E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSA New Orleans attorney was cited for marijuana possession this week after a joint tumbled out of his pocket in front of police, according to media reports.
Police say Jason Cantrell, who has a private practice but also serves as a part-time assistant city attorney, was in the magistrate section of criminal court chatting with police officers when a marijuana joint fell out of his pocket and onto the floor, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
Cantrell, 43, was a first-time offender and was cited, issued a summons to appear in court for simple possession of marijuana and let go, according to police spokesman Garry Flot.
Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter
The handling of his case is the result of an effort by city leaders and prosecutors two years ago to unclog a congested system and allow people arrested for having a small amount of marijuana on them to receive a summons and not be taken to jail, according to the Times-Picayune.
Besides being a private practice attorney, Cantrell doubles as a part-time city attorney, handling cases in traffic court. He was not working for the city when the incident occurred.
City Hall spokesman Ryan Berni told WDSU that Cantrell has been suspended without pay, pending an investigation.
Cantrell’s wife, LaToya, is a candidate for a district seat on the City Council. She released a statement apologizing for her husband and saying, “I absolutely do not condone his actions,” the New York Daily News reported.
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
“I love my husband unconditionally and am very concerned for his health and well-being, and for that of our family,” LaToya said. “I hope that this incident will encourage Jason to seek the professional help.”
Cantrell has practiced civil and criminal law in New Orleans for 17 years, including six as a public defender in juvenile court.
He ran for a position as a judge in juvenile court in 2009 but lost.
More content from NBCNews.com:
Leave a Comment:
but, uh hey man.....who got the dube?
you know them cops are gonna bogart it
Sounds like a typical Liberal with the usual Limited Intelligence.
pretty rich comment coming from a person who can't take the time to check the spelling of their screen name.
In this benighted booby-hatch country, arrogant stupidity reaches new levels every day. Tonight, "leaders" chosen by the equally arrogantly stupid will follow the dictums of equally brilliant men "leaders" like Josef Goebbels and Adolf Hitler. "For propaganda to be effective," Hitler said, "it must be directed to the stupidest in the audience."
And the zoo being run from the monkey cage will suck it up.
How do we get it legalized so we quit wasting the court's time AND our money on this?
The weed be lettin you KNOW, evil lurks!
HEY Pot head - You R Hired you Moron signed The City Of New Orleans.................
If He was GAY, he would have gotten off with a Flick Of the Tongue on The Judge !
How funny is it? LOL. REALLY funny.
Most druggies have a criminal record and can't vote. That's why they can't get marijuana legalized.
They are soooooo smart, they get on here and other places and tell us off, and alienate those of us that CAN vote. LOL.
Well let's see...most druggies have criminal records? How many doctors, lawyers, policemen and ex-presidents have smoked?
"ex-presidents"???? Damn, maybe that's why this country is in such bad shape. We need a drug free president.
Now I know why it took obama over 2000 pages to write a health-care plan. LOL.
Obama ddi not write it...a bipartisan panel did...most of it still called Romney care in Massachusetts!
This could be one of the fastest cases ever. He was busted in
the court room. Booked, Tried and on bail without leaving the room and he was
his own attorney. How convenient.
Just another Fine example Of A talented OBAMA Supporter !
I am proud of his wife for not condoning his actions. Like it or not folks, its still against the law and he, as an officer of the court, should uphold the laws. Guess thats what this world is coming to, people who would rather comment on his wife's actions instead of the fact that AN OFFICER OF THE COURT chose to break the law. Makes you wonder who you can trust and why should we follow the laws if the people who are sworn to follow them don't? People want to blame bad parenting, political parties, religion, and race for everything but this story spoke volumes to me. Again, I say GOOD FOR HIS WIFE FOR NOT STANDING UP FOR HIM!
All drug users care about is their next high. Don't ever turn your back on a full or part time druggie. Don't let them legalize marijuana and turn our high schools and our young ones into useless potheads. Don't turn our workplaces into a bunch of useless potheads. How would you like a pothead making entries to your account or assembling a product. The full and part time druggies bear full responsibility for all the violence and death throughout the world of drugs. To druggies everywhere you are usless pieces of human excrement.All druggies should believe in the big bang because you know where you are going. Let's keep our children and grandchildren and the USA drug free. For all you people sitting on the fence and supporting druggies- get a pair and stand up against the druggies and don't allow the USA to become a nation of druggies.
