made to settle with an ordinance violation for successful completion of a drug/alcohol assessment. With that completed, the case was deemed settled and Chris Lankford’s bizarre prosecution came to a close, ("Letter: DA Wastes Resources On Vindictive Pot Case," click here), ("Lankford Hearing canceled!," click here).

That this situation even happened in Dane County in 2007 still leaves me shaking my head in amazement. While the DA’s office was crying broke, they wasted thousands of tax dollars and staff time trying to tar an ordinary citizen out exercising his free speech rights with a felony for allegedly passing a joint. And most of our elected officials did not even publicly weigh in about the waste ("State Journal: Board members rip marijuana prosecution," click here). When I brought the case to the attention of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who had said he supported legalizing pot when he ran for his first term ("Mayoral Hopefuls Defend Civil Liberties," click here), he simply rehashed the official facts of the case back to me via email. Part of the reason marijuana prohibition seems so intractable is because people we elect to represent our views instead decide its easier to just stipulate to marijuana prohibition and all its attendant evils, rather than being true leaders by taking a stand based on common sense, principle and conscience.

Harvest Fest number 37 is Saturday and Sunday, October 6 & 7, 2007, with the parade to Capitol scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Be there and be safe!