Pubdate: 10 Sep, 1999 Source: Isthmus (WI) Contact: http://www.thedailypage.com/ Forum: http://www.thedailypage.com/netforum/isthmus-forum/a.cgi Author: Bill Lueders THE WAR CONTINUES DA's office eases off a few cases, but still routinely treats pot possession as a crime. Isthmus' recent two-part series on the War on Pot drew quite a reaction, to judge from the letters we received (see P. 13). But did it make a difference? There are signs that the Dane County District Attorney's office is getting wary about embarassingly petty cases. For instance, on Aug. 27 the office dismissed felony pot-possession charges against Dominic Bogan, suddenly deciding "there's insufficient evidence to prosecute." Bogan was charged in July after police searching a trash container in his home found "several plastic baggies without corners, one of which had a suspect marijuana stem in it." (Bogan was on probation, hence the warrantless home invasion.) And on Aug. 8, the DA's office agreed to a plea involving Mark Dahl, whose prosecution for possessing drug paraphernalia (after UW cops spotted a pot pipe in his parked car) was the subject of a sidebar to Isthmus' July 30 article. Defense attorney Rick Meier says Assistant DA Ken Farmer accepted the same offer--a noncriminal disorderly conduct charge, which brought a $147.50 fine--that he had rejected twice before. "Definitely, the Isthmus article is what pushed him," says Meier. (DA Diane Nicks, referencing Dahl's case in her statement on P. 12, claims he initially tested as having a blood alcohol level of .17, nearly twice the legal limit. But police reports make no mention of this, and a surprised Meier can't imagine the cops would have caught his client driving drunk and just let it go. "I think it's unfair for her to insinuate he was committing some other crime.") In August, Dane County charged 17 individuals with felonies and 23 with misdemeanors for cases involving pot possession. This is down slightly from June, when 26 people were charged with felonies and 31 with misdemeanors for cases involving pot possession. But the DA's office still routinely opts to issue felony pot possession charges against people with previous drug convictions. Indeed, in nine of the 17 felony cases filed last month, pot possession was the only charge. Last Saturday, The Capital Times quoted Nicks as saying she had taken steps to reduce the "large numbers" of pot prosecutions. But it also reported that her office is sticking to guidelines that call for criminal charges whenever a pot-possession case involves more than a quarter ounce or a defendant who fits any of the following: has been arrested for drugs within the last ten years, qualifies as a repeat offender, was arrested for some other offense, or was "uncooperative with police." One wonders what the list would look like if the office weren't trying to cut down on these prosecutions. [column continues with unrelated material] - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder