A Juneau man is learning the hard way that when caught smoking a joint on the street, the trick is not to conceal the evidence by eating it.
Police say they forwarded felony "tampering with physical evidence" charges against a 24-year-old man after he apparently ingested a marijuana joint when confronted by a police officer.
Lt. David Campbell said in a interview that a police officer was patrolling the downtown area last Friday and smelled the marijuana at the intersection of Fourth and Harris Streets.
The officer located the man, then observed him eating the joint, Campbell said.
The man was not arrested, but JPD forwarded the charges to the District Attorney’s office per their request. His name was not released.
Campbell said this is something that happens periodically.
“People don’t understand that having the marijuana is a class ‘B’ misdemeanor, which is like one step above running a red light. Then when they destroy it, and they’re tampering with physical evidence, that’s a higher charge,” Campbell said.
Tampering with physical evidence is a class ‘C’ felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
If the man didn’t ingest the joint, he would likely only be facing misconduct involving a controlled substance in the sixth-degree. That maximum penalty for that misdemeanor is 90 days in prison and a $2,000 fine.
Alaska law allows a person to possess less than four ounces of marijuana (plant or dried) in the home, but not in public.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (41)
Add commentHow do they know...
...what he ingested? Have they recovered the evidence?
uhhh are you sure Emily
Let me get this straight. Emily and the Juneau Empire are telling us all that Alaska law allows everyone to have up to four ounces of marijuana in their home?
Can you site that law for us?
A person you say? A15 year old? Can a couple have 8 ounces?
Your statement is irresponsible and wrong.
@concerned
"Alaska citizens have the right to possess less than four ounces of marijuana in their home for personal use." -- Alaska Court of Appeals, Noy v. State, August 29, 2003
The state constitution's right to privacy allows up to 24 plants to be cultivated in one's home. However, maintaining a grow operation of any size outside one's home is a felony. This of course doesn't speak to federal laws.
You should probably apologize to Emily and the Empire.
A felony charge?
A misdemeanor at the most, or don't charge. This is a b$ charge. You want to give a young man a felony for eating a joint? Was this the City DA or State DA making this brilliant decision to felony charge? Shame on you.
Go ahead and charge him....
If you can prove he knew it was physical evidence before ingesting it.
One hopes that the Grand Jury will remember what their charge is and will not let this see the light of day.
How about a brownie?
What was the point? Let's see, follow the aroma and hope to nail a misdemeanor violator. Now he's facing 5 years, $50,000 and a felony conviction forever.
Was he smoking ten feet away from a door or window?
Let's work on our PR skills.
"Don't you think this outlaw bit has done got out of hand?"...
..."Was it singing through my nose that got me busted by the man?"... "They got me for possession of something that was gone, long gone." -Waylon Jennings.
He said, she said. Prove it beyond a shadow of doubt. Your tax dollars at work. Such a waste.
This is why Cartels don't need lobbyists.
***
JPD and District Attorney
How about you concentrate on a few burglary theft things. Try a few once in awhile for a "change".
You know like 'once in awhile' do one. You can pick from many hundreds in this town.
I can live with the guy with the joint. He anit hurting me.
Did JPD go so far as to
Did JPD go so far as to confiscate the man's bowel moments for the next couple of days to make sure it really was marijuana he ate? Would his flushing the turds away down the toilet have constituted tampering with evidence?
Felony
Maybe we need to adopt an ordinance like Seattle or SF has that makes pot enforcement the lowest priority for JPD. Cause really the whole crime/punishment thing is out of whack here.
Bored Cops
What a joke. I can think of 1000 better things for JPD to do downtown than throw a felony charge at some guy for eating a joint.
Give me a break...
super cop
I bet this super cop feels like a hero, what a waste of time and effort. Seriously ? a freaking joint! ever notice how power tripping some of these officers are? I know we have some very good police officers here in Juneau, but we also have a few that really need to tone down there additudes. Especially from the ones who shave their heads. I am seriously embarrased for them sometimes.
I hate being treated like some criminal by the officers who act like their going to get shot when they walk up to your car with their hands on the butt of their pistols. Its very scary and you really should not feel the need to fear police officers.
serve and protect
Not harrass and intimidate !
Yea, what a major waste of
Yea, what a major waste of time. It's just ridiculous. Do something worthwhile.
I can see this particular
I can see this particular officer getting hung with the moniker "Officer Buzzkill."
Not sure where the animus
Not sure where the animus toward the JPD officer is coming from. He was on a beat patrol, smelled pot, confronted the person committing an illegal act. But he didn't make an arrest, and spent very little time on this particular issue. There must be a lot of pot smokers with nothing better to do than [filtered word] and moan about the police. Sorry little buggers.
So you get time
You can get time for smoking pot BUT what happens when you shoot at cops ?? Seems that one went away???
