Granny Goes To Jail
Did she rob a bank? Pistol-whip the neighbor? No, she bought two boxes of cold medicine in a single week, breaking the law in Indiana. And hey, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, ignorance of the numerous utterly asshatted laws is no fucking excuse. Radley Balko posts at reason:
Police came to Harpold's home, arrested and handcuffed her, and booked her in a Vermillion County jail. No one believes Harpold was making meth or aiding anyone who was. But local authorities aren't apologizing for her arrest....Harpold's photo was put on the front page of the local paper as part of an article about the arrest of 17 people in a "drug sweep." Alexander has generously allowed Harpold to enter a deferral program. If she commits no crimes in the next 30 days, her arrest will be wiped from her record. She'll still have to pay court costs and attorney fees.
via Overlawyered's Walter Olson's excellent tweets (@walterolson)
Sure, sympathize with Ma Barker. I say taze her till she breaks, and tells us who the distributors are.
jerry at September 28, 2009 7:14 AM
Mark my words Amy, this month when Swine Flu peaks, that's when we'll find out just how many of those damn hoosiers are meth peddlers trying to addict our kids.
jerry at September 28, 2009 7:17 AM
I hope she brings the thunder on this one, those laws are a nightmare if you actually, y'know, have a cold or allergies... interestingly, HOW did they know where she lived? Did she have to sign up through the Patriot Act? And IF that was how they know, why was no warning givin to her, that she was about to be in violation?
Oddly enough, I'll bet criminals don't actually give you their home address.
SwissArmyD at September 28, 2009 7:41 AM
I think last time I bought Claritin D, I had to request it from the pharmacy counter, sign something, and show my ID, which they swiped or scanned or something. I'd assume that's how they "caught" her.
ahw at September 28, 2009 7:51 AM
Got it in 1 ahw.
They track name, address, and quantity at the FEDERAL level.
They'll come down on you even harder if you go over their arbitrarily assigned limit in multiple stores or states.
This bullshit has got to stop. I suggest every time a congresscritter gets a head cold we just put them in jail.
brian at September 28, 2009 8:18 AM
Are you shitting me? I've bought more than that at one time before. You know, you all are about to win me over to complete legalization, just because they've gone so asshattedly far the other way.
momof4 at September 28, 2009 8:26 AM
Welcome to the club, momof4. ;) For several years here, you had to show ID at Wal-Mart to buy motor oil. Motor oil? WTF? "Well, it can be used to make drugs. We don't know how, but somehow it can." Yeah, so can Dixie cups. It's waaaaay beyond stoopid.
Cousin Dave at September 28, 2009 8:58 AM
Does Indiana have a particular problem with meth-labs compared to other states? This would never happen in the state I live in! Gestapo!
Crusader at September 28, 2009 9:09 AM
"She'll still have to pay court costs and attorney fees."
----------------
Yep! Another money maker for courts and attorneys. There is a lot more meat here than meets the average eye.
Family courts thrive on this stuff. They extort money from innocent people all the time.
Bottom line-Attorney's and Courts get money.
Always folow the money.
David M. at September 28, 2009 9:23 AM
Yup ahw, that's what I meant about the patriot act thing. My mom was warned once, but she always buys hers at Target, and so they showed her puchase in their computer, and said 'no'. If you buy more than one place, it has to go to ATF who aggregates the info, and THEN they come after you for having a cold. Think I'll by a normal amount when I'm not even sick, so I have enough when I have a cold...
all this brought to you by the Patriot[tm] Act. Because after all, you have nothing to hide, right?
SwissArmyD at September 28, 2009 9:44 AM
Ahh yes, the wonders of anti meth legislation. Come visit Oregon, where if you want (real) sudafed type cold meds, you need to go see a doctor and get a prescription. Wonder of wonders, its actually slowed down "domestic" meth production according to the cops and DAs. Of course, more has been imported from Mexico to meet demand. And now the big deal we're hearing about is a new method to make meth that takes a few chemicals from walmart/grocery store, a few pills and a plastic soda bottle. It can be deadly to make but not as bad as the old meth cooking methods that blew up houses. This one usually just blows up the cookers as they shake the bottle.
Meth is a nasty drug but I'm getting very very tired of the state treating me as guilty until proven innocent.
Cough syrup is next due to more media reports of kids OD'ing on that after "excessive" abuse (aka months in combo with other drugs).
Sio at September 28, 2009 10:01 AM
The prosecutor is lying. She has full discretion regarding prosecution. She's blatantly lying.
Marko at September 28, 2009 10:08 AM
Swiss - it has fuck-all to do with PATRIOT. It has everything to do with stopping hillbillies from making meth.
Because it's so much more profitable to let the Mexicans make it?
I don't know. All I know is it takes less hassle to get cocaine than it does to get Sudafed. At least you don't show the dealer your license and get the purchase logged in a book to be used against you at a later date.
brian at September 28, 2009 10:08 AM
Brian, maybe what we need to do is figure out a formula for making Sudafed out of meth.
