All charges against a Nebraska notary public caught up in a legal challenge against the state’s recent medical cannabis legalization campaign were dropped last week, the Nebraska Examiner reports.
The state had charged Jacy C. Todd with 24 cases of “official misconduct,” accusing the 53-year-old notary public of improperly notarizing pages of medical cannabis petition signatures on 24 occasions. Prosecutors argued in the case that notaries are public officials and that Todd “knowingly” broke the law, and the charges prompted a last-minute legal challenge against the medical cannabis vote.
However, Hall County Judge Alfred Corey on Friday accepted a request by Todd’s attorney to dismiss the charges, writing in his opinion, “While these duties greatly assist others, notary publics are not public servants who are performing governmental functions.”
“We recognize the critical need for a notary’s duties to be carried out correctly and with integrity. But a notary’s duties, important as they are, hardly implicate responsibilities that go to the heart of representative government. Rather, these duties are essentially clerical and ministerial.” — Hall County Judge Alfred Corey, in the opinion
Despite the dismissal of Todd’s charges, the broader legal case continues. Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong is currently reviewing a case brought by the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, which argues that alleged circulator fraud and notarial misconduct invalidate a substantial number of petition signatures. The outcome of this case will determine whether the ballot measures stand as certified by state officials.
Nebraska voters passed both medical cannabis measures that appeared on the ballot this month: one legalizes medical cannabis for qualified patients, and the other establishes a program regulating the cultivation and sale of medical cannabis products. These measures follow a 2020 effort in which a single medical cannabis petition was invalidated by the courts for violating a state law requiring ballot initiatives to be limited to a single issue.
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