Florida man busted for pot sues judge; judge sues back

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Plenty of people say and do really stupid things every day in this country, whether weed is part of the equation or not. It’s just collectively painful when one of “our people” screws up and makes all cannabis enthusiasts look bad, and for some reason those cases seem to come out of the state of Florida all too often.


In August of 2013, a man named Rick David Scott proved once again that you should never hang out with a guy with three first names when he got busted for marijuana possession in Okaloosa County, Florida.
His case was handed to local judge William Stone. The Honorable Judge Stone, for reasons undisclosed, immediately recused himself from the case.
However brief their interaction was, Judge Stone seems to have somehow offended Mr. Scott, because after Stone stepped away from the case, Mr. Scott filed a 42 paragraph petition to the Okaloosa County Court, demanding that Judge Stone himself release multiple case-related documents within 72 hours.
Having formally recused himself from the Scott case, Judge Stone ignored the requests.
When he didn’t get what he wanted, Scott sued the friggin’ judge for a whopping $2,540,000! He says that 127 of his constitutional rights were violated when his demands were not met, and now he’s looking to get paid.
Judge Stone has released a statement in his own defense, which read, “The Notice and Demand as well as the Notice of Distress of Bond of William F. Stone are false, fraudulent, and fictitious documents that have no basis in law or fact.”
Judge Stone claims that Mr. Scott is trying to harass him simply because he is a judge. He says that Scott’s filings were written in such a way to suggest that Judge Stone owes Mr. Scott the $2.5mill for a loan payoff of sorts.
So, naturally, he is suing Mr. Scott.
If you are keeping score at home, it goes a little something like this:

  • – Man gets busted with some weed
  • – New judge gets assigned to the case
  • – Defendant sues original judge
  • – Original judge counter-sues defendant

Also named in Judge Stone’s countersuit is the Okaloosa Circuit Court Clerk, a man named Don E. Howard. Judge Stone wants the court to order Mr. Howard to remove Mr. Scott’s allegedly fraudulent petition from public record, and have it sealed permanently.
Judge Stone will be represented by Florida’s Assistant Attorney General Kirby Bissell.
No word yet on whether Mr. Bissell personally has any plans to sue, or be sued by, anyone involved.

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