Will The Equal Enforcement of
A Bad Law Restore the Public Trust?
Senator Grams’ Son Charged With Two Misdemeanors. Equal Injustice.
See
Another Republican
Senator’s Son Has An Adventure With Marijuana and the Law
(Marijuananews note: Minnesota Republican Senator Grams, a typically ardent
prohibitionist, appears to be a dolt, and his son seems to have some serious chemical
problems, marijuana probably the least of them. However, the police treatment of this case
caused a bit of a scandal. Now the son has been charged
and the overly solicitous deputy has been "resigned."
We can all sleep better now. Yeah.
No one could seriously believe that any law is equally applied to the rich and
powerful, although ideally it should be. However, punishing the people involved in this
silly incident should not "help ease… erosion of public confidence that law
enforcement treats all citizens equally" as the Saint Paul Press so charmingly puts
it.
One of the problems with marijuana prohibition is that it is necessarily unequally
enforced. The police cannot spend time going after affluent marijuana users. [If they did,
marijuana prohibition would end a lot sooner, but that is another matter.]
This means that less affluent marijuana users who live in high crime areas – where
the police should be doing their jobs – will inevitably come into contact with the
police more. These people cannot afford lawyers, so they also end up being punished more
severely when they are caught.
Punishing Grams’ son may look good on paper – or at least to the editors of
the paper, but that should not do anything to restore confidence in a bad law.)
December 12, 1999
From The Saint Paul Pioneer Press
letters@pioneerpress.com
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/watercooler/
BUNGLING GRAMS CASE ERODES PUBLIC TRUST
The Anoka County Sheriff's office has more work to do to restore public confidence in its
integrity and competence.
An outside investigation by the Dakota County sheriff has revealed serious irregularities
during a July traffic stop of Morgan Grams, son of U.S. Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn.
The younger Grams was stopped after Sen. Grams asked the Anoka
County sheriff for help finding his son, who has experienced legal and drug problems in
the past. The Dakota County investigation found no evidence that Sen. Grams asked for any
improper special treatment for his child. But it does seem clear that Morgan Grams
received unusual treatment.
Morgan Grams was was not detained for questioning or a sobriety test and was charged with
no crime even though the car contained 10 bags of marijuana, an open
can containing beer and as many as 20 empty beer cans.
(Marijuananews note: That is a new item. Of course, it was
the marijuana that got the publicity, not the potential DUI.)
He should have been charged with several offenses and investigated for others,
according to the outside review. Instead, evidence was destroyed and
reports were not properly filed.
So comprehensive were the irregularities that Dakota County Sheriff Don Gudmundson said it
was hard to identify anything the Anoka County officers did right after stopping Grams.
The Washington County attorney's office, which reviewed this report, is filing two
misdemeanor charges against Morgan Grams. Evidence to support other
possible charges has been lost. Prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges against
anyone else.
On Friday, Chief Deputy Peter Beberg, who conducted the stop of
Grams, resigned in response to this investigation. But Anoka County Sheriff Larry
Podany must take further action to determine whether this was a cover-up or mere bungling
and whether additional discipline is in order.
Dakota County investigators appear to have done a thorough and honest job of probing this
matter. That should help ease, but will not wholly prevent, erosion of public confidence
that law enforcement treats all citizens equally.
Meanwhile, though he may have asked for nothing improper, these events are unlikely to
help Sen. Grams politically. If anyone involved thought they were doing the senator a
favor by bending the rules for his son, they were wrong.
Copyright: 1999 St. Paul Pioneer Press
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