Judge flees courtroom - caught on tape. Greenfield, Massachusetts.

[Dave Ridley]

Judge flees courtroom - caught on tape. Greenfield, Massachusetts.

New Hampshire liberty activists swarm a Mass. courtroom after one of their own was abducted by police for camcording them.

[Free libertarian]

Hey give the judge a break will ya?  She probably had to go home to water her plants!


Burlington, Vermont -- November 5, 2007

Vermont's Attorney general is questioning why a lawyer and acting judge is getting a break for growing felony amounts of marijuana.

Attorney General Bill Sorrell is concerned that Windsor prosecutor Bobby Sand is sending the wrong signal about justice in Vermont.

The case started last month when game wardens discovered 36 pot plants and two-and-half pounds of marijuana in the home of Windsor lawyer Martha Davis, 61, according to court records.  She also serves on occasion as an acting judge in the Windsor Family Court. The wardens charged her with felony marijuana possession and cultivation. Those charges carry potential penalties of 30 years in prison and a fine up to $1 million.

But County Prosecutor Bobby Sand initially amended the charges to a far less serious misdemeanor and last week agreed not to charge Davis with any crime. Instead, he permitted her to enter the Court Diversion Program. That means all record of the charges will be permanently expunged if she successfully completes community service assignments.

Vermont's Attorney General Bill Sorrell says giving the lawyer a break like that for serious felony charges sends the wrong message.


"On the surface, it doesn't pass the straight-face test, giving a total pass for possession and cultivation of this much of an illegal drug," said Sorrell.

He says he respects Windsor County Prosecutor Bob Sand, but Sand's failure to charge Windsor lawyer Martha Davis for felony marijuana possession is a break she would not get in any other county.

"I think that there are those who will read and hear about this case who will say, 'where's the justice here,'" said Sorrell.


The pot was found on the property of Davis in Windsor by Fish and Wildlife wardens. Ironically, they had been called there by Davis who thought there was a dead deer on her land. The wardens found no deer, but lots of pot.

We were not able to speak with Sand on camera, but he did tell us that "all first time marijuana offenders are offered diversion if they have no prior record and (he is) satisfied the marijuana was only for personal use."

"I don't do my job thinking about how prosecutors operate in other counties," he added.

Sorrell thinks there ought to be consistency from county to county.

"If all first-time marijuana possessors and cultivators in Windsor County are treated with Diversion then I guess that's the county in which you ought to be in that business. Although you run the risk that federal authorities would come in, or the Attorney General's Office would come into the case," responded Sorrell.

The Attorney General is concerned about consistency in responses to crimes across the state.  He hopes that  serious charges are treated seriously in Vermont's 14 counties.