Boy, now that's a rambling speech!
For one thing, smoking weed is not the same thing as shooting heroin or snorting cocaine, regardless of what "authorities" try to tell you. It is much more similar to having a drink or two, which is socially and legally acceptable. Secondly, people who smoke a little weed are probably carrying your lazy, stupid butt at work. Thirdly, I have never met a violent pot smoker. And lastly, a nation of occasional weed smokers is much less of a problem or threat than a nation of alcoholic homosexuals.
mikey, do you have a screw loose or just a dumba$#. How many beers do you drink after work every day? Same deal, dude.
Legalization is for folks over 21 with strict DUID requirements. Get on You tube and do your research. Cannabis is nature's answer to medical ailments, cures and prevents cancer. And recreational use is safer than alcohol , with no hangover, no violence and no recorded deaths. THE REASON we have violence and death is because it ILLEGAL, moron.
Usage has decreased where it has been legalized. research into cannabis has helped scientists discover that the human body has an entire system built into our bodies ,as we have the same elements in our body that Cannabis does. that is why is works so well and was classified as a certified medicine until 1937 when Harry Anslinger got it outlawed because he convinced the government that MExicans and Black Musicians would seduce white women by giving them weed. Wake up, Dude
It's ILLEGAL. That what makes it the same as cocaine and heroin.
Trying to change the subject to alcohol, doesn't make your crap better. Changing the subject is a favorite trick of druggies, when they don't want to hear what is being said.
Arizona, Who's changing the subject? Think about it.
Mikey, LOL...Assembling products. What do you think the odds are that you've used one of the hundreds of thousands of electronic voting booths I built? I was the line lead of the wave solder crew that built the motherboards. I usually smoked a joint during lunch. I also know two pot smokers who have worked for one of Boeing's sub contractors, for twenty years. If you've flown in one of Boeing's planes, stoners built that too. Pot smokers have been doing all the things you worry about them doing, all along, and doing them well.
I would like to berate mikey for his ridiculous comment but i realized it may not get through to him anyways because he is clearly not paying a whole lot of attention to what is going on in the real world.
"Professional help" because he had a joint? All sorts of people smoke pot. It's not even a drug. It grows out of the ground.
LOL, too funny!
LaToya, is a candidate for a district seat on the City Council. Time to for a for a randon urinaylasis from LaToya prior to elections and if she is elected to council seat within 90 days after the elections.
Now it would have been acceptable if he would have shown up with alcohol on his breath. But NO you cannot have a joint on you!!!! Ass backwards our system is!
I knew the Laws were wacked out.I wonder how many lawmakers in the White House smoke this sh1t when writing loop holes laws? LOL
The only bright spot in this story is that it happened to a @!$%#ing lawyer! The Bard of Avon was on the right track when he wrote in "Henry VI", "the first thing we do is kill all lawyers".
I'm all for legalizing marijuana but I NEVER want this idiot representing me in any legal matter. How stupid do you have to be to take pot to work???? Seriously???
Cant have your cake and eat it to!!
He was going to smoke it with the judge after court.
I was thinking a judge had given it to him, to try out and he paused to chat with the officers on his way out of the court.
What an azzhole!
the Dude is reaching an age where stress and physical ailments overcome and a little weed helps ease the pain.. I would divorce my wife if she said I needed rehab for weed. I refer to the scene in Half-baked where Dave Chappelle goes to rehab for pot , if you have not seen, it says it all.
dude, move to Washington, it will be legal, November 7, 2012. Fire that reefer up here, enjoy the view and have a great cup of coffee !
American society is a joke and totally hypocritical. The drug companies push their drugs on the public, including narcotics, and have people hooked on their "legal" drugs. The Pharmaceutical companies make hundreds of billions of dollars a year on all of us suckers. They don't want to legalize pot because it will cut into their profits. This country is ruled by greed and it is the root of our demise.
You're on the right track. Hypocrisy rules in government and business, the latter of which owns the former.
Clearly this guy needs "professional help" over a small joint. oh lawdy...
I smoked grass once, but I didn't exhale.
So the City Council candidate wife does not know the husband smokes weed and throws him under the bus hoping he "gets professional help"?? Please. She sounds like a great politician already.
Ask her for a hair sample and see how she reacts.
More power to you man..light one up for freedom..down to the tyrannical abuses of police state dicks....May they rot in you know where>>>>