Norman City Councilman Stephen Holman pleaded not guilty Friday to seven charges brought against him as the manager of a local novelty shop.
Holman and the store's owner Robert Cox have been charged with six counts of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of possession of proceeds from the sale of drug paraphernalia after a police raid at The Friendly Market last week.
An affidavit claims the police found drug paraphernalia including glass pipes and rolling papers in the store.
Outside the courtroom Friday, Holman's attorney Blake Lynch explained that selling pipes is legal and emphasized the importance of fighting back.
"The state's working on the premise that they can essentially bully people into taking pleas and giving up their property by doing things like this: filing charges, making them hire attorneys, making them come in here to court," Lynch said.
"But we're lucky in this case, two defendants, both of them ready to fight for what's right."
In a post on Facebook Friday, Holman said he was "extremely confident" he and coworker Robert Cox would prevail.
"I really cannot fully express my gratitude and appreciation towards all of you standing by my side as I continue to stand up against injustice," Holman said.
The council member has publicly opposed civil asset forfeiture laws, which allow police to seize property without filing criminal charges, and believes the charges are politically motivated.
Several of Holman's friends waited outside the courtroom in support of the council member. Zakk Flash was specifically concerned about the seizing of property from The Friendly Market.
"It's a pretty scary thing whenever the government can come into a business, take all the merchandise, all the money in the register, and say that it's illegal because of what it could be used for," Flash said.
During the raid on Dec. 1, police seized cash, glass pipes, rolling papers and other merchandise from the store. Holman described on Facebook the seizing officers as being in "plain clothes" and showing up in an "unmarked van."
"They were very polite the entire time I was there (about 10 minutes) but shut themselves inside for a few hours while they gathered whatever items they felt they needed," Holman continued on Facebook.
"Nobody was detained, no arrests were made, no laws have been broken that we have been able to find, and very few answers other than that have been given so far."
A preliminary hearing is set to take place Jan.19.
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