The attorney for Carlisle Tax Collector George T. Hicks Jr. filed documents today in Cumberland County Court that call for Hicks to retain his official duties during proceedings in a criminal case against Hicks.

Carlisle lawyer Karl Rominger said public reaction to his client's alleged crimes would be no different than reaction to revelations by U.S. presidents that they smoked pot or used cocaine.

Rominger argued that Hicks' alleged marijuana sales would not draw any more public outrage, as cited by prosecutors fighting to keep Hicks from his duties, than that which followed the discovery that "most if not all of the last few modern Presidents of the United States have imbibed or ingested at least marijuana if not cocaine."

Rominger, in his filings, said "the use of marijuana does not per se render one unfit for office."

Cumberland District Attorney Dave Freed is seeking to keep Hicks from carrying out duties under his elected position as tax collector.

Freed won a temporary injunction and is expected to argue in a hearing on Monday for an order that would continue to bar Hicks from his duties while his case is in the courts.