The War on Marijuana may have claimed its latest victim.
In a move that has nearly everyone shaking their heads in bafflement, a Texas court has decided that a 19-year-old boy, if convicted, should face up to live in prison because he made and sold marijuana baked in brownies.
Against all reason, prosecutors decided to charge him with the harshest crime they could: a first-degree felony, which calls for 5 years to life behind bars.
The family and his lawyer are understandably outraged.
“It’s outrageous. It’s crazy. I don’t understand it,” Joe Lavoro, the man’s father said. “Five years to life? I’m sorry. I’m a law abiding citizen. I’m a conservative. I love my country. I’m a Vietnam veteran, but I’ll be ****ed. This is wrong. This is ***n wrong!”
The man, identified as Jacob Lavoro, had his house raided by officers earlier this year. In his possession, they found he had six bags of cookies, nine bags of brownies, baking ingredients, “illegal plant material,” and cash. The amount of marijuana should have put him in the misdemeanor range, but a strange state law in Texascalls for police to include the sugar, cocoa, and other ingredients when determining the weight of the drugs. Essentially, the police plopped the brownies on to a scale and said that the teenager was selling that amount of weed.
Lavoro’s lawyer says he’s never experienced a criminal charge as strange as this one.
“I’ve been doing this 22 years as a lawyer and I’ve got 10 years as a police officer and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Lavoro’s attorney, Jack Holmes.
The family acknowledges that Jacob had made a mistake and should be punished, but clearly life in prison isn’t the answer.
“If he did something wrong, he should be punished but to the extent that makes sense. This is illogical. I’m really upset, and I’m frightened, I’m frightened for my son,” his father added.