Judge Voids Ypsilanti's $5 Pot Law

Ypsilanti's $5 marijuana law, approved by the city's voters in April, was this morning voided by 14th District Judge Thomas F. Shea. Shea ruled the ordinance unconstitutional on two points: that it contravened state law by making possession of marijuana with intent to deliver a misdemeanor offense, and that it attempts to control the actions of a state-supervised court. The judge noted in his ruling that the ordinance directs the court clerk to accept a maximum $5 fine for violating the law, and further provides that "no appearance before a District Judge or other judicial officer shall be required." Shea declared, "The city of Ypsilanti has absolutely no power over the 14th District Court, which is a state court. His ruling came during the preliminary examination of David Gray, 19, of 301 N. Adams St., who was charged by Ypsilanti Police with marijuana possession under Michigan law rather than the local ordinance. This despite a section of the ordinance which prohibits, but does not penalize, police from bringing marijuana cases in the city under any law other than the Ypsilanti ordinance. Gray's defense attorney, Thomas Truesdell, argued that his client had been denied due process of law because police had failed to charge him under the city ordinance. But Shea then knocked down the local law, and bound Gray to Circuit Court for arraignment there on Aug. 2. The bind-over was based on the testimony of Ypsilanti Police Lt. Charles Harden, who said Gray attempted to smuggle two marijuana cigarettes into his stepbrother _ who at the time was confined in Ypsilanti's lock-up - on the morning of April 29.