MANSFIELD - The defense attorney for a Lewis Center man awaiting a jury trial for having CBD oil has filed a motion have the case dismissed.

Robert Faulkner, 31, had his ankle monitor removed on Jan. 9, but his jury trial is still scheduled to begin Jan. 28 in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

Faulkner is facing felony drug charges for an item he bought legally in a store for anxiety.

Cannabidiol (CBD) oil is not legal in Ohio. But because hemp is legally grown in some states under the 2014 farm bill, it has been allowed to proliferate in a legal gray area.

Mansfield attorney James Mayer III filed the motion to dismiss on Wednesday, saying "for reason it is facially invalid," according to the court record.

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Faulkner was indicted by a Richland County grand jury in June 2018 on two charges of aggravated possession of drugs, both felonies of the fifth degree. The charges stemmed from a July 2017 DUI arrest in Ontario when officers found a vial of CBD oil on the passenger seat.

"I had bought it a week before in a head shop in Columbus," Faulkner said earlier. He said the one-fluid ounce bottle was half-full.

lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir