Tag Archives: Felony

Drug War, Featured, Marijuana Prohibition

Minors Face ‘Unintended’ Felony Charges For Pot Under Wash. Recreational Cannabis Law

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Three teens, ages 14, 15, and 17, are facing felony charges for pot possession in the U.S. state of Washington, where recreational marijuana possession is legal.

According to NPR, a lesser-known provision in a new law, SB 5052, which was aimed at consolidating taxes and regulations between the state’s medical and recreational marijuana industries, has stiffened the penalty for pot possession by individuals under 21 from a misdemeanor punished by up to 90 days in jail to a class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Jaime Smith, a spokesperson for Democratic Wash. Gov. Jay Inslee, said in comments cited by The Associated Press, “I can only tell you that this was not the intention that the governor had when working with legislators on this bill.” Smith added, “There are other ways to [discourage marijuana use by minors] without charging them with felonies.” Gov. Inslee signed the bill into law earlier this year.

[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Cannabis Oil Activist Shona Banda, Now Facing Felony Charges, Speaks Out]

Sen. Ann Rivers (R-La Center), who sponsored the bill, said that the provision was intended to discourage minors from using marijuana. “We have to send a message to our kids: This will hurt you in more ways than one if you decide to participate,” she said.

The Lewiston Tribune notes that the three teens are facing charges in Asotin County, which borders Idaho. Asotin County Prosecutor Ben Nichols pointed out the fact that they are the first to be charged under the new law and explained its effect, “If you are a minor, a person under 21, [marijuana possession] is a felony no matter what.” Nichols later appeared open to downgrading the teens’ charges to misdemeanors.

Nichols said that if lawmakers were to repeal the provision, the teens currently facing charges could have their expected convictions vacated by the court after the fact.

Rick Laws, an Asotin County public defender assigned to represent one of the teens, said that hard prison time is “an awfully high price for a few people to have to pay for faulty legislative work.”

Back in September of last year, Ben Swann released a Truth in Media episode exposing the federal government’s mixed messages on medical marijuana. Watch it in the below-embedded video player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuX9y0hiqWE

Police Accountability, Politics, US

Raising resisting arrest to felony charge could happen in NYC

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The commissioner of the NYPD, Bill Bratton, has made the suggestion of raising the charge of resisting arrest to a felony.

At a joint hearing on Wednesday with the four State Senate committees, Bratton made the suggestion along with a number of other recommendations. “I think a felony,” said Bratton according to the Observer, “would be very helpful in terms of raising the bar significantly in the penalty for the resistance of arrest.”

Currently, resisting arrest in the state of New York is a misdemeanor charge, but Bratton said the current penalties for the charge are not enough to deter the nearly 2,000 resisting arrest charges per year in the city. According to the New York Post, the charge rarely gets prosecuted in court, but if it were raised to a felony this could change. “We’re asking district attorneys to treat them more seriously than they have been treated in the past.” said Bratton.

Bratton did acknowledge some of the cases involving the charge may not be legitimate, however.

A report published in December last year by the WNYC by retired criminal justice professor Sam Walker, says, “There’s a widespread pattern in American policing where resisting arrest charges are used to sort of cover – and that phrase is used – the officer’s use of force… Why did the officer use force? Well, the person was resisting arrest.”

According to this same article, not all officers fall into this category of using the charge as a “cover.” Records uncovered by Walker show the number of NYPD officers who are involved in civilian complaints related to an officer’s use of force, are a very small percentage.

“If there are 10 lawsuits — lawsuits — there’s something wrong here,” said Candace McCoy, a professor at the Graduate Center and John Jay College at the City University of New York in the same report. “And if this person has not been reprimanded and controlled there’s something wrong.”

Some of the other suggestions made by Bratton, which did not generate as much controversy, are having heavier penalties for individuals who fatally attack law enforcement officers, installing bulletproof glass in police vehicles, and possible punishments for people who publish personal information of officers.

