The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court acquitted an Israeli man of drug charges after he attempted to gift marijuana to officers at a police station in the West Bank.
The 30-year-old, known to authorities as someone who is suffering from mental illnesses, was released by Judge Arnon Eitan – who presided over the case - with instructions to undergo therapy.
The incident occurred in 2017, when the defendant was living in a hotel in Kiryat Arba, an Israeli settlement located near Hebron, and was using his room to grow marijuana plants.
One day, the man arrived at the police station in Hebron and asked to talk with an officer in private. Once inside the officer's room, the defendant pulled a vase out of a bag he was carrying, containing 11 grams of marijuana. He told the officer it was a present for the station’s force to “smoke on their time off.”
Charges were filed against him on December 2018. He was also asked to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in which it became known the man was forcefully hospitalized in the past at a mental health facility.
The evaluation revealed the man suffers from psychotic episodes, during which “his mind wanders and he is unaware of his surrounds enough to make judgments.” It was decided the man was unfit to stand trial and he was sent to receive treatment.
The man claimed during his trial that he does not agree with the psychiatrist’s evaluation and asked to undergo another one, despite the recommendations of his attorney.
The State Attorney's Office claimed the defendant should be considered a danger to public safety since he is sometimes unaware of his actions, while refusing to receive treatment for his condition.
Judge Eitan first ruled the man should be forcefully hospitalized and treated to protect both him and the public while limiting his freedom as little as possible.
But, the defendant was later fully acquitted, with the presiding judge postponing the request for the man to be hospitalized.
In his ruling, he explained that while the psychiatrics evaluation found the man was suffering from psychotic episodes, he didn’t need to be forcefully hospitalized, and ordered instead to receive psychiatric care.