By Denise Ross

Bob Newland continues his publicity of the Eric Sage v. The Man case at the Drug War Chronicle, where his is the first dispatch from “day-to-day workings of the war on drugs.”

As regular readers will recall, Eric Sage was in Sturgis for the motorcycle rally, got pulled over for weaving on his motorcycle and wound up with a drug paraphenalia charge after a pot pipe was discovered in the purse of a woman riding in a vehicle that was accompanying Sage and pulled over when he got stopped.

Newland reports the newest development in the case.

A preliminary hearing was set for November 21. Sage retained an attorney, Rena Hymans of Sturgis, who called Assistant States Attorney Nelson repeatedly asking if she was really going to move forward on the case. She left detailed messages on Nelson’s voice mail: “Are you really going to have a prelim on this?” The calls went unreturned.

On November 21, Sage drove the 241 miles from his Nebraska home to the Pennington County Courthouse in Rapid City. After meeting with Hymans, the pair went to the Clerk of Courts, who handed them a piece of paper saying the charges had been dismissed by Nelson five days earlier.

In dismissing the charges, Nelson cited “jurisdictional issue (charges involve Meade County).” …

(Sage): “I was mugged by guys in suits with law degrees who knew I wasn’t guilty.”

Newland’s article is sprinkled with comments from the website’s editor that offer further insite into criminal justice issues that arise in this case.

Some of the comments after Newland’s article promote a “kill the pigs” mentality that few could defend, but others build the case that more people should do what Sage did - fight the drug war on its own turf.

If every nickel and dime pot bust were contested and taken to trial, the marijuana prohibition would directly collapse under the weight of its own insanity, like the long-forgotten alcohol prohibition before it. Just “paying the fine” feeds the corrupt system …

Should marijuana be regarded under the law more like alcohol and less like the hard drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and meth? Many pot-smokers and former pot-smokers I know say that cannibis is more innocuous than alcohol.

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By Denise Ross

The Sturgis motorcycle rally and the consumption of illicit drugs have for decades been linked.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I got my first whiff of marijuana on Sturgis Main Street during a rally in the 1970s. I can’t remember the year, but I was young enough to have to reach up to grab my dad’s hand.

A lot has changed since our family took in the spectacle, strolling comfortably through the downtown of my parents’ hometown. But the kind bud and other drugs remain. One need only check out the court dockets around the Black Hills to see the evidence.

Bob Newland, who needs no introduction, identified one rally case, charging marijuana possession, that he found particularly objectionable. I offer the story here as a contemplation of drug laws in general, while, of course, the details of this particular case are sure to be debated.

With a nod to Pushing Daisies, the facts are these:

-Eric Sage, of Bloomfield, Neb., was pulled over Aug. 7 on Interstate 90 about 10 miles east of Rapid City after officers observed him weaving in his lane. Whether this weaving was due to wind or some other cause is one item at issue for Mr. Newland et al, but Mr. Sage nonetheless was pulled over.

-Three other people traveling with Sage in a pickup truck, owned by Sage, also stopped.

-After an empty, used pipe was found in the purse of a woman riding in the pickup, Sage and each of his traveling companions were charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

-When Sage refused to plead guilty to and pay a fine for paraphernalia possession, he was additionally charged on Oct. 15 with marijuana possession by ingestion. (The police report, detailing the events of Aug. 7, written to support the ingestion charge of Oct. 15 was written on Oct. 16.)

The facts in dispute are these:

-Whether Sage told the officers 1) that he had smoked pot earlier that day and 2) that a pipe and baggie of pot would be found in the glovebox of the pickup he owned. (Of course, the cops say these things happened; Sage says they did not. Neither pipe nor baggie was found in the glovebox.)

-Whether the pipe in the woman’s purse had been in the glovebox and was moved to her purse.

The Pennington County prosecutor on the case had scheduled a Nov. 21 preliminary hearing but has since decided that any marijuana ingestion occured in Meade County (home to Sturgis) and will transfer that ingestion charge up there. It will then be up to Meade County prosecutors there whether to pursue the case.

My primary questions is this: When someone in a vehicle you own but are not riding in turns up with a pot pipe, what’s your criminal culpability? Prosecutor Gina Nelson told me that the paraphernalia charge is based on the combination of the pipe itself, Sage’s (alleged) statement to the cops that he had smoked pot and (alleged) statement that there was pot and a pipe in the glovebox.

Gina also told me that an admission alone to an officer that you had consumed drugs is not enough to charge ingestion. More evidence is needed.

Newland told me that Sage went through the hassle and expense of fighting his charge(s) rather than paying a relatively small fine so as to avoid having a drug conviction on his record.

At this point, I wouldn’t bet on this case making it to a jury. But if you were on the jury, what would you focus on, need more information about?

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