PITTSBURGH – Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes, cited for allegedly having a small amount of marijuana in his vehicle, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon in Municipal Court downtown.
District Judge Gene Ricciardi scheduled Holmes’ formal arraignment for April 29.
Ricciardi told Holmes “on a personal note” that he “wanted to commend” the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver for donating the gloves that he wore when he caught the Super Bowl-winning touchdown to a charity auction because “it showed strength of character.”
via Santonio Holmes Waives Drug Hearing, Gets Props From Judge – News- msnbc.com.
Here’s an experiment I recommend that nobody try:
- Find yourself a very nice car and drive to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Make sure to have three loaded blunts in the car and that the car smells of freshly-smoked marijuana.
- Get yourself pulled over at the corner of Centre Avenue and Mario Lemieux Place.
- When officers notice pot smell, show them your three blunts.
- When officers ask if you’re smoking pot in the car, say “No, but yesterday I was.”
- Bonus points for the experiment if you’re a 24-year-old African-American male.
Let’s see, three blunts might be about an eighth, depending on how you mix it. Pennsylvania law says that can get you a misdemeanor conviction with a sentence of $500 fine and 30 days in jail. Who wants to bet my hypothetical experimenter would see jail time, but Santonio Holmes will get community service?
It’s not that I think Santonio Holmes or any other celebrity should be harassed for marijuana possession (smoking and driving’s another story for another time), it’s just that I think my hypothetical experimenter shouldn’t be harassed either. When we see two different systems of drug laws – one for the Santonio Holmeses, Al Gore IIIs, and Noelle Bushes, and another for the rest of us without fame, power, or fortune – it underscores the lie that these drug laws are meant to protect us and it undermines respect for all the law.
