A man charged with trafficking less than eight ounces of marijuana (a misdemeanor in Kentucky) at General Motor’s Corvette assembly plant was handed down a fine of one penny by a Warren County Court jury.
Steven D. Eichholz was arrested in the May 1998 undercover drug sweep at the GM Plant. On Sept. 17 he was found guilty of trafficking marijuana, but was given a symbolic fine of one cent.
The jury reprimanded the auto maker on the juror form for what they called GM’s “underhanded and nonprofessional” methods of policing its employees.
The undercover operation occurred when Aset Corp., a private security company hired by GM, placed an attractive woman undercover in the plant. During the workday she would make occasional comments about wanting to “have a joint.”
Seventeen GM workers in all were arrested in the five-month drug sweep, many of whom have already pled guilty.
Now, Warren County Attorney Mike Caudill is asking that drug charges against seven other employees caught in the same drug sting be dismissed because of “fundamental fairness and private law enforcement” that did not understand “evidence integrity or constitutional rights.”
“It’s heartening to see a jury dispense a penalty that fits the crime,” said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director. “If more citizens would legally challenge their marijuana arrests rather than cop a plea bargain, more citizen jurors will hear how invasive and excessive the war on marijuana smokers has become.”
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751.
