Jacob Lavoro, 19, has no previous criminal record, and he didn’t kill or harm anyone. But he faces a life sentence for making brownies with hashish oil.
A neighbor’s complaint about the smell brought the cops who were allowed by Texas law to consider the entire weight of the whole pan of brownies, rather than just the oil itself. Based on the total weight, Lavoro was booked with a first-degree felony.
However, Lavoro’s dad fought back with a “GoFundMe” campaign and raised the money for a lawyer, who had a lab determine that the actual weight of the THC in those pot brownies was only 2.5 gr - about the same amount you’d find in a couple of sugar packets ata diner, he said.
Alhough there seems no point in prosecuting Lavoro for a crime at all, much less one that carries a life sentence, the prosecutor refuses to relent. To be on the safe side, Lavoro’s lawyer is asking for a reduced sentence, even though, as it turns out, the cops never had a warrant to search Lavoro’s apartment in the first place.
Tell Texas: No life sentence for pot brownies!
We, the undersigned, find the police officers and Texas law far more at fault in this case than a 19-year-old pot brownie baker.
First of all, according to reports, the police entered Lavoro's apartment impersonating maintenance staff. They had no warrant to search Lavoro's home, nor did Lavoro give them permission.
Law or not, allowing the cops to use the total weight of the brownies, eggs, flour, butter and all, to represent the total weight of the drug - so that the charges against this 19-year-old could be trumped up to a life sentence - has nothing to do with justice, drug reform, or even sanity.
This case not only represents a mockery of what is supposed to be a "war on drugs," it represents a violation of this teen's constitutional rights and an egregious waste of taxpayer money.
We request that the County prosecutor drop this absurd case immediately, and stop wasting taxpayer money and harassing US Citizens over such menial offenses.
