The only thing missing from Oberlin Municipal Court on Wednesday was Snoop Dogg, as his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty to the Doggfather’s misdemeanor charges of drug possession. A pretrial hearing is set for Dec. 11, though Snoop is not required to appear.
“You’re probably all upset that Snoopy Dogg Dogg isn’t here,” Judge Martin Heberling said to a courtroom half full with local offenders and camera crews, following the minute-long hearing.
The charges stem from an Oct. 17 incident in which Snoop Dogg, or more formally, Calvin Broadus, was charged with possession of more than seven ounces of marijuana.
Broadus was traveling from Cleveland to Detroit on his “Puff, Puff, Pass” tour on Route 90 near Oberlin when state troopers pulled his two tour buses over for speeding.
The troopers reported smelling burnt marijuana, and a drug dog called to the scene uncovered the stash in a cargo hold in the bus. In addition to Snoop, four members of his entourage have been charged.
The fourth-degree misdemeanor charges carry a maximum fine of $250, and up to 30 days in jail.
Broadus’s attorney, Jay Milano of Rocky River, claims that authorities often target the Snoop Dogg tour buses. “If there is a case, it’s a case about stopped buses,” he said. “They believe their buses have been stopped before because it’s their buses. There’s a wide difference between somebody possibly smelling marijuana, and bringing out drug dogs to go through two buses.”
“Snoop is only guilty of being hip-hop’s biggest mack,” Milano said.
Snoop Dogg escalated to star status after his appearance on Dr. Dre’s 1992 album The Chronic, which was followed by his 1993 solo debut, the quadruple platinum Doggystyle. Snoop, a former member of L.A.’s Crips gang, has done jail time in the past for drug-related crimes, and in a highly publicized trial beat a murder charge in 1993, prompting the hit single “Murder Was the Case that They Gave Me.”