San Francisco jury acquits man who forgot mushrooms were in his backpack

slimvictor

slimvictor

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
6,477
Location
"Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness.
A San Francisco jury found a man accused of possessing magic mushrooms not guilty Friday after his lawyer argued that he forgot they were in his backpack, so he could not have knowingly possessed them.

Eric Meoli was stopped at the Powell Street BART station May 25 for riding his bicycle on the platform. After handing his backpack over to police to search for identification, the cops found less than four grams of mushrooms in a small internal pocket of the bag, according to the Public Defender’s Office.

Meoli, a cannabis club worker, had given $10 of legally-obtained medical marijuana to “a hippy in Golden Gate Park” suffering from insomnia, said Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Lutes-Koths. The hippy then gave Meoli the mushrooms. He had put the mushrooms in the backpack about six months after getting them and forgot all about them, Lutes-Koths said.

“One of the elements of the law requires that the defendant know of the presence of the substance,” said Lutes-Koths. Prosecutors couldn’t prove Meoli had knowledge of possession of the mushrooms when he was arrested, she said.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/law...got-mushrooms-were-his-backpack#ixzz1T5S6kW1l
 
Technically mushrooms aren't even illegal though, it's grey area at worst. If you somehow extracted the psilocin or psilocybin, the resulting product would definitely be getting into some black area, with arrests and fines or worse resulting.
 
^Yeah, right. That is true of some sources, such as unprocessed peuvian torch cacti, but certainly not of psilocybin mushrooms.

Interesting court decision, but I have no doubt it was a result of the very liberal mindset of San Franciscans. I think the outcome would be very different in other places.
 
no way, i was just north of SF, in marin county, first offense and they found crumbs of weed and mushrooms that i didnt know were there, it was left by a friend and was like practically old garbage and i got charged. my friend got fucked majorly by a "check point" when they checked his trunk. it's like why dont they need a warrant?

although in sf, i got caught smoking crack in the streets and shooting h in a person's room who missed court, so the police busted down the door. I didnt get charged at all in sf. so maybe, there is a difference.
 
I don't understand how that could work in court...but its good it did. Nobody should get in trouble for possession, they should get in trouble if they actually cause trouble in other ways.

If this had happened in my shitty, close-minded small southern town, the dude would have been fucked.
 
The jury was full of hippies i bet =D . I Cant see that "sry i forgot they were there" working any other way in a court.
 
LOOOL
damn, this is interesting.
good for the guy...but you dont FORGET about drugs for months, at least i wouldnt.
I've lost things but i've never forgotten i've had droogery, other than finding old RX's sometimes in my house (my RXs...)
 
This is great! I would imagine if you stick to your story and pass a drug screen you could claim ignorance rather easily. Of course if he had previously been convicted that could play a role as well. As far as I know the grey area on magic mushrooms is that its illegal to possess them because they contain psilocybin which is on Schedule. It is legal to possess spores of these mushrooms as they do not contain illicit substances, however possession must be for research purposes
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top