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Boy testifies that 49-year-old Mazomanie neighbor gave him free pot
A 12-year-old Mazomanie boy who says he has smoked marijuana daily since he was 8, tied his more recent free access to the drug to a former neighbor.
The testimony came Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in Dane County Circuit Court for Karen Ziegler, 49, who is charged with a felony count of distribution of marijuana to minors, with a penalty enhancer because the boy is 12. Ziegler also is charged with a misdemeanor of contributing to the delinquency of a child.
The boy, roughly a month shy of his 13th birthday, testified that he first met Ziegler in 2006. He started visiting her house on a daily basis last summer to smoke marijuana, he said, which Ziegler gave him at no charge. The boy said other kids also were frequently at Ziegler's home, but it was typically only he and Ziegler who smoked pot out of a yellow-tinted, steamroller pipe with a frog on it.
The teenager estimated that he smoked three grams of marijuana a day at Ziegler's home and more at times, if Ziegler repacked the pipe after they had smoked the contents of the first one. He said he never smoked by himself and that he did not know where Ziegler kept the drugs in her home. The 12-year-old said he would sit on the living room couch and "wait and watch TV and she would bring it out."
After hearing the boy's testimony, Dane County Court Commissioner Todd Meurer said he did not need to hear testimony from the second witness.
"I've heard enough to make a finding there was probable cause the defendant committed a felony offense," Meurer said. "The reasonable inference to be drawn is that marijuana was given to the teenager."
Ziegler subsequently pleaded not guilty to the charges. The boy had previously told authorities that Ziegler would provide him with liquor if he asked her to and that Ziegler would not make him pay for the marijuana and never asked for anything in return.
Ziegler was charged with the crimes after the boy was found by a Dane County Sheriff's deputy on Jan. 5 wandering the streets of Mazomanie. When the deputy discovered the boy had been drinking, he was given a preliminary breath test that showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.09, which is above the legal limit for driving. The boy eventually confessed to receiving alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana from Ziegler.
Ziegler has two prior convictions for drunken driving and was convicted in Dane County for delivering marijuana in 1984. She was placed on probation for three years.