Drug War, Featured, Police State, US

California could release up to 10,000 nonviolent offenders

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As part of a proposition California passed on Tuesday, the state could see up to 10,000 incarcerated people eligible for early release.

Proposition 47, known in California as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, will reclassify various offenses which were previously felonies, as misdemeanors.  Some of these offenses include personal illicit drug use, shoplifting, and theft under $950.

Analysts have said they think with this proposition in place, California will hand out 40,000 less felonies each year, and the state would also save up to $150 million dollars.

The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center wrote, according to Common Dreams, “The current sentencing and correctional system in California is costly and inefficient and voters would prefer their tax dollars to be spent on education and health care rather than incarceration.”

Other uses for the saved money include supporting victim services, mental health programs, and drug treatment programs.  Marc Mauer from the Sentencing Project, said, “This historic vote demonstrates support to advance a public safety strategy beyond incarceration to include treatment and prevention.”

The proposition will also apply to people currently being held in the California prison system, which is how those incarcerated people could apply for early release.

Similar legislature has been enacted in other states in the past few years.

Georgia, for example passed a law in 2012 which, according to FiveThirtyEight, allowed alternative sentencing for low-level, nonviolent offenders.  The state’s prison population dropped by about 14 percent by the end of 2013 and the crime rate dropped by about 4 percent as well.  The state also saved approximately $20 million in the first year of enacting the new law.

Other states have enacted similar legislature in the past few years, but the laws were enacted to recently to offer any significant data.

Drug War, Economy, Election, Health, Politics, Technology, US

From Marijuana to GMOs to Fracking – Results of the Midterm Elections

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The 2014 Midterm Elections led to the approval of measures such as marijuana legalization in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington D.C., a ban on hydraulic fracturing in Denton, Texas, and a shift in the way California defines offenses, such as drug possession.

Oregon became the third state to legalize the “possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over,” according to the Huffington Post.

The Alaska Dispatch reported that voters in Alaska approved legalizing recreational use of marijuana “by about 52 percent in favor to 48 percent opposed, with 100 percent of the state’s precincts reporting.”

According to USA Today, the measure to legalize marijuana in Washington D.C. was “overwhelmingly approved” by voters, and will apply to sections of the district that are not considered “federal land.”

Although the measure to legalize medical marijuana in Florida received 57% approval, it did not receive the necessary 60%, in order to pass.

Florida Today reported that voters “narrowly rejected” the legalization of medical marijuana, “after a surge of ads saying the ballot initiative was riddled with holes,” which cost $6.2 million, and had the backing of a Las Vegas casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson.

Following the elections, Denton became the first city in the state of Texas to ban hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported that 58.6 percent of voters approved an ordinance that “will drastically restrict drillers’ attempts to tap the rich natural gas reserves within the city limits.”

A measure to label foods containing genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), appeared on the ballots in Colorado and Oregon. It was rejected in Colorado, and is still “too close to call” in Oregon. The Oregonian reported that the measure to label GMOs  “trailed 49 percent to 51 percent,” with nearly 80 percent of votes counted.

According to Reuters, this outcome came after corporate food and agriculture interests, such as Monsanto and DuPont, “poured more than $36 million into anti-labeling campaigns in the two states.”

Voters in California approved a measure that redefines certain offenses that were considered felonies, such as shoplifting, fraud, and possession of small amounts of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, as misdemeanor.

The Huffington Post reported that as a result of the measure, as many as 10,000 people “could be eligible for early release from state prisons,” and the expectation is that courts “will annually dispense around 40,000 fewer felony convictions.”

Ben Swann joins correspondents Erin Ade, Edward Harrison, Abby Martin, and Tyrel Ventura, from RT News, to discuss the ballot measures:

Politics, US

Former Virginia political candidate indicted on murder charges

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Charles Severance, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia who had ran for political office in Virginia in the 1990’s and 2000’s, has been indicted on ten charges, including murder and weapons related charges.

