Texas Man Gets 35 Years For Pot Possession

I was reading this and it shows how fucked Americas (TX) laws really are...

By Dayna Worchel, Tyler Morning Telegraph - Tuesday, March 9 2010
TAGS: HEADLINE NEWS COURT LAWS POSSESSION PRISON TEXAS USA
Henry Walter Wooten has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for possession of 4.6 ounces of marijuana.
A Smith County jury found a Tyler man guilty on Thursday of possession of less than five pounds but more than four ounces of marijuana in a drug-free zone.

The jury in the 7th District Court with Judge Kerry Russell presiding then sentenced Henry Walter Wooten, 54, to 35 years confinement in prison. He was not assessed a fine.

Wooten, who had pleaded not guilty to the current charge, had been found guilty of two felonies in Smith County, one in 1987 and one in 1989. He pleaded true to both of those on Thursday before he was sentenced. His 35-year sentence will run consecutively to any other sentences that may be unexpired from his prior felonies, Judge Russell said in court.

The defendant had been accused of possessing marijuana within 1,000 feet of the Ebenezer Day Care Center in Tyler in October 2008.

Tyler police officers were alerted to Wooten's location because of the smell of the marijuana. Tapes played in court showed Wooten removing a number of individual plastic bags loaded with the drug from his pockets. Officers also found a larger bag of marijuana in Wooten's car the same day.

Wooten, who had remained incarcerated since he was arrested for the offense in 2008, had decided he wanted a private laboratory in Tyler to test the marijuana he was accused of possessing when he was arrested. Smith County Assistant District Attorney Richard Vance said Wooten did have a right to ask for such testing.

Both the results from the tests conducted by T.H.E. Lab in Tyler in January, and the tests conducted by the Department of Public Safety Laboratory soon after Wooten's arrest were very similar in results.

Trey Cloud, DPS forensic chemist, testified that the weight of the marijuana seized from Wooten when he was arrested was 4.6 ounces, and the packaging alone weighed 1.06 ounces. He also testified that the drug seized from Wooten was indeed marijuana.

Tom Thompson, from the private laboratory, who testified on Wednesday, said his analysis showed the packaging alone weighed 1.059 ounces.

Cloud testified that the weight of the marijuana, which was analyzed closer to the time of the offense, in this case, in December 2008, was more accurate. The testing done by the private lab was performed on Jan. 29, 2010.

In his closing arguments to the jury, Vance told them they set the standard for the community.

"Every decision made by a jury sets a precedent," he said.

He appealed to the jury to use their common sense and to look at the evidence.

"Wooten pulled bag after bag from his pockets like one of those clowns you see -- and in the driver's seat of his car was a big bag and digital scales," Vance said.

Defense attorney O.W. Lloyd told the jury in his closing arguments he was not there to yell at them and put the pressure on them about precedents. "You don't have to be a chemist -- you believe what you believe."

Vance had asked for the jury to give Wooten a sentence of 99 years. Leslie McLean served as co-counsel with Vance.

- Article from the Tyler Morning Telegraph on March 5, 2010.

this is why IT IS IMPORTANT TO REGISTER TO VOTE. IF I OR YOU WERE ON A JURY WHERE IT WAS A marijuana OR TAX CASE WE COULD SET A PRECEDENT AND GET THE SHIT LEGALIZED .
id hang a jury and try to nullify bad laws. such as gun laws / marijuana laws/tax laws. it would be within your power to hang a jury to save a guy like this.or maybe if you are clever enough to nullify the law.

Vance had asked for the jury to give Wooten a sentence of 99 years.................... WTF????

WHEN I SNAP U COPS ARE GOING FIRST, DONT PUSH THE CRAZY FUCKER!!

That's fucking ridiculous, why the fuck would you wanna live in a state like that? I would pack my shit up and move, hitchhike if you have to, that's just horrible.

Juries are bullied by judges, literally and subliminally. Please check out the link to know how to stop this.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...Ovk8FNTwqwh6XA

Texas, the same place Gov Bush authorized police to storm gay mens homes in the middle of the night and drag them off to jail because they were committing homosexual acts.

Originally Posted by BadDog40

Texas, the same place Gov Bush authorized police to storm gay mens homes in the middle of the night and drag them off to jail because they were committing homosexual acts.

I thought this was a discussion about this poor man's unfair sentence for marijuana posession, and not another Bush bashing session.

This is bullshit though. We have to get these draconian laws changed. Voting and jury duty are important but we should all get active with a pro-marijuana group like NORML or MPP.

Riot! In the end we will have too!

Texas sucks for drug possession. I recall an article in playboy back in the 60s: A Texas man was given life for possession of an ounce of marijuana. That pretty much solidified my never living in that state. It depends on the judge. Maybe this guy was banging the judges sister or wife.

Seriously, where do they come up ith a number like 35 years? Did they pull that out of their asses?