Pot suspect: ‘That's how I make my money'

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

You won't find this strategy in any criminal defense manual.

When a police officer asked Cody Matthew Kinney if he'd been smoking marijuana, the 21-year-old McDonough man had a simple, direct answer: "Yes," the officer testified Monday, according to the Clayton News Daily.

Then, when the cop asked about the contents of a bag found on Kinney, he replied: "That's how I make my money."

So testified Henry County Officer Anthony Militello in Magistrate Court, according to the paper.

Not surprisingly, the judge bound over Kinney's case to Superior Court -- despite his attorney's protests that he wasn't read his Miranda rights. He's charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

On Dec. 17, police responded to a report of two suspicious people behind a house on Fawn Meadow Lane, the paper reported. Kinney and another man told Militello they were fixing a four-wheeler in the woods, the officer testified, according to the paper.

The officer said he saw a handgun on the ground and smelled marijuana, according to the paper. That's when he and the suspect had their exchange, Militello describing Kinney as "very cooperative." To say the least.