Help the Martinez family with fines.

Hi, I'm Amanda Martinez and that's my family you see in the picture. In December 2019 my family was stopped and arrested for doing something that is perfectly legal in Texas, possessing hemp.

We were stopped in Scurry County in December of 2019 while moving from Texas to Colorado. We decided to better treat our son, it would be of his interest that we no longer live in Texas. On our way, an officer pulled us over and decided to do a search on our vehicle. We thought we were gonna be good to go, and he did the search. Unfortunately, the utensils used to prepare the hemp for my autistic son were still in the vehicle and contained residue.  

A roadside test showed a positive for THC, which any hemp flower is going to test as such. From there we were arrested to subsequently be let out on bail.  The county refused to have it tested as the state is not accepting misdemeanor possession cases, and police claimed there was not enough substance to send off for a lab.

I am a member of TXMAMMA  and I have an associate's degree in Criminal Justice. I have advocated for cannabis rights for children with autism at the capitol, as one of my children suffers from autism.  I have tirelessly worked towards reforming the law in this state with mothers who share the same issues that I do. I am fully aware of what is legal, what is a crime, and what my rights are as a citizen of Texas.


Unfortunately, that does not stop the state from taking your rights from you unless you can afford the attorney necessary to make sure your rights are upheld. Any attorney in the area was going to cost us $10-12k. A public defender would require a wait of anywhere between six and 12 months.  With either situation, we would be required to show in court every time there was a hearing. The attorney would not be able to show a presence for us. We would have to drive back and forth from Colorado for each reset or bail would be revoked. It would be cheaper to just show up and try to use the best of my degree to keep us out of trouble.

That did not pan out the way it should. I could go into much detail about this as to why they acted the way they did. An article has actually been written about this by a state-local publication.

Our total fine is $1600. $600 paraphernalia charge, $750 possession charge and $250 court costs. This was deferred for payment by 60 days. This is not the result we wanted, but it was cheaper than the alternatives. We are asking for $1700 because after GoFundMe takes their cut of 2.9% and 30 cents for every donation, we'll have just a bit shy over $1600. At the time of posting this, we have less than 55 days to get this fine paid in full.  

Anything helps. Thank you and God bless!