The killings in question date back to 2003 when real estate agent Nancy Dunning was found murdered in the Alexandria area.  There were other murders in the surrounding neighborhoods in the following years, one as recent as February.  These killings have sparked fears of a possible serial killer in Alexandria and the encompassing areas.

Ballistics experts had found similarities between the weapons used in all three murders, according to ABC News.

Severance, 53, was identified by a caregiver, who had survived the February slaying, with the help of forensic sketch artists.  When police contacted Severance in March, he left the state but was later arrested in a Wheeling, W. Va. library, according to the Washington Post.

Severance was initially arrested on a weapons related charge since he is a felon and therefore not allowed to carry a firearm.  He had previously pleaded guilty to a 2005 felony gun possession charge.

In 1996 and 2000, Severance made a run for mayor of Alexandria, but his odd and erratic behavior caused officials to take notice.  Police at the time conducted a routine investigation after tips were passed off to them pointing to Severance in connection with the 2003 homicide, according to the Washington Times.  After the investigation, police concluded Severance was not a suspect at the time.

Prosecutors for the case say they are not planning to pursue the death penalty.  The maximum sentence Severance could therefore face is life in prison if he is convicted of the murder charges.

“This has been a complex and time-consuming investigation that has spanned almost 11 years,” said the Alexandria police in a statement.

Politics, US

Listen to Governor Perry’s response to felony indictment

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AUSTIN, August 18, 2014– Friday, we reported on the initial indictment brought against Governor Perry for his alleged abuse of power. He has since spoken out saying he will fight the charges.

One day after being indicted on accusations of abuse of power, Perry stood by his veto and characterized the charges as “outrageous” political theatrics and predicted he would prevail over “those who would erode our state’s constitution and laws purely for political purposes.”

“I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto and will continue to defend this lawful action of my executive authority as governor,” Perry told reporters.

Follow Michael Lotfi on Facebook & Twitter.

Featured, Politics, US

Texas Governor Rick Perry indicted by grand jury on felony charges- Could face 109 years

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AUSTIN, August 15, 2014– According to Austin, Texas NBC affiliate KXAN, on Friday, a grand jury served an indictment against Gov. Rick Perry (R- Texas) in connection with the investigation into an effort to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign. Travis County is home to Austin, Texas.

At the center of the issue is a complaint about intimidation stemming from Perry’s threat to veto of $7.5 million in state funding to the Public Integrity Unit run by Lehmberg’s office, which came after she pleaded guilty to drunk driving and served a 45-day sentence; Perry called on her to step down. However, Lehmberg refused to resign her position, which led Perry to veto the funding for the PIU.

A grand jury was called to determine whether or not Perry broke the law when he threatened to veto the funding. As a result, indictments were issued on two felony charges. 1.) Abuse of official capacity. 2.) Coercion of public servant. If Perry were to be found guilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum 109 years in prison.

An indictment indicates the grand jury believes the state has a strong enough case to send to trial.

Here is video of Lehmber’s booking into the county jail

“The first count of abuse of official capacity. It basically charges that on the day of the veto in 2013 that Governor Perry intentionally or knowingly misused government property that had come into his custody or control,” special prosecutor Michael McCrum said Friday afternoon.

According to KXAN, McCrum told reporters that he plans to meet with Perry’s attorneys on Monday.

Grand jury's indictment of Governor Rick Perry
Grand jury’s indictment of Governor Rick Perry (Page 1)
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Follow Michael Lotfi on Facebook & Twitter.

 

Politics, US

Property owner arrested, charged with felony at public meeting for talking too long after city stole his property

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BRIDGEPORT TOWNSHIP, Mich., March 19, 2014 — After the city township stole his property, a 59-year-old Michigan property owner was arrested and charged with a felony resisting and obstructing police earlier this month for violating the three-minute public comment rule at a township board meeting.

“You (city township) ordered the destruction of everything I built. You came for my BBQ grill, you came for my bird feeders,” said Mark Adams.

According to Adams, he handed board members a four-page document with 21 grievances against the township and other government officials prior to speaking. He also requested he be heard for fifteen minutes instead of the standard three.

