Coweta County Superior Court Judge Dennis Blackmon on May 29 issued a full dismissal of the lawsuit against the Senoia City Council brought by Senoia resident Don Rehman over his interpretation of a city ordinance dealing with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Blackmon in the dismissal called Rehman’s case the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard in court.
Rehman in the March 15 court filing said the city ordinance essentially mandates that males are required to be in possession of more than an ounce of marijuana to be considered law abiding citizens. Possession of less than an ounce is handled through the local court as a misdemeanor while possession of more than an ounce is a felony under state law.
Rehman contended that the wording of the ordinance essentially mandates that all males within the city limits must have in their possession one ounce or more of marijuana. Obeying the ordinance as written would make criminals out of law abiding citizens, the suit said.
Judge Blackmon in his remarks near the end of the May 29 proceedings did not agree with Rehman’s logic.
“Are you telling me that I am here and you’ve got me here, and you’ve got all these people here to explain to you what the Senoia ordinance means when it says you can’t possess less than an ounce of marijuana? Are you seriously telling me that that’s why I am here listening to this case?” Blackmon asked.
“Let me tell you something, you have wasted this court’s time,” Blackmon continued. “You have wasted all these people’s time. I do not know what possessed you to come into this court with something this ridiculous. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever had in court, ever.”
With those and other remarks, Blackmon dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety.
Attorney Drew Whalen representing the Senoia City Council had no comments after the ruling.
For his part, Rehman disagreed with the court’s findings, saying he would “appeal this matter to the Georgia Supreme Court.”
“I respectfully believe that (Judge Blackmon) made an error by dismissing my civil action; and (Blackmon’s) determination of the grounds for dismissal were not in consonance with a June 8, 2009 Supreme Court of Georgia decision on petition for mandamus matters, which the court had in hand when it made its ruling on May 29, 2013,” Rehman said Thursday.
Rehman said the lawsuit was filed to, “fulfill a commitment I made to the people of Senoia, when I ran for Senoia City Councilman in 2011. I promised during that campaign that I would seek revision/repeal of Senoia ordinance 46-7 marijuana possession.”
