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Michael Phelps to avoid state prosecution according to local authorities

By Douglas A. Berman

This just in from the news wire: Michael Phelps will not be charged with marijuana possession, though the Olympic champion swimmer admitted to being pictured holding a marijuana pipe at a Columbia house party in November, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced today. Speaking now during a press conference at the Sheriff's Department headquarters, Lott said his investigators couldn't find enough evidence to charge anyone ? including Phelps ? who attended the party with any crime. Lott had declined to say in recent days whether he would press charges, though legal observers interviewed by The State said charges were unlikely because Phelps was not caught by authorities committing a crime and that credible witness would be difficult to find, making a court case difficult to prove under South Carolina law...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).