Among those grievances were claims that the board violated the state open meetings act and Freedom of Information Act.

According to Adams, he requested documents from the township through a FOIA and was met with police force multiple times. “You’ve got this place on lock-down,” he said.

“I have a right to redress my grievances,” said Adams just before he was arrested March 4 by three officers.

Township officials claim that they had to remove Adams twice before, but this was the first arrest.

In addition to his felony charge, Adams was also charged with a disturbing the peace misdemeanor.

Follow Michael Lotfi on Facebook and on Twitter.

Interviews, Politics, US

Exclusive: FL Sheriff Arrested, Charged With Felony & Suspended For Protecting Citizens’ 2nd Amendment Rights

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UPDATE: Reports are surfacing that the FL Sheriff was found “not guilty” and has been reinstated.

Liberty County, FL-

In a developing story, Sheriff Nick Finch was arrested, charged with a felony and suspended without pay for supporting a citizen’s 2nd Amendment rights. It’s not a story you hear every day. It’s certainly not a story you’d expect out of a county named Liberty.

The events began when Floyd Eugene Parrish, a Florida resident, was arrested and detained by one of Finch’s deputies for carrying a firearm without a permit on March 8th, 2013. In the state of Florida, this lands you a 3rd degree felony charge. Finch released Parrish because, in his assessment, Parrish was not a violent criminal and was acting innocuously. Finch called the clerk and told her not to draw up arrest documents until he was there to assess the situation. Note, Parrish had not been officially booked into jail- only detained.Finch

The arresting deputy had multiple complaints for overstepping his authority from citizens over the past several months before Parrish’s arrest. A month after Parrish was released from jail Sheriff Finch decided he needed to launch an internal investigation against the deputy due to multiple complaints and phone calls he had received. Once the deputy found out that an investigation was going to be launched against him, he resigned to keep the investigation from occurring. On May 1st, the deputy, who was no longer employed in the state of Florida, filed a complaint against Finch for the Parrish arrest that took place more 2 months beforehand.

Rick Scott, Florida governor,  stepped in and had Finch arrested. Governor Scott then appointed a new sheriff. Finch says he did not vote for the Governor. “I’m not a republican, or a  democrat. Just a man who believes in the Constitution,” says Finch. A rally was recently organized by Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie. Governor Scott was invited to speak, but was a no show.

 

Below is our exclusive interview with Sheriff Finch:

Q1: How have things been going since the Governor stepped in and had you arrested?

A1: Things have been tough. Especially on the family. We are living on one income right now. Willie Meggs, the state attorney, actually has family in Liberty County and it seems they were part of the group who were against my election to begin with. This is one of the most corrupt attorneys in FL. Having to live at their side has not been easy.

Q2: Why do you believe Governor Scott  had you arrested?

A2: I think that once the state attorney filed charges against me Governor Scott had to step in. I’m shocked and amazed that it has gone this far. The Governor claims he is pro 2nd Amendment, but I’m not so sure. I have offered to take a lie-detector test for the Governor if he thinks I’m not being truthful about the events that night. I am trying to work with the Governor- not against him. 

Q3: Do you feel that the stop on Parrish (the man Sheriff Finch released from jail) by your deputy, which lead to discovery of the weapon and his subsequent arrest was constitutional?

A3: The deputy arrested Parrish for “failure to maintain the lane”. Upon stopping Parrish he was not drunk, or under the influence of any drugs. I myself have traveled that same road many times. It is a single lane and is crumbling. I have gone off the road there multiple times.  Regardless, Parrish told the deputy that he did have a weapon. The deputy the arrested him for not having a licence. Sadly, we do not have cameras on the patrol cars, so it is really the deputy’s word against Parrish’s as to whether or not his driving warranted a stop.   

Q4: If you could go back to that night in March would you do things differently?

A4: Absolutely not. I wouldn’t have done anything different. Once I became aware of the arrest, I immediately called the clerk and told her not to book Parrish. I am a Desert Storm veteran. I took an oath to protect the Constitution in the army and again as a sheriff. The state is charging me with destroying documents, which never existed. They do not have a case.

