Willie Nelson Resolves Pot Charges, Back on the Road Again

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 08:27:00 AM EST
Tags: Willie Nelson (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

You remember when Willie Nelson was busted at the border with 6 oz of pot? Those charges have now been resolved. He gets off with a fine and playing a song:

Nelson was arrested Nov. 26 after a Border Patrol agent smelled pot wafting from Nelson’s tour bus at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint. A little more than six ounces was found on the bus.

Nelson was arraigned and on the road again after paying a $2,500 bond. Now the charges have been fully resolved. He has to pay a $100 fine and sing a song at the courthouse:

...The fine will be $100 and court costs amount to $278. Bramblett said he’s in contact with Nelson’s lawyer. Next time the singer’s tour schedule brings the Honeysuckle Rose close to Sierra Blanca, Bramblett’s office will be notified and Willie will make a scheduled stop at the Hudspeth County courthouse.

The D.A. is 78 and Willie is 77. The DA says “He’s been my favorite artist all my life. We all know he smokes a little pot.”

< March Madness: Sweet Sixteen Day 2 | March Madness: Elite 8 >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Willie Nelson Resolves Pot Charges, Back on the Road Again | 20 comments (20 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

As far as... (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by kdog on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 12:27:55 PM EST

different rules different fools goes this is as least offensive as it gets.

Long may you run Willie.

Well Except for the Thousands... (none / 0) (#9)
by ScottW714 on Sun Mar 27, 2011 at 04:15:57 PM EST

... sitting behind bars for intent to deliver, which is what anything over an oz will get you in most states.

$100 and what amounts to 10 mins of community service is less than I got for coasting through a stop sign in the middle of nowhere on my bike.

Punishment isn't meant to benefit the person handing it out. Rule of law in America has become a joke. When 'different rules for different fools' means one gets to sing for the judge and the rest go straight to jail, if not prison, it's mighty offensive.


To be sure... (none / 0) (#10)
by kdog on Sun Mar 27, 2011 at 08:08:28 PM EST

but its Willie bro:)

I can't help but be happy he's not getting the full ringer treatment that you or I would get, or caged souls have gotten...a smidgen less senseless misery is something to cheer. And the favored citizen status at least fell on somebody deserving this time...an American treasure, instead of some bankster who runs in high circles, with little to no redeeming social value.

Of course you're right, it's a joke and unfair...a private concert? This guy think he's the Queen of England or something?

More evidence equality under the law is a utopian quality that can likely never be obtained...ya can only hope to minimize the inequality by minimizing law itself, specifically criminal law...best we can do I'm afraid.


Agreed (none / 0) (#13)
by ScottW714 on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 10:25:00 AM EST

But $100, come on, Willie doesn't need to be locked up, but would an appropriate fine be too much to ask. $15 an oz, that is probably the lowest fine ever levied this decade for possession in the entire US.

I don't need a pound of flesh, but a grand or two seems like a responsible amount.

And if Willie has a lick of sense, he won't go anywhere near that jurisdiction for the redux.


Let the Flaming Begin (none / 0) (#14)
by ScottW714 on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 10:38:51 AM EST

This is the garbage I see when ever I get on the freeway:

http://www.thrasherswheat.org/gifs/willie-nelson-billboard.jpg

F Willie and his stupid A barely green fuel.


Damn Scott... (none / 0) (#15)
by kdog on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 10:59:10 AM EST

can I interest in some of what Willie and I are on?...you sound tense:)

Hate the game, not the player...we can rejoice in Willie's good fortune while railing on the crooked game at the same time.


Found this interesting. Local public (none / 0) (#17)
by oculus on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 02:26:27 PM EST

library recently ordered:

363.45/RASTELLO
I am the market : how to smuggle cocaine by the ton, in five easy lessons
Rastello, Luca, 1961-
New York : Faber and Faber, c2011.
9780865479494 (hc : alk. paper) : $22.00
No copies currently available. Estimated wait undetermined.


: In this economy... (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by kdog on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 03:14:51 PM EST

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that title to become available.

Dear Working for Big Oil in Houston (none / 0) (#20)
by Rojas on Tue Mar 29, 2011 at 08:01:18 AM EST

Coming up in the town in which overdressing is said the only unforgivable social crime, we withheld comment and grudgingly came to admit the utility of your big sombreros while hosting your team during the recent super bowl. While somewhat concerned about the windage, there was no denying that big yellow wedge would keep the sun off your back.

After reading your comments about Willie I'll admit that I am forced to reconsider. I have to wonder if the utility of those sombreros were actually in fact an indicator of what filled the space between the bearers ears. I'd recommend a couple of trips to Luckenbach to get that spring unwound a bit.


You Got Me (none / 0) (#21)
by ScottW714 on Tue Mar 29, 2011 at 09:51:50 AM EST

I was actually making a joke because I know how popular Willie is, hence the flaming comment. I don't like the guy's music, but I don't have anything against him. Well until he started popping up on trucker stop billboards complete with bandanna and guitar pushing a product that barely passes the green smell test.

I was a yankee, and the those Texas outlaw creds Willie seems to posses are a little... too inflated.

OK, OK, the real reason I dislike Willie is that my mom loves, loves, loves the rodeo clown. There, put that it your notebook Rojas. The Houston Big Oil employee from Wisconsin has mommy issues.... And I hope gas hits $5/gallon sooner than later you sonz of beotches. (the entire post is a joke if it's not obvious)

Damn Rojas, you keeping notes ?


: Blessed are the Peacemakers (none / 0) (#22)
by Rojas on Tue Mar 29, 2011 at 07:54:51 PM EST

Willie was one.

Before Willie's first Armadillo show, the Austin American-Statesman's Townsend Miller wrote in his country music column of the appearance of Nelson on a psychedelic poster and wondered about that night's inevitable collision of rednecks and long-hairs, the two warring camps that shared no common ground in any other place in the United States in the 1960s or '70s.
Outlawed in Nashville....

Willie inadvertently found himself to be the leader of an outlaw musical movement that had nothing in common with what was going on in Nashville. It was later dubbed "redneck rock" or the "cosmic cowboy" sound, a new mix of traditional folk, tejano, blues, pop, psychedelia, you name it. Whatever it was, it wasn't quite country and it wasn't quite rock.

might it have something to do (none / 0) (#16)
by jondee on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 01:49:45 PM EST

with the fact that Willie is hell of a lot more popular in that jurisdiction than the Judge -- and that Judge doesn't want to become any LESS popular than he already is? What are the odds?

Of course, a similar dynamic didn't stop 'em from throwing the book-lectern-and-building at Chuck Berry a couple of times..


Law west of the Pecos (none / 0) (#2)
by Rojas on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 05:08:28 AM EST

"Between me and the sheriff, we threw out enough of it or smoked enough so that there's only three ounces, which is within my jurisdiction," Bramblett said.

Thats $100 too much (none / 0) (#4)
by dead dancer on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 10:29:00 AM EST

Who the Heck Would Arrest Willie Nelson?

My Medicine

Opps (none / 0) (#5)
by dead dancer on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 10:31:47 AM EST

Who the Heck ...

When (none / 0) (#6)
by lentinel on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 11:50:41 AM EST

I get to be in my late seventies and am busted, I will look forward to paying the judge $100 and singing a song.

Oleoleahyhoo.

: You can do that now (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by nycstray on Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 12:13:21 PM EST

in Ca. And ya don't even have to sing :)

He got it for being mensch (none / 0) (#11)
by beowulf on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 09:33:06 AM EST

He took the heat instead of blaming a roadie or band member (surely not all 6 ounces on the bus was his). Actions like that are to be commended.

or rather, for being A mensch :o) n/t (none / 0) (#12)
by beowulf on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 09:33:28 AM EST

: "Ein Mensch." (none / 0) (#18)
by oculus on Mon Mar 28, 2011 at 02:27:53 PM EST