Lions' Leshoure Pleads Not Guilty To Pot Charge, Pre-Trial Set
DETROIT (97.1 The Ticket) The Lions' Mikel Leshoure pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a marijuana possession charge in Berrien County Trial Court after police said he was caught trying to eat the evidence during a traffic stop.
A preliminary examination of the evidence against him was set for May 15, with a pre-trial hearing May 11. Leshoure, 22, who was charged twice in a month with marijuana possession, was released on personal recognizance.
"I haven't had a chance to review anything yet ... But I expect he'll be treated just like everybody else, and his rights will be respected," said his attorney Joseph Lavigne of Farmington Hills.
He failed to appear at his scheduled court date Monday, but Lavigne said his client had contacted the court before his arraignment about the discrepancy and faced no extra fines or charges. Leshoure was the third Detroit sports star arrested for pot possession since Monday, with the Spartans Derrick Nix and the Lions Nick Fairley also facing charges.
Leshoure, though, has been charged twice recently: He was first stopped Feb. 18 in Benton Township and charged with possession of marijuana; he pleaded guilty March 1 to a lesser charge of use of marijuana and paid $485 in court costs and fines.
On the latest stop March 12th, police said Leshoure was spotted trying to shove marijuana into his mouth during a traffic stop in the same area where he was charged the month before. Police said Leshoure spit out the marijuana when he was confronted, and later told the officer most of what he had in his mouth was just potpourri.
The report says pot was spotted on the floorboards, the center console and both front seats. A half-smoked blunt was allegedly in a cup of water in the console. Police ticketed Leshoure and his friend and dropped them off at a nearby McDonald's to wait for a ride home while the car they were in was towed.
Leshoure was tooling around in a rented 2012 Mitsubishi Endeavor with a 21-year-old friend, both of whom had suspended licenses.
