Judge passes on Willie’s token plea deal
By STERRY BUTCHER
SIERRA BLANCA – Willie Nelson’s second plea deal on a Hudspeth County pot charge has gone up in smoke.
Nelson was busted at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint last November for possessing a little more than six ounces of pot on his tour bus, potentially a state jail felony punishable up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted. Prosecutor Kit Bramblett originally offered a plea deal in which Nelson would pay a fine and sing “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” in the Hudspeth County courtroom. The amount of pot had subsequently dropped to less than four ounces, a Class B misdemeanor, which meant the case stayed within Bramblett’s jurisdiction.
“You bet your ass I ain’t gonna be mean to Willie Nelson,” Bramblett told the Sentinel at the time.
County Judge Becky Dean Walker nixed the deal, however, protesting that Nelson should be treated like anyone else.
Then CNN reported earlier this month that Bramblett and Nelson’s attorney had agreed to a reduced charge of possession of marijuana paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor, and a $500 fine, plus court fees.
Not so fast.
On June 20, Walker talked with Hudspeth County Herald editor Drew Stuart. Walker, he wrote, refused the new plea deal out of concern that Bramblett’s reduction of the charge from possession to paraphernalia represented preferential treatment for the singer.
“My problem is the fact that everybody should be treated the same,” Walker said in the Herald. “If that was the guy on the corner, you can damn sure bet he would be charged with a felony. I don’t have anything against Willie Nelson; I just think that it’s not fair.”
Bramblett countered by telling the Herald that it’s his prerogative to file charges as he sees fit.
The case is pending, as of June 24.
“It will lay there ‘til it gets dismissed,” the attorney said, “or she has a change of heart.”
Story filed under: Top Stories
4 Responses to “Judge passes on Willie’s token plea deal”
He will get off. Dope head and everyone knows it and the law looks the other way. Money buys you a differant justice, if it had been some poor guy he would already be in jail serving time… Justice is only for those who can afford it. The rest of us have to follow the law………….
Free Willie. This man has done more good to mankind, than he has done wrong.He is who he is and that is it.
Everybody knows Willie smokes pot and has as far back as I can recall. Every cop out there knows, so why do they search his bus? Just to get their name in the paper. We have real criminals out there to worry about, and real drug users. Dangerous drugs. I don’t smoke at all nor do I do drugs or condone it. I just think this is all a little silly, and a waste of taxpayers money. The Lady Judge is just trying to make a name for herself, and probably doesn’t care for Willie’s music. Let go of this thing and try some real bad guys in her court. Thanks for allowing my stateement, even if you don’t agree with me.
Our society has never heald performers,movie stars to the same justice as the every day person.The only reason this DA would start now is to make a name for himself. Small town justice has a problem with that sort of behavior. Let Willy go. He is in noway a criminal or a drain on society. He has a driver, let it go.