echoes of Vineland

[pynchonoid]

cf. Vineland's Nazi-led CAMP program:

February 1, 2003

American Journal

US Judge Railroads Ed Rosenthal in Fed's War on
Medical Marijuana; Pee-Wee, Townshend and Ritter: the
Sex Police at Work

by ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Cowed by a federal judge, a reluctant jury found Ed
Rosental guilty last Friday afternoon. Rosenthal
remains free on bail, pending sentencing in June. The
defense will appeal. Rosenthal faces life in prison.

Within hours of finding famed marijuana expert Ed
Rosenthal guilty on three felony counts of conspiracy
and marijuana cultivation, a sobbing juror was
overheard saying she and others jurors had been
terrified that US District Judge Charles Breyer would
throw them in prison if they had found Rosenthal
innocent, although she herself had had a strong
disposition to do so. 

Jury foreman Charles Sackett (a building contractor)
told the press after the verdict that he hoped the
Ninth Circuit Appeals Court would reverse the verdict
and another juror, Marney Craig (a property manager),
said "It seems like we made a horrible mistake. I
should have stood up and said, 'I'm not convicting.'"

Throughout the trial in US District Court in San
Francisco, Breyer had refused all efforts by the
defense to disclose to the jury that Rosenthal was
growing marijuana as an "officer" for the City of
Oakland's medical marijuana program, authorized under
California's Proposition 215, passed by the voters in
1996. (See my report the Right Not to Be In Pain.)

Breyer effectively denied Rosenthal the most basic
right of all, that of being able to confront his
accusers. The inability to confront your accuser means
in essence you have to endure the accusations of the
state, without the ability to respond. That's what
happened to Rosenthal. 

The Feds, in the form of the DEA, accused Rosenthal of
being a big time marijuana grower, and at no time did
Breyer allow Rosenthal or his defense team to explain
to the jury that Rosenthal believed his actions to be
entirely legal under state law. Among many other
outrageous rulings Breyer refused to allow