Q5: How long do you plan to fight for this case?

A5: I do not expect to be convicted of the crime. However, I’ll fight it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to. The state already made me an offer that if I resign they will drop the charges. To me, this means they do not have a case and it seems there are political motives to push me out rather than seek justice.

Q6: It seems like the tea party, libertarian crowd has really got behind you. Is being an “independent” sort of code for being libertarian?

A6: Reagan was the first president I ever voted for. I was a republican for years before I became an independent. As far as I am concerned it seems like there is no difference now days between republicans and democrats. To answer your question though, yes I am certainly seeming to lean more libertarian now days. 

Tea parties around the country have reacted. Mark West, Chattanooga Tea Party President, tells us in an exclusive interview:

“The Tea Party movement is united on multiple core issues. Of those core issues we hold the Constitution supreme. We are also united in protecting it from those who are attacking it in the states and federal government. This is probably one of the clearest examples of such an attack. Sheriff Finch took an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America. Because he took this oath seriously, Governor Scott sees it fit to have this elected sheriff arrested and charged with a felony. You’d expect more from a governor who claims to be a Republican, but no. As we are united on core issues, we must unite behind Sheriff Finch. This is a time for the grassroots to dig deep and take a stand. Finch is just one example of many. If we do not stand, it is only a matter of time before it is in our county. As an organization, the Chattanooga Tea Party has donated $500.00 to Finch’s defense fund, and many of our members have donated on top of that. Finch needs our support of the next months to years as he walks forward in this battle with his lawyers. He also needs our prayers. If we expect to have sheriffs who will protect our constitutional rights, then we have to support those brothers and sisters such as Finch who are willing to stand strong.“

West tells us that a fundraiser/rally is planned for Finch on August 24th. The Chattanooga Tea Party vice president is flying down to Florida to support Finch. Supporters have set up a Facebook page to keep up with Finch’s case.

Sheriff Mack, Founder, President of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), has taken a stand for Sheriff Finch. They have set up a defense fund for Finch and are rallying support from across the country.  I spoke with  Sheriff Mack about Finch’s case:

“Obviously we are getting very involved. We are having a fundraiser in Panama City, FL this weekend. Finch stood against the enforcement of a law, which is contrary to the Constitution. He stood in courage. Everyone would be in jail if it wasn’t for sheriffs like Finch setting a great example as to what all sheriffs in this country should be doing. We have been able to send Finch $3.5k already, and we have already raised about another $5k.“

Sheriff Mack tells me that the fundraiser in Florida this weekend will host some of the country’s finest constitutional sheriffs.

(EDIT 1)

Finch is being charged with violation of Florida Statute 838.022(1):  It is unlawful for a public servant, with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit for any person or to cause harm to another, to: (b): Conceal, cover up, destroy, mutilate, or alter any official record or official document or cause another person to perform such an act.

However, according to the state of Florida’s General Records Schedule any records of Parrish’s arrest lost their administrative value once Finch acted within his authority not to pursue charges against Parrish, and therefore could not longer be used or retained.

According to former prosecutor and attorney KrisAnne Hall:

“You see, when Sheriff Finch used his proper authority to not pursue charges against Mr. Parish, the records pertaining to his arrest lost their “administrative value.”  Sheriff Finch, by this Florida Regulation was within his authority to destroy this record. The arrest affidavit of Sheriff Finch gives a pretty detailed account of what took place.  But the arrest affidavit NEVER mentions Parish being booked into custody.  Being placed in a jail cell is not being booked.  If the arrest affidavit is accurate, and we have to trust it to be as it was given under oath, then Parish was never booked so the log that contained his name was in error and the Sheriff’s office also had full authority to white out his name and make space for someone who was actually booked into the jail.“

Finch first ran for Sheriff as a republican in 2008. He lost in that election cycle, and ran again as an independent when he finally won with the support of thousands in 2012. He first took office on January 1st, 2013.