Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Colorado Court of Appeals Young v. Larimer County Sheriff's Office

Decision here.

   Not going to waste too much time on this because it's only a state court of appeals case.  Basically, Young was arrested for cultivating marijuana, his plants were seized (by cutting them off just above the root, which is fatal for plants), and he was acquitted based on a medical marijuana defense.  He sued the sheriff's department for killing his marijuana plants.

   The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld a dismissal of the lawsuit.  The court held that he couldn't sue under § 1983 because marijuana is contraband under federal law so the US Constitution doesn't recognized any property interest in it.  The court held that he couldn't sue for just compensation for the taking of property, since that particular state law addresses the taking of property for public or private use (which doesn't describe what the police do when they seize evidence).  And the court held that even the the Colorado constitution prohibits the police from destroying marijuana that they seize, there is no state statute which is equivalent to § 1983, so Young can't file a lawsuit against the police for violating the Colorado constitution.

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