At least two employees inside the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office became ill after eating brownies brought into the courthouse, prompting officials to request an expedited state investigation into whether the baked goods had been laced with marijuana.
A spokeswoman for District Attorney Hallie Dixon’s office said the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation was asked to look into the matter after the employees reported feeling unwell following the incident. As of Thursday, she said, there was no physical evidence confirming marijuana was involved, and testing on the brownies had not yet been completed.
According to the office, the brownies arrived at the District Attorney’s suite shortly before prosecutors were set to begin a jury trial. Staff said the treats were not brought in by anyone employed within the office itself, but rather by a temporary court employee working elsewhere in the courthouse that day.
Officials said they were being deliberately cautious about characterizing the brownies as tainted until laboratory results confirmed what, if anything, had been baked into them. Still, the spokeswoman acknowledged the situation caught everyone off guard inside a building where staff spend their days preparing criminal cases.
By Thursday, both employees who had fallen ill were reported to be feeling better. The spokeswoman described the ordeal as more unsettling than most people might expect, noting that illness striking coworkers at their own office desks was not something anyone had anticipated. She added that the two who got sick were not the only staff members who had sampled the brownies that day, though it was unclear why others were not similarly affected.
The Baldwin County Courthouse in Bay Minette houses multiple offices tied to the county’s judicial system, including the District Attorney’s staff, who were in the midst of preparing for a trial when the incident occurred. Court operations were not reported to have been disrupted by the illness.
The State Bureau of Investigation’s involvement suggests county officials wanted an outside agency, rather than local law enforcement alone, to determine whether any laboratory testing confirmed the presence of THC or another substance in the food. As of the most recent update, no further details had been released about the identity of the temporary employee who brought the brownies to the office or whether any charges were being considered pending the outcome of testing.
The episode offered an unusual, if minor, disruption to daily operations at the courthouse, where the district attorney’s staff regularly juggles a full docket of criminal cases across Baldwin County.