Residued!
As part of the final jury instructions, jurors are told that they must follow the law and that no one person has any right to forego that rule because they do not like the law. The fact is that any jury can decide to do whatever it wants once the case is placed in their hands for deliberation. This is one such case where I thought the verdict reflected an annoyance on the part of the jury of the charge brought against Ron L.
According to the Hollywood police, officers responding to a disturbance made contact with Ron and discovered an outstanding warrant for carrying an open container. Search subsequent to arrest revealed glass pipes the cops claimed were used to smoke crack cocaine. A residue substance melted onto the inside plastic area tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Ron was charged with possession of cocaine.
At trial I argued that this incident actually occurred at Ron’s apartment, approximately 3/10ths of a mile away from where the police say they confronted Ron. I also argued that the drug paraphernalia was found in Ron’s apartment, which he shared with a roommate, and that the police could not affirmatively say that the pipe belonged to Ron. On cross examination, I was able to get the cops, and the chemist, to admit that the residue cocaine had no weight, no value, and was completely useless. As brilliant as I like to tell myself my argument about where the cocaine was located was, ultimately, I think the jury was so pissed that their hard earned tax dollars were being used to support the prosecution of worthless, odorless, weightless, value-less, cocaine found plastered to the inside of a crack pipe, that they acquitted Ron to send the message that these types of prosecutions and waste are not acceptable. Unfortunately, Broward County prosecutors to this day, continue to prosecute this victim-less crime.
