Free Talk Live

Pete Holmes, the newly elected Seattle city attorney, is already making good on his campaign promise to dismiss any marijuana possession charges that come through his office, the Seattle Times reported last week. Holmes dismissed two marijuana-related cases on his first day on the job, and several others are about to be dismissed, including cases taken up by the previous city attorney.

Cop busted running prostitution ring. Witnesses magically fail to respond to subpoenas. Case magically dismissed.

We’ve all heard jury nullification… how about defendant nullification. In Livingston, Montana this week a judge just walked out of a courtroom while the court was in session while being heckled by an unruly crowd at the behest of the defendant, Joel Boniek. Once the judge was gone Boniek proclaimed himself in charge of the courtroom and dismissed his own case.

The 69-year-old who grew marijuana to help his cancer-stricken wife was sentenced to jail on Friday morning

Gary Burton must serve 60-days behind bars for growing two pot plants in Chippewa Lake. He will also serve 30 days house arrest and will undergo drug testing for two years.

Burton says he was growing the plants for medicinal purposes, to help ease his wife's pain due to her breast cancer treatments.

Bad news in an important Institute for Justice-launched lawsuit defending the right of free speech on the Internet about matters of diet and nutrition. A state licensing board in North Carolina tried to suppress a blogger who talked up and advised people on the health benefits of the "paleo" diet (that is, eating as we think cavement ate, no grains or processed foods), telling him directly what he could or could not say about his belief that the high-meat, low-carb diet helped him with his diabetes. The case was dismissed by a federal court late last week.

A funny thing happened on the way to a trial in Missoula County District Court last week.

Jurors – well, potential jurors – staged a revolt.

They took the law into their own hands, as it were, and made it clear they weren’t about to convict anybody for having a couple of buds of marijuana. No, they said, one after the other. No way would they convict somebody for having a 16th of an ounce.

In fact, one juror wondered why the county was wasting time and money prosecuting the case at all, said a flummoxed Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul.

Seattle police officers bust down a man's door with guns drawn and toss his place. There were two pot plants inside, but more importantly, the guy was a registered medical marijuana patient fully within his rights to grow. Probable cause has yet to be established. Also of note, marijuana possession is, by law, the lowest priority for Seattle law enforcement.

From the SF Chronicle: Charges against a man for marijuana possession were dropped after a videotape of the bust contradicted the police's story. The police alleged the man consented to a search and properly identified themselves as police. The videotape showed otherwise and the charges were dismissed.

A man arrested at a July 4 house party is charged with a count of wiretapping, alleging he used his cell phone to film the police response. Police confirmed Tuesday that Adam H. Whitman, 20, of New Castle, was arrested on that charge. However, the charge is likely to be dismissed and/or replaced with another charge, possibly disorderly conduct or obstructing government administration. Whitman was "impaired by alcohol" when he was arrested and, when the case was later reviewed, wiretapping didn't seem to be "a viable charge."