Willie Nelson’s 2010 Hudspeth County drug case still unresolved

Willie Nelson’s late November 2010 drug charge in Hudspeth County has still not been resolved, according to Hudspeth County Judge Becky Dean-Walker.

“No Change,” Dean-Walker said in an email to ABC-7 Wednesday when asked about the status of Nelson’s case. “The County Attorney has refused to prosecute the dope charge. It could still be prosecuted until the statute of limitations run out but (that’s) not likely to happen.”

Nelson’s bus was traveling through the Sierra Blanca Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in late November 2010 when agents said they noticed 6 ounces of marijuana.

Nelson was arrested but never charged with felony drug possession.

Hudspeth County Attorney Kit Bramblett told ABC-7 in July 2011 that because he did not see the marijuana and because he questioned the way evidence was handled, he decided to only charge Nelson with possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.

Bramblett said Nelson was ordered to pay a $500 dollar fine along with $278 in court costs as part of a plea deal.

In Hudspeth County, misdemeanors land in the court of Dean-Walker.

Dean-Walker said in July 2011 that she believed Nelson received special treatment and that is why she refused to sign off on the deal.

“To me, it’s wrong” she told ABC-7 last year. “I think that he should be charged with something that shows drugs were involved.”

Nelson, “Social Network” star Armie Hammer, Snoop Dogg, and most recently, Fiona Apple are celebrities that have been stopped at Sierra Blanca and transported to the Hudspeth County Jail after being arrested on drug charges.

Apple was allegedly caught at the Border Patrol checkpoint with marijuana and hash Sept. 19. Two days later she spoke to her audience during a show in Houston about her time inside the jail. She told them four of Hudspeth County’s officers committed acts that were “probably illegal.”

Hudspeth Sheriff’s officials denied the accusations.