Felony pot charges dismissed; coercive police tactics cited

AP ^ | May 13 2005

[george wythe]

BARRE, Vermont — A judge has dismissed felony drug charges against a Moretown man after ruling that police used coercive tactics to elicit an involuntary confession.

John Summers — a British immigrant who faced deportation if convicted of the felony drug charge — told Vermont State Police last August that he was responsible for the 28 marijuana plants growing in a plot near his home.

The felony charge carried a possible 15-year prison sentence

[snip]

[george wythe]

Background on this case:

The case stemmed from a helicopter flyover in which members of the Vermont State Police Marijuana Eradication Response Team observed marijuana plants growing along the edge of a field near Summers' home.

Summers said during a May 2 motion hearing that Trooper Michael Manley threatened to "play hardball" and arrest everyone in the house if Summers refused to admit to tending the marijuana plot.

Summers' wife and 16-year-old daughter and friend of his daughter were in the home at the time.

"I was sufficiently unmanned by comments about hardball and taking everyone away that despite the fact I knew it was not in my best interest, I admitted they were mine," Summers said.

In a written ruling filed May 6 in Vermont District Court in Barre, Judge Geoffrey Crawford said that Manley's threat was baseless.

"He did not have a lawful basis to arrest everyone in the house," the judge wrote.

Citing case law in Vermont and other states, Crawford ruled that a confession obtained after a threat to arrest a family member is only valid if the police "had an objective good faith basis for threatening to arrest the family member."

[CrawDaddyCA]

Good call by the judge. Now the Trooper needs to be charged with intimidation...but he won't.

[GungaLaGunga]

No need to go after those crystal meth houses. Let's bust the potheads, instead. We know how much crime and societal breakdown they're responsible for.

[yellowdoghunter]

I must agree...not that I condone drug use but come on....pot smokers. I want my tax money spent on better things. I would much rather live next to a pot smoker than a child rapist, murderer, etc....

[TKDietz]

The war on marijuana is an unwinnable war that isn't worth fighting and trying to enforce the prohibition is causing more problems than it solves.

[bird4four4]

Not even busting pot heads. Busting a guy who had plants growing near his property. Ridiculous. He is expected to monitor the plants growing around his land?