Office drops Melo's charge

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In a case that Carmelo Anthony's lawyer said "has received more prosecutorial scrutiny than any petty offense in Denver history," the Denver City Attorney's office dropped the marijuana charge Wednesday against the Nuggets forward.

"I'm glad that the charges were dismissed," Anthony said after the Nuggets defeated Toronto 112-106 at the Pepsi Center. "I'm happy to just go on continue thinking about basketball."

The city attorney's office issued a statement Wednesday saying it would have been difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that less than 1 ounce of marijuana found in Anthony's bag before a preseason flight to Milwaukee on Oct. 15 belonged to him.

A friend of Anthony's, James Cunningham, later signed an affidavit saying the marijuana belonged to him and that he had placed it in Anthony's bag.
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"We focused particular attention on the difficulties presented in trying to prosecute this case successfully before a jury in light of James Cunningham's signed affidavit that he put the marijuana into Carmelo Anthony's bag," the statement read. "Therefore, we will dismiss the case."

Anthony is looking ahead, not dwelling on whether his image has taken a hit.

"I can't change everyone's thought processes," he said. "Everyone's going to think what they want to think. Only thing I can do is keep remaining positive, keep playing basketball, keep being a role model to my fans."

Said Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe: "One thing that I told the city attorney was: 'No special treatment. Treat him like anybody else.'

Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe talks about Carmelo Anthony and the dropped marijuana charge. "It's important that they were overly thorough and gave it more time," Vandeweghe said. "I appreciate them giving it more time, because Melo and us want everybody to know he's innocent. It's important that he was innocent in their eyes."

Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik was pleased to have a resolution. "I'm glad it's over," he said.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,...542055,00.html