Marc Brodherson '00 was placed on conditional probation for six months yesterday after not offering a plea in response to a drug possession charge that had been reinstated recently.
The municipal judge also fined Brodherson $500 during the hearing at Borough Hall.
During the probation period, Brodherson cannot be found in possession of any controlled substances without facing jail time or additional fines, the judge said.
In addition to the probation and fine, municipal prosecutor Marc Citron proposed a 30-day suspension of Brodherson's driver's license. When Brodherson and his lawyer Jerome Ballarotto complained that such a punishment would unfairly impair the student's ability to return home, the judge elected not to carry out the suspension.
Brodherson's probation sentence comes after a string of complications in his case, which has lasted more than six months. He originally was charged with three counts of drug possession and one count of drug paraphernalia possession.
The charges stemmed from a search of Brodherson's room last September when Borough Police and Public Safety officers were investigating the cause of his roommate Andrew Frisbie '00's collapse outside Brown Hall. During the search, officers discovered Ritalin, marijuana and the Psilocybin — commonly known as "shrooms."
The Mercer County Prosecutor's office downgraded the charges against Brodherson, and Frisbie later accepted responsibility for three of the charges as part of a pre-trial intervention agreement.
When the Psilocybin possession charge was mistakenly dropped, Borough Police called for the charge to be reinstated, according to Emily Hornaday, a spokewoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's office.
"This has changed my life drastically, though probably for the good," Brodherson said yesterday during the hearing. "This has been dragged on and on for so long, and I would just like this to be over with."
Both Ballarotto and Citron declined to comment about the case yesterday.
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