Not Guilty, Victory for the Cannabis Industry
JERRAD COOTS DISCUSSES WITH NORMAN CITY COUNCILOR STEPHEN HOLMAN WHILE THE JURY DELIBERATES
Cody Giles / The Transcript
When a Cleveland County jury returned a not guilty verdict late Monday night, Friendly Market owner Robert Cox and manager and Norman City Council member Stephen Tyler Holman were understandably elated. But their legal battle may not be over.
“You’d like to think that [the Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office] would get the message the citizens of Norman and Cleveland County do not support this effort. We’ve had four trials and three acquittals,” Holman said.
Thirteen charges including a felony count of acquiring proceeds from drug activity and 12 misdemeanors were filed against Holman and Cox due to a store raid on Dec. 1, 2015. They still face additional charges that were filed following the second raid on Dec. 21.
“When we came up here we thought we were trying all of Holman and Cox’s cases,” Friendly Market attorney Brecken Wagner said. “Unbeknownst to us, we are only trying the charges from the first raid. The state could make us do this all over again.”
Friendly Market clerks Cody Franklin and James Maxwell Walters were also charged with a misdemeanor count of possession drug paraphernalia following the Dec. 21 raid. A jury found Franklin not guilty in February. Walter’s first trial in October resulted in a mistrial.
During the two raids, police seized several hundred of items they believe is drug paraphernalia, in addition to about $5,000 cash as asset forfeiture; goods Wagner said they are still trying to get back.
“When the case was set for preliminary hearing, we served Norman Police Det. Rick Newell with a notice of deposition in the civil asset forfeiture case," Wagner said. "The Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the civil asset forfeiture case so we couldn’t depose Newell. Then after the preliminary hearing, they refiled the asset forfeiture.”
The case has revolved around the state’s legal definition of drug paraphernalia.
After the defense stood back and heard testimony from 12 state’s witnesses, they took the offense and called expert witness Max Montrose.
Montrose, who is the president of Trichome Institute in Denver, Colorado, testified Monday that glass pipes can be used to smoke more than just marijuana.
“There are hundreds of legal medicinal herbs that can be used by smoking,” Montrose said. “Actually, in my opinion, using glass pipes to smoke these herbs and even tobacco is the cleanest, safest and overall best way to do so.”
Montrose and the defense were the only ones who shared this opinion.
The opposition included Newell, Norman Police Chief Keith L. Humphrey and several other law enforcement officers, who all had the same attitude towards the items seized from the Friendly Market.
“The items seized from the Friendly Market are used and only used for illegal purposes,” Newell said.
According to testimony from Newell and Humphrey, the case against the Friendly Market started after a resident’s complaint in 2015.
Newell said shortly after receiving the complaint, he went undercover to see what the store was selling. He found several items he believed to be drug paraphernalia.
Not long after going to the Friendly Market, he received a call from Cox asking for a meeting because Cox was concerned about Newell shutting his store down like he had done with several others in Norman. At the May 4, 2015 meeting, Newell told Cox he needed to get rid of all the illegal items in his store and Cox obliged.
However, Newell found out a few months later that the Friendly Market went back to selling the items he told Cox to remove.
“It surprised me that you restocked the shelves,” Newell said during a recorded interaction with Cox in February 2016. “I told you if you took all of the illegal items off of the shelves, I would no longer have anything to investigate. It would’ve been a win-win.
Holman said he will be at the city council meeting Tuesday.
“I’ve never missed a single vote on council and I’m not going to start now,” he said.
Despite the acquittal, misdemeanor cases are still pending for Holman and Walters, and Cox still has a felony case. Trial dates have not been set yet.
By Cody Giles | CNHI News Oklahoma
May 08, 2017
