Court upholds marijuana law

Lawmakers may have botched the wording of a law criminalizing marijuana possession, but that does not make it unconstitutional, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The law was challenged by a Gwinnett County juvenile who was found delinquent for possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana.

The law violates constitutional due process, the youth’s appeal asserted, because it creates a mandatory presumption of guilt.

The law reads, “Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any person who is charged with possession of marijuana, which possession is of one ounce or less, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Justice George Carley, writing for a unanimous court, said the juvenile’s challenge ignored the clear legislative intent of the law —- that possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana is to be indicted and punished as a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Legislators never meant to make a person accused of the crime automatically guilty, he wrote.

“Such absurd consequences obviously were not contemplated by the Legislature, and we will not construe the words of the statute in such an unreasonable way,” Carley wrote.

Also Monday, the court:

> Declined to issue sanctions against Sheree Whitfield, a regular on the reality TV show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Sanctions were sought by a lawyer representing her ex-husband, retired Atlanta Falcon Bob Whitfield, in the couple’s divorce case. The court also allowed Sheree Whitfield to dismiss her appeal for alimony, which her lawyer said was withdrawn because the former NFL lineman squandered his assets.

> Upheld, for the second time this month, the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. A Bulloch County juvenile contended the law was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.