Marijuana prosecution of Lacy Lee dropped -- because cops didn't have joint to prove case

Lacy Lee busted.

During a May 1 rally to legalize marijuana, Lacy Lee was arrested for holding a joint -- something attorney Rob Corry considered so absurd, especially given a video of the incident on view below, that he agreed to represent her pro bono.

The offense carries a maximum fine of $100. Denver no doubt spent much, much more in the process of arresting Lee and moving the matter through the system. But yesterday, the city dropped the case -- because it had no marijuana on hand to support the charge.

"We are very happy the City of Denver has dismissed the case," Corry says. "It just goes to show that if you stick to your guns, you can sometimes prevail in the world's most pot-friendly city -- at least as far as the voters are concerned."

Indeed, as Corry pointed out in an October letter to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (now Colorado's governor-elect) accessible on the next page, Denver voters approved medical marijuana in 2000, voted to legalize it in 2004 and 2006, and de-prioritized it in 2008. "They didn't just make it a low law enforcement priority," Corry notes. "They made it the lowest law-enforcement priority."

As such, Denver Police have resisted making mass arrests during the annual 4/20 rally at the City & County Building, and Corry praises officers for their restraint. Two cops were more zealous during the May 1 event -- but while writing the citation, they apparently failed to collect the alleged joint in question, which Lee said had been handed to her by an unknown person.

"The deputy city attorney handling the case told me the reason they dismissed it is because they didn't have any actual marijuana to use as evidence," Corry says. "And that makes sense. We've always claimed that it's impossible to convict somebody without a reasonable doubt if they have no marijuana."

According to Corry, the attorney denies that pressure on Hickenlooper, represented by the letter noted above, played a part in the decision to dismiss, but he's not so sure. He also thinks the circumstances of the incident likely came into play.

Rob Corry.

"The fact that the arrest happened at a march protesting the wasteful policies of the city arresting people for simple possession is pretty absurd," he maintains. "And in a way, the police proved our point by issuing the citation -- that it is a waste.

"But we're glad the city folded, because it would have meant two more court appearances in a very crowded Denver County court. They deal with a lot of important issues up there, and the judges are very hard-working. This is one less thing they should have to deal with and one less thing the taxpayers will have to pay for" -- although they've already paid for plenty, he believes.

At the same time, Corry admits to some disappointment at the dismissal. "We had an expert joint-rolling witness who was going to testify that a rolled tobacco cigarette looks identical to a rolled joint," he says. "We were going to argue that the stop was illegal because holding a rolled-up cigarette shouldn't be the basis for stopping anyone, especially since the officers never said they smelled anything. I was looking forward to that testimony."

Corry hopes the Lee case will help dissuade the DPD from making more simple possession busts -- and he's similarly optimistic about Hickenlooper's impending guv stint.

"I'm looking forward to having a governor who is not a former prosecutor," he maintains, referencing current chief exec Bill Ritter, once the Denver District Attorney. "In a way, Hickenlooper is kind of a dispensary owner, since he was a brewpub magnate. And maybe this dismissal, while Hickenlooper is still mayor, is an indication of positive things to come at the state level."

If not, Corry predicts, "another Lacy Lee case," which he predicts would end with a similar outcome.

Page down to read Corry's letter to Hickenlooper asking that the case be dropped: