Iowa rodeo clown’s conviction for running marijuana operation upheld on appeal

CEDAR RAPIDS – An Iowa man who worked as a rodeo clown and was convicted in 2013 of conspiracy to manufacture 1,000 or more marijuana plants lost his appeal last week and will remain in prison.

Rory Meeks, 56, from Marion, Iowa, was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison on May 29, 2013 after an earlier jury verdict finding him guilty of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

On July 1, 2014, a US Appeals Court upheld his conviction, denying Meeks’ claim that there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Meeks also argues that the testimony of two of his accomplices were too inconsistent and contradictory to support the jury’s verdict. The court denied that argument, as well. Furthermore, Meeks contended that the district court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence five out-of-court statements because the statements were inadmissible hearsay. The court ruled against Meeks on that point, as well. Finally, Meeks argued that his sentence violates the Eighth Amendment, which outlaws cruel and unusual punishment. The district court sentenced Meeks to the mandatory minimum sentence of 240 months’ imprisonment. This sentence was based on the jury’s special finding that the conspiracy involved 1,000 or more marijuana plants and on the fact that Meeks had previously been convicted of a felony drug offense. The court said “We repeatedly have held that applying a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses does not violate the Eighth Amendment.”

The evidence at trial showed that Meeks, who worked as a rodeo clown and bullfighter in local and national rodeos, conspired with others to grow marijuana in rural Jones County from 2004 through 2011. Each spring, Meeks planted marijuana along corn and soybean fields in secluded spots throughout Jones County and then tended the plants throughout the summer. Meeks and others harvested the plants in the fall, processed the plants at a house in Jones County, and then sold the marijuana over the fall and winter. The jury found that Meeks was involved in growing over 1000 marijuana plants between 2004 and 2011.

Meeks conviction was his second drug trafficking conviction in federal court. In 1987, a jury found Meeks guilty of three charges involving cocaine trafficking. Following that conviction, a Federal District Court Judge sentenced Meeks to ten years’ imprisonment and imposed a $10,000 fine.

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