Time to enact an initiative legalizing pot I guess
I'll not blame the officer, the law is what it is. How about working to change the law, lessen the penalties for this plant and/or for hiding possession?
Where are our priorities as a society that we slam folks into jail for something far too many have themselves in a hangup over.
This should end, just as prohibition did.
Goin' Outside
I'm heading south for the weekend--going to take in Seattle's Hempfest--- maybe Juneau needs a festival to bring some business to town and promote that Alaska Grown program. Good way to overwhelm JPD!
The police officer was just doing his job...
I get it. But the paperwork submitted will leave a trail this person will be dealing with for years. The city will make short work of this infraction through a plea bargain.
The "animus" comes from the non-arrest violation (victimless) enforcement of some obscure 'intent' to pull something over on a police officer.
This inane adherence to the letter of the law comes on the heel of recent impressive drug interdiction efforts but risks backpedaling in the PR arena.
Good job officer! And I mean
Good job officer! And I mean it!
To all you stoners out there saying the kid wasn't hurting anyone, he was committing an illegal act. Not all things illegal cause physical harm. Driving through a red light at 2am doesn't hurt anyone. But its still illegal.
Go home, have a joint and relax. Just make sure you do that inside!
Time to re-think...
...our laws on marijuana. How many more lives need to be ruined or tax dollars need to be spent on this sort of thing before we realize our priorities are a bit out of whack?
Driving through a red light anytime certainly can!
May the luck of the Irish remain with me.
The law is the law. Sucks
The law is the law. Sucks and is a waste of time and energy but while the law says you can't do that in public follow it. Can't drink out in public in town, same thing. Like its been said, keep it in your home and don't give the controllers more ammo.
Hey Jim, when you want to meet up?
don't get me wrong..
I'm all for ending this pointless prohibition.. but at the same time, doing it out in public is against the law. It could be viewed the same as public intoxication or drinking in public.
My fellow Alaskans, we actually have pretty loose laws.. 4 ounces in your own home for personal use, i dont think i've ever had more than 1 oz at one time.. Just keep it inside and everyone will be happy.
The officer was just doing his job, though I will agree that a felony charge is a bit extreme.
While I agree that our
While I agree that our current laws regarding marijuana are ridiculous, so were the actions of the guy busted. If you don't want to risk getting arrested for smoking weed, don't do it in public. Another five minute walk and he could have been in the woods, where no one would be around to smell it or see him. He knew the law and took the risk anyway, his legal problems are no one's fault but his own. All that this does is make responsible marijuana users look foolish by association to people who don't know any better, similar to how the chronic inebriates give a bad name to responsible folks who frequent the bars downtown. Neither group of people are inherently bad on their own, but are made to look foolish by the actions of a small percentage of them. I'm sure there is a good republican = birther tea party analogy in there as well, with the actions of a few people making everyone else guilty by association.
I miss James Dean.
But you are right. Everyone knows this particular law. Guess I gotta give you that.
Downtownie makes a very good
Downtownie makes a very good point. Standing on the street smoking a joint is in really poor taste. If the guy is question hadn't been so lazy and stupid, he could have walked off into the woods and gotten good and stoned and nobody would have been the wiser.
Further, quite possibly the individual in question is a known scumbag and the officer wanted to make a statement to him and the rest of his low-life buddies.
Still, this is a pretty funny story and I think most of the posters on this thread are having a good time. I have been checking back on this through out the day and I've enjoyed everybody's input on this.
Keep the comments coming folks!!!
I'm confused...
I don't think the punishment for a crime should ever exceed the crime itself. Why would it behoove our society to give a guy five years and a felony for destroying evidence of a crime "which is like one step above running a red light." It sounds like a DA is fishing for a career-ending case.
Besides, eating a burnt joint is punishment enough. That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me.
I don't care for "the law is the law" argument - when politicians refuse to discuss something that 50% of society is ready to discuss, following the letter of the law is counter-productive. I'm sure there were people saying "the law is the law" while justifying owning human beings and discriminating against women. Maybe it's time to view users of cannabis as political activists instead of criminals, until we evolve to the point in which we can simply view users as adult human beings making adult human being decisions.
Personally, I view alcohol as a plague. I've watched it tear apart homes and families, and kill some my friends. I can't say the same for cannabis. In five years of teaching I have yet to hear of a family in which cannabis is a problem. I guarantee you alcohol will be a problem in at least one family in my class this year, and next year, and the year after that. Yet even with everything I've seen with alcohol, I would never dare to try to make it illegal. I know what happens when you make a drug illegal when a high percentage of the population has used it or is using it - narcoterrorism happens.
Last thing...How can a person get arrested for eating the evidence of an event that was a crime in its origin? Have we no decency?