Cousin Dave at September 28, 2009 11:45 AM
We already had a formula for solving the meth problem: let them die.
brian at September 28, 2009 11:57 AM
The DA's response via Balko's Agitator blog comments:
http://www.tribstar.com/archivesearch/local_story_253170047.html
From the third paragraph, in context of justifying the law and its unintended consequences we get this gem:
"I am sure that there are a myriad of reasons why people violate the law, but a person’s reason or motive is seldom an element of a crime." - Nina J. Alexander
And lawyers/cops wonder why people don't like them much these days.
Sio at September 28, 2009 12:07 PM
If she really said that, she needs to be disbarred, fired, brought up on charges, and all her cases need to be reviewed.
A clear-cut case of prosecutorial misconduct if ever I've seen one.
brian at September 28, 2009 12:54 PM
The laws on ephedrine/pseudo ephedrine purchase are ridiculous, and the Mexicans have filled the gap anyway. I gave up a long time ago trying to explain this to anyone, especially law enforcement and family courts. Still, some university Social Sciences colleges make my book required reading mainly for the history part of meth, and it's cool to hear from kids that have been on the meth edge or had to deal with it.
And while my ex wife and ex ranch hand rot in prison on their meth manufacturing charges, I'm with the coke crowd. I don't do it personally for health reasons, but in Texas you can get an eightball of nearly pure coke for a hundred bucks, I see it all over the university campus where I work. I wish it had been that cheap when I was young and dumb and attending college instead of teaching....
I feel sorry for Ma Barker.
sterling at September 28, 2009 1:27 PM
"I am sure that there are a myriad of reasons why people violate the law, but a person’s reason or motive is seldom an element of a crime."
Like I'd stated above - she's a liar.
mens rea is fundamental to the determination of criminal liability for most crimes.
Ever heard of manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, or criminal vs simple negligence. These are all distinctions that incorporate knowledge, and motive.
She gives away that fact that she's lying by this statement - The law, of course, does not require that the State show that the purchaser intended to make meth. In other words it was within their discretion to prosecute her.
She offered deferred prosecution because she knew that no jury would convict someone for owning two boxes of cold medicine.
Lying POS.
Marko at September 28, 2009 2:07 PM
Appalling story. Prosecutors have run amok, with our consent.
But just to correct something for David M., the "attorneys' fees" they're talking about are probably in the range of $50-200 as partial reimbursement for the services of a public defender. This is in no way an issue of enriching lawyers.
CB at September 28, 2009 3:39 PM
Again - this is what you get when you make it a habit of turning to the authorities to make things happen for you.
Radwaste at September 28, 2009 4:00 PM
"The prosecutor is lying. She has full discretion regarding prosecution."
Of course she's lying - she's hired to use her judgement. Otherwise, they could replace her with a robot. But - like the sex offenders Amy listed in an earlier post - it's all about numbers. Chalk up another drug arrest, whoopie!
If a halfway smart opponent takes her on at election time, he can skewer her on this: "tough on crime...committed by grannies." Whereas she ought to be using her limited resources chasing down real criminals, etc, etc.
One hopes that the publicity on the Internet has some net effect - making a few more voters in her district aware of ths issue.
bradley13 at September 28, 2009 11:09 PM
"I am sure that there are a myriad of reasons why people violate the law, but a person’s reason or motive is seldom an element of a crime." - Nina J. Alexander"
What a maroon! I'm no lawyer, but even I know that intent is an essential element in defining criminal behavior. Glenn Reynolds had some comments on this yesterday.
Cousin Dave at September 29, 2009 7:30 AM
During the most recent season of Democratic presidential primaries, I looked for a candidate who did not vote for the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, but both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton proudly supported that law, featuring it on their web pages. So, whenever you're inconvenienced at the pharmacy (or thrown into jail for buying too much medicine), think of them (and your local Senator or Representative, if they voted for it too.)
Pseudonym at September 29, 2009 7:40 AM
My family are hillbilly Arkansans and they cook meth. They meet their supplier in Texarkana, Tx who brings it up in bucket loads from Mexico.
Yes they blow up trailers but they can buy a new one for 40-50K, which they can make in about a month. Every now and again the police raid them take anywhere from half a million to one and a half million in properties vehicles and such and throw my cousin in jail for another 9 months.
My grandmother had 13 children about 9 of them and their kids are involved in meth making, family business you know, and only my cousin has ever been to jail. So yeah this granny will take it in the a** while my family continues to be a revenue harvest for the cops. They don't actually care, I don't believe they ever have. And I wish they would just be honest about it and legalize it, tax it and maybe regulate it.
But then they wouldn't get to be heroes would they..
JosephineMO6 at September 29, 2009 9:49 AM
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