Judge refuses to enforce new tough pot penalties

An associate municipal court judge in Lafayette, Colo., resigned Monday in protest of stiffer penalties for marijuana possession in the city.

Read original by Eric Schmidt

Leonard Frieling, a Boulder criminal-defense lawyer, said he is resigning out of principle after more than eight years as a backup to Lafayette Municipal Judge Roger Buchholz.

“I cannot in good conscience sit on the bench while being unwilling to enforce the municipal ordinances,” Frieling said in a resignation letter to city officials. “Specifically, since you have seen fit to increase the penalty for cannabis possession from a $100 fine (which matches the state penalty) to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail, I find that I am morally and ethically unable to sit as a judge for the city.”

This entry was posted on February 16, 2007 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Criminal Injustice System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.