Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 13, 2015
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American rock musician Jimi Hendrix was charged with drug possession in Canada in May 1969. Customs agents at Toronto International Airport detained Hendrix (pictured) after finding a small amount of heroin and hashish in his luggage. Released on $10,000 bail, he performed at Maple Leaf Gardens later that night, joking with the crowd. In December he stood trial for two counts of illegal possession of narcotics, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Judge Joseph Kelly presided. Defense attorney John O'Driscoll raised doubts about whether the narcotics belonged to Hendrix, who had no drug paraphernalia in his luggage or needle tracks on his arms, and whether he even knew they were in his luggage. He was acquitted after a three-day trial. Both of Hendrix's bandmates in the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, later said that they had been warned about a planned drug bust the day before flying to Toronto and that they believed the drugs had been planted in his bag. Hendrix was the world's highest-paid performer when he was arrested, but this was his last tour, and he died the following year. (Full article...)