Jury Clears Club La Vela of any "Crackhouse Law" Violations...

[DaVe]

Jury Clears Club La Vela of any "Crackhouse Law" Violations, Electronic Music Vindicated

For Immediate Release:

Jury Clears Club La Vela of any "Crackhouse Law" Violations, Electronic Music Vindicated

Tallahassee, FL, Nov. 27 -- After less than two hours of deliberation, jurors in the Club La Vela trial returned with a verdict of "not guilty" on all charges for defendants Patrick and Thorsten Pfeffer. This precedent setting case deals a major blow to federal prosecutors who for the second time this year have tried to use a 1986 law designed to rid neighborhoods of crack houses against persons who manage nightclubs that play electronic dance music.

Although the Pfeffer brothers were accused of violating federal narcotics laws, no drugs were ever found on them or inside their club (similar to the New Orleans case.) Instead of drugs, trial prosecutors showed the jury BlowPops, gum, and glow sticks - items seized in a April 27th raid on the club. The assorted candies were presented as "evidence" that Club La Vela patrons were using drugs. Prosecutors also showed the jury a picture downloaded from Club La Vela's website of a man giving a massage to another man - this too was introduced as "evidence" of drug use. Thankfully jurors didn't buy the prosecution's arguments. The fact that it took only 75 minutes for jurors to reach a unanimous "not guilty" verdict stands in stark (and embarrassing) contrast to the five years prosecutors and law enforcement agencies spent investigating Club La Vela.

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Reporters, lawyers, club owners, or others seeking more details on this case (i.e. court documents, legal statues, background info, etc) should visit the EMDEF web page for the Club La Vela case:

http://www.emdef.org/laws_and_cases.html#floridalavela

(all info is free - no registration required - your privacy respected)

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EMDEF - Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund

mail us: <mailto:emdef@emdef.org>

Visit us: <http://www.emdef.org/index.html>

Donate: <http://www.emdef.org/contribute.html>

Link us: <http://www.emdef.org/contribute.html#LinkToUs>

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[joshua2k]

its always great to see the criminal justice sysytem actually work for good and benefit those who are wronged. thanks for the thread dave.

[nightstar01]

Thanks for the article Dave......very interesting!

[meng]

Blowpops as evidence of drug use.....c'mon now.....

[shroomy]

Originally posted by meng

Blowpops as evidence of drug use.....c'mon now.....

[shroomy]

The FBI has updated its most wanted list. Bin Laden is no longer #1.

The new #1 is

[nightstar01]

:laugh:

[shroomy]

thanks nightstar, I have been watching and learnig from your boy, soon the student will surpass the master

[meng]

[joshua2k]

heres another article on the same subject from the mainpage of virginmega.com

Jury Vindicates Dance Music in Precedent

No, this is not a story about an isolated incident. Although for years rock concerts have been drug and alcohol fests (come on, we've all been to them), for some reason dance music related events and clubs have recently been targeted by law authorities nationwide - from superclub Twilo in New York being shut down earlier this year to a yet unsubstantiated Federal case filed in New Orleans against club organizers. You even see the prevailing attitude on nightly news programs and in magazines like Time that dance music events are simply all about the drugs … perhaps all the sensationalism stems from the unknown.

In any case, a victory came through for dance music this week when, after just 75 minutes, a jury delivered a verdict of "not guilty" in a precedent-setting Panama City Beach, FL case. In it, two brothers, Patrick and Thorsten Pfeffer, were being charged with "Operating A Crackhouse" with Criminal Forfeiture motion (narcotics) violations for activity at the club they ran, Club La Vela (the largest dance club in the area). No drugs appear to have been found on the property or on the Pfeffer brothers, certainly none were entered as evidence, in the case that took nearly five years to prepare using Florida's 1997 “Anti-rave†bill for justification. [can you briefly explain what this bill says?] Instead of drugs, a downloaded picture from the club's website of a man giving another man a massage was introduced as "evidence" of drug use (ah, wouldn't that be evidence of homophobia on the court's part?). Also entered, as evidence was an assortment of candy and glow sticks seized in an Apr 27, 2000 raid of the club.

Although the verdict delivers a major blow to Federal Authorities, one must wonder, is this really what our taxes dollars are going towards? How about building some more homeless shelters?

- Kim Taylor

November 29, 2001