Teen faces life in prison over hash brownies

[wehateporn]

'They?ve weighed baked goods in this case. It ought to be a misdemeanor,' lawyer says

http://news.yahoo.com/life-in-prison...150807587.html

"A Texas teenager is facing five years to life in prison for allegedly baking and selling pot brownies.

Jacob Lavoro, a 19-year-old from Round Rock, Texas, was charged with a first degree felony because he used hash oil instead of marijuana, allowing the state to weigh the brownies as a whole ? including the sugar, cocoa, butter and other ingredients ? to calculate the weight of the drugs.

Police searched Lavoro's apartment, where they allegedly found 660 grams ? or 1.45 pounds ? of baked goods (six bags of cookies, nine bags of brownies) along with 16 ounces of marijuana and $1,675 in cash.

"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,? Jack Holmes, Lavoro?s attorney, told KHON-TV. ?They?ve weighed baked goods in this case. It ought to be a misdemeanor."

Hash oil, classified as a "Penalty 2" controlled substance under Texas law, contains a higher concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

The teen's father, Joe Lavoro, called the possibility of his son spending life behind bars for a hash brownie recipe ?outrageous."

"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 damned," Lavoro said. "This is illogical. I'm really upset, and I'm frightened, I'm frightened for my son."

Lavoro was arrested on April 15 and charged with possession of marijuana, possession of the illegal hash oil and sale of the hash-infused cookies and brownies. He was held in Williamson County Jail and released on May 7 on a $30,000 bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 19.

?It?s crazy," Lavoro told KEYE. "I don?t understand it."

Neither do pot advocates, who say the possible punishment doesn't fit the crime.

"That's higher than the punishment range for sexual assault, higher than the punishment range for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon," Jamie Spencer, legal counsel for NORML's Texas chapter, told KUTV. "It's kind of crazy."

"This case is the perfect example of the insanity of Texas' drug laws," Spencer added. "Especially when it comes to marijuana or anything where the active ingredient is THC."

http://news.yahoo.com/life-in-prison...150807587.html

[420]

His attorney thinks distributing a pound of weed and some edibles should be a misdemeanor?

[upforit_sarah]

Weighing the brownies is ridiculous. Poor kid.

[~Ray]

the private prison system needs him in jail for years

[Captain Kawaii]

Avoid Texas or don't leave a 25 mile perimeter around Austin.

[L-Pink]

Granted that's rather extreme, so is the guys ignorance. Basically the police responded to neighbor's complaints about a drug business being run out of an apartment.


"Updated: Friday, April 18 2014, 07:34 AM CDT A Round Rock man is accused of selling baked goods with a "special" ingredient. It sounds like the plot of a movie from the late nineties but according to police this case is real.

They say for $25, a man in The Colonial Village Apartments would bake you a brownie or cookie with marijuana baked right in. Round Rock Police laid out the allegation in an arrest affidavit. Police allege Jacob Lavoro of operating a pot cookie and brownie business right out of his apartment.

"It's just right across the hall" exclaimed neighbor Prasanna Prahaladhan. "It's scary he was able to pull it off right next door."

Police say inside Lavoro's apartment they found six bags of cookies, nine bags of brownies, and $1,675 in cash. According to a text conversation copied in the affidavit, Lavoro even delivered the goodies himself. No one was home when we tried to get the other side of the story from his girlfriend who police say lives there. As for Lavoro, he's being held in the Williamson County Jail on $30,000 bond. The charge is a serious one since more than 660 grams of drugs are involved. That makes it a second degree felony. If convicted, Lavoro faces two to 20 years in a state prison."

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/...es-17466.shtml

.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Life for a few bags of cookies and brownies?!? Outrageous!!!

ROUND ROCK, TX ? A young man?s baked goods could potentially land him with a harsher punishment than a rapist or a murderer.

The teen faces a a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of using unsanctioned ingredients in his cookies and brownies and selling them to eager customers.

According to police, 19-year-old Jacob Lavoro would accommodate customers? requests to bake them desserts with a special ingredient ? marijuana. For $25 he would allegedly sell his brownies and cookies to folks who wished to enjoy them. According to a text conversation, he would even deliver them.

Police searched Lavoro?s apartment and found six (6) bags of cookies, nine (9) bags of brownies, baking ingredients, illegal plant material, and cash.

One of the ingredients seized was a container of coconut oil blended with marijuana and hash oil. The green oily substance was allegedly used in his recipes.

When charging people with drug offenses involving baked goods, Texas law allows police to use the weight of the entire finished product when determining the severity of charge. Even if a trace amount of marijuana was used in a recipe for a pan of brownies, police use the collective weight of all the ingredients ? eggs, butter, chocolate, sugar, frosting ? and use that figure as the total weight of the ?drug? they confiscated.

Police say that the baked goods and ingredients seized from Jacob Lavoro?s apartment weighed 660 grams ? or 1.45 pounds. In the Texas ?justice? system, this amount of illegal plant material carries a weighty sentence.

Police charged Lavoro with the possession, manufacture, and delivery of a controlled substance in a ?Penalty 2 Group.? With a weight of nearly a pound and a half, the 1st Degree Felony charge carries a sentence of 5 years to life in prison.

?This case is the perfect example of the insanity of Texas? drug laws,? said Jamie Spencer, legal counsel for the Texas chapter the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

?Possession of the smallest amount of marijuana is a misdemeanor,? Spencer said. ?Possession of the tiniest amount of hash, even a gram, is a state jail felony.?

Spencer noted that the lengthy sentencing possibilities for drug offenders are ?higher than the punishment range for sexual assault, higher than the punishment range for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.?

?It?s outrageous. It?s crazy. I don?t understand it,? said the teen?s father, Joe Lavoro, who was blindsided by the efforts and abilities of the government to destroy his son. ?This is illogical. I?m really upset and I?m frightened. I?m frightened for my son.?

The teen is being represented by attorney Jack Holmes, who is prepared to fight for justice. Holmes said had the alleged materials not been baked into brownies, it would have been a misdemeanor charge.

Holmes noted: ?This is the county that withheld evidence in the Morton Case, where a man spent 25 years in prison and he was completely innocent. So you have to keep that in mind, too.?

(READ MORE: Corrupt prosecutor faces 10 days in jail after sending innocent man to prison for 25 years)

The last reports say that Jacob Lavoro is still being held in jail on $30,000 bond. If convicted, he wouldn?t be the first person to spend years ? even life ? in prison over the harmless, victimless crime involving marijuana.

As the old saying goes, ?Everything is bigger in Texas? ? including the injustice.

I hope that Jacob gets good representation, and beats this case, or at least gets it knocked down to a misdemeanor/probation, and that the people of Texas start electing representatives that are prepared to change the archaic cannabis laws in Texas.



Maybe there is hope for Texas!



ADG

[brassmonkey]

never shit where you sleep. you dont bake this shit at home!

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by AsianDivaGirlsWebDude

Life for a few bags of cookies and brownies?!? Outrageous!!!

(and a pound of weed)

Don't make the guy out to be innocent, his NEIGHBORS called it in.

If he was sitting home stoned playing x-box nothing would have happened. He's getting treated like Texas treats drug dealers, something the guy should have been aware of.

Wouldn't he have still been arrested in Colorado? Or can just anyone there set up a drug business in their apartment with optional delivery.

I'm not defending the police just stating no matter what the drug laws are you still need to be careful when you decide to run an all cash drug business as a profession.

.

[JA$ON]

I know that they used to take the weight of the paper in TOTAL into account when charging LSD cases. There are more than a few deadheads doing life for only a few sheets.

Its sad

[420]

Come on guys. He's not going to get life or 40 years or whatever. He'll probably only get 6 months as that is Texas' mandatory minimum for distribution (7g - 5lb). There is no minimum sentence for concentrates.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

(and a pound of weed)

Don't make the guy out to be innocent, his NEIGHBORS called it in.

If he was sitting home stoned playing x-box nothing would have happened. He's getting treated like Texas treats drug dealers, something the guy should have been aware of.

Wouldn't he have still been arrested in Colorado? Or can just anyone there set up a drug business in their apartment with optional delivery.

I'm not defending the police just stating no matter what the drug laws are you still need to be careful when you decide to run an all cash drug business as a profession.

.

I'm not advocating for illegal drug dealing, however the issue becomes problematic when cannabis is illegal in the first place.

I agree with having some zoning regulations when it comes to where cannabis dispensaries can be operated. First they need to work to get the laws changed to make marijuana legal.



It is good here in California to be able to go to any of a number of local clean professionally operated cannabis dispensaries to pick up cannabis whenever one wants to:



Hopefully Texas backwards laws with regards to marijuana will eventually be changed.



Decompressing with some J1 and Star Dawg and getting ready for a sunset walk around the lake...



ADG

[L-Pink]

In California he would be looking at 2-4 years just for the pot, sale or delivery, he had.


.

[bronco67]

This bullshit needs to stop.

[bean-aid]

Only steers and queers in TX.....













.j/k

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

In California he would be looking at 2-4 years just for the pot, sale or delivery, he had.


.

Much more just.



Still, pretty damn harsh when you consider the activity and product itself.



ADG

[420]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

In California he would be looking at 2-4 years just for the pot, sale or delivery, he had.


.

Wouldn't it be probation, rehab and community service for the first offence? Since there is no mandatory minimum sentence in California.

[VikingMan]

police and prosecutors are sometimes worse than the criminals they put in prison

[bean-aid]

Originally Posted by VikingMan

police and prosecutors are sometimes worse than the criminals they put in prison

He will get off with a warning and some community service.

When the media gets into the mix... all local laws are off. And this is now national news.

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by 420

Wouldn't it be probation, rehab and community service for the first offence? Since there is no mandatory minimum sentence in California.

I really have no idea. A copy of applicable Calif. statutes is below. (Texas case though) as I was making a point that even in pot legal states you can't deal pot.

I only chimed in when this turned into a pity party for some douche who annoyed his neighbors enough to get swat called on his ass.

I'm all for doing anything in the peace and privacy of your own home, this guy wasn't. And he sure picked the wrong state to start his drug career in.


California. 1360. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section or as
authorized by law, every person who transports, imports into this
state, sells, furnishes, administers, or gives away, or offers to
transport, import into this state, sell, furnish, administer, or give
away, or attempts to import into this state or transport any
marijuana shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision
(h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for a period of two, three or
four years.

.

[bean-aid]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

I'm all for doing anything in the peace and privacy of your own home, this guy wasn't.
.

How do you know? I am all for putting assholes in prison for over extended periods of time... but how do you know this individual was an asshat?

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by beaner

How do you know? I am all for putting assholes in prison for over extended periods of time... but how do you know this individual was an asshat?

My post above #6, is quoted from an update on the case. Evidently his neighbors were upset/scared about the drug business being run from his apartment and called the police.
Even in pot legal states this is illegal.


"They say for $25, a man in The Colonial Village Apartments would bake you a brownie or cookie with marijuana baked right in. Round Rock Police laid out the allegation in an arrest affidavit. Police allege Jacob Lavoro of operating a pot cookie and brownie business right out of his apartment.

"It's just right across the hall" exclaimed neighbor Prasanna Prahaladhan. "It's scary he was able to pull it off right next door."

.

[DAMNMAN]

This is why you don't put LSD on sugar cubes, cause they weight the entire thing and fuck you.

[SuckOnThis]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

My post above #6, is quoted from an update on the case. Evidently his neighbors were upset/scared about the drug business being run from his apartment and called the police.
Even in pot legal states this is illegal.

Yes and no. Here in Colorado caregivers can legally sell pot, cookies, brownies, and even hash to people with marijuana cards. It is illegal for someone to sell if they are not a caregiver or do not have a card, but they are very reluctant to put people in jail for just about any kind of marijuana crime.

Originally Posted by L-Pink

"They say for $25, a man in The Colonial Village Apartments would bake you a brownie or cookie with marijuana baked right in. Round Rock Police laid out the allegation in an arrest affidavit. Police allege Jacob Lavoro of operating a pot cookie and brownie business right out of his apartment.

"It's just right across the hall" exclaimed neighbor Prasanna Prahaladhan. "It's scary he was able to pull it off right next door."

.

It wasnt a meth lab, was she afraid the oven was going to explode?

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by SuckOnThis

Yes and no. Here in Colorado caregivers can legally sell pot, cookies, brownies, and even hash to people with marijuana cards. It is illegal for someone to sell if they are not a caregiver or do not have a card, but they are very reluctant to put people in jail for just about any kind of marijuana crime.





It wasnt a meth lab, was she afraid the oven was going to explode?

How about the constant flow of strangers going in and out of your shared hallway? Would you want that? Anyway, I only commented because this story is slanted to some poor kid going to jail for having a brownie … which is not the case.

.

[SuckOnThis]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

How about the constant flow of strangers going in and out of your shared hallway? Would you want that? Anyway, I only commented because this story is slanted to some poor kid going to jail for having a brownie ? which is not the case.

.

No I agree, but any type of incarceration over something like that is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned.

[Adam-clickpapa]

something is wrong when authorities treat their own citizens as enemies. and for what?

[crockett]

Originally Posted by Captain Kawaii

Avoid Texas or don't leave a 25 mile perimeter around Austin.

This was in Round Rock which is a suburb of Austin. The simple fact is the DOJ that is trying to push this case should be fired. Whom ever he or she is clearly lacks any ability to make decisions with logic or common sense. The guy should be charged with distributing but they should estimate the weight bailed on how it was used and not the end product..

[michael.kickass]

Too bad for him. Totally unfair.

[seeandsee]

lol in one state legal, in other you get life in jail

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by seeandsee

lol in one state legal, in other you get life in jail

No one here reads anymore. An individual selling pot is not legal in ANY state in the US.

[dyna mo]

drug dealer gets caught and goes to prison.

sounds appropriate. nothing to debate. and he was selling thc concentrate, which is not considered cannabis. it's a manufactured drug. so a dope manufacturer/dealer operating out of his apartment is arrested and facing prison time.

good.

[escorpio]

If the dude was blasting (making hash oil with butane) in the apartment building the neighbor had every right to be concerned. Those fuckers are blowing up houses and apartments all the time. I love concentrates but I leave the extracting to the professionals. Glad I live in WA where I can buy it legally.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by ~Ray

the private prison system needs him in jail for years

cha CHING

[idolbucks]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug bro

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by _Richard_

cha CHING

How about he gets sentenced to be your neighbor? Feel the same?


.