A Shawano County citation for possession of marijuana can land a fine of $150 plus fees and court costs. A second conviction on a criminal charge of possession makes you a felon.
That was the bit of education shared with members of the Shawano County Public Safety Committee on Feb. 5 after one supervisor raised the issue brought to his attention from a constituent.
Supervisor Randy Young said he received a call from a woman upset that Shawano County made her son a felon. According to the woman, her son was stopped along state Highway 29, and the deputy discovered a little bit of marijuana in his pocket. As it was his second offense, his conviction led to felon status.
“If he’s convicted twice for possession of THC, he becomes a felon,” Shawano County Sheriff’s Capt. Nick Prey said.
Prey said those two convictions would have to be on state charges, not ordinance violations. Shawano, Bonduel, Tigerton and the county have local ordinances for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Those ordinances carry fines and are not counted toward the two-strike felony status that comes with criminal charges.
“It’s a discretion thing. They look at how much they have. Is it just a joint? Is it a big bag of marijuana?” Sheriff George Lenzner said. “We’ve issued 11 ordinance tickets in the month of January. Ordinance citations for marijuana are more common now, because we’re basically focusing on the fentanyl, meth and harder drugs, but marijuana is still illegal.”
Prey explained the deputies’ thought process when deciding between a citation and a criminal charge.
“A half an ounce — 14 grams — or less is going to be a ticket usually if they don’t have priors,” he said. “Fourteen grams to an ounce is their discretion if they want to take them to jail or not. Over an ounce, we try and say they should probably go to jail, just because of the amount, but it’s up to the person who did the stop. Are they cooperative? Are there other reasons why they were going to jail to begin with?
“Our district attorney office has the understanding that if they get arrested for let’s say bail jumping and they only have two or three grams on them, they want a criminal charge with that, too, because they can use that as part of the plea agreements and stuff like that.”
Prey said he didn’t know of the situation Young discussed but surmised there was more to the stop.
“We don’t hang a felony on somebody for just having a joint,” he said. “That’s not the way things go.”
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
Two strikes and you’re a felon — maybe
