One-time candidate beats drug case

Saturday, April 21, 2007
STAN DIEL
Birmingham News staff writer


A state circuit court on Friday dismissed marijuana charges against former gubernatorial candidate Loretta Nall, who ran a colorful 2006 campaign on a legalized pot platform.

Campaign materials for the Libertarian candidate included a photo of the woman displaying her ample cleavage above the words "More of these boobs." Below were photos of other candidates, including Gov. Bob Riley, and the words "And less of these boobs."

According to court documents, Tallapoosa County Circuit Court Judge Ray D. Martin dismissed the marijuana case Friday because prosecutors failed to respond to Nall's motion to suppress evidence seized in a 2002 raid of Nall's Alexander City mobile home.

In the raid, authorities found rolling papers, a scale and 0.87 gram of marijuana. Nall was convicted on misdemeanor charges of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia and was given a 30-day suspended sentence. She appealed the conviction and the case dragged on for nearly five years.

Reached mid-celebration on Friday, Nall said the charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled. But without evidence from the raid, prosecutors won't be able to make another case, she said.

"They can't come at me again until they have some new evidence. They've got to start all over," she said.

Nall has long contended that authorities raided her home because she wrote a letter to the editor of The Birmingham News in which she advocated legalizing pot. The letter ran in the newspaper on Nov. 7, 2002. The raid came six days later.

Authorities with the Tallapoosa district attorney's office did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Friday.

Nall said she was a regular voter but had never considered running for political office before her arrest. Her treatment by authorities made her mad enough to run for office, she said, and so in 2006 she ran for governor.

Her campaign sold T-shirts and "stash boxes" to raise money. Her Cafe Press Web page is still active, selling bosom-themed T-shirts for $18, barbecue aprons for $16, and "anti-state" thong underwear for $8.99.

Nall, who conceded she was a longshot in the 2006 governor's race, said Friday that she's not done running for office. She intends to run for Democrat Betty Carol Graham's District 81 House seat in 2010.

Nall, who described herself as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, said she hasn't decided on a political party, and may run as an independent.

"I think a seat in the Alabama House is right where I need to be," she said.

E-mail: sdiel@bhamnews.com