Maryland-based hashish grower Joseph Ricci says in a brand new lawsuit that Smithfield police lied about being informed by a confidential supply that his hashish develop exceeded the authorized limits after which destroyed hashish merchandise seized from his develop that would have proved his operation was lawful, the Providence Journal reviews.
The dispute stems from a 2017 incident the place police searched a warehouse owned by Ricci and, in line with police reviews, finally seized 42 hashish vegetation and just a little greater than a kilogram of bagged hashish flower. On the time, Ricci was a registered medical hashish affected person and caregiver offering hashish for 2 different sufferers, the report stated.
Police initially filed drug costs towards Ricci however these had been dropped; nevertheless, officers have continued to pursue a civil forfeiture case that seeks to assert Ricci’s Smithfield warehouse.
Nonetheless, it was not too long ago revealed that police final 12 months destroyed at the very least a number of the hashish seized from Ricci’s develop. In courtroom papers filed on Friday, Ricci’s lawyer, Megan Sheehan, known as the case “a travesty of justice.”
Moreover, a federal decide famous throughout a pre-trial movement ruling final 12 months that there was “sturdy” hypothesis that police had lied about listening to concerning the develop web site from a confidential informant.
“Certainly, it’s patently clear right here that the destruction of this proof was intentional or meant to suppress the reality. Between the intentional destruction of contested important proof and impermissible police fabrications, it actually seems that the conduct on this case was carried out in dangerous religion.” — Sheehan, through the Windfall Journal
“There isn’t a cause the proof ought to have been destroyed six years right into a pending civil forfeiture case, and three years into this pending case, when on the coronary heart of each the city and state’s arguments are that the destroyed proof proved that Mr. Ricci was over the possession limits,” Sheehan stated within the report.
Hashish is authorized for grownup use in Maryland and, whereas the state’s authorized market solely launched halfway by final 12 months, licensed retailers offered over $700 million value of hashish merchandise in 2023.
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