BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Is 18 years in prison without the possibility of parole too harsh for a man arrested with 18 grams of marijuana? The Louisiana Supreme Court's chief justice thinks so, and she blasted her colleagues for upholding the punishment.
In a withering dissent Wednesday, Chief Justice Bernette Johnson called it "outrageous" and "ridiculous" that the state's highest court affirmed the lengthy prison sentence for such a small amount of marijuana — enough for at least 18 marijuana cigarettes.