Pot Defendant Gives Court More Evidence on Driver’s License

A judge has ruled against a man arrested in a New York courtroom after he surrendered a driver’s license with marijuana in the creases to the court clerk.

Judge Norman St. George ruled the new evidence against Barry Maharaj bars dismissal of a prior pot charge, the New York Law Journal reports.

Maharaj had been arrested for driving while intoxicated and marijuana possession. A plea deal allowed dismissal of the pot charge if he stayed out of trouble for six months, but required Maharaj to turn over his driver’s license, according to the New York Daily News account of the courtroom incident.

But St. George ruled the agreement was breached because marijuana “was observed in plain view” on the conditional driver’s license Maharaj surrendered to the Nassau County court in a September hearing.

Maharaj’s lawyer had argued the new pot charge shouldn’t apply because it occurred before the six-month period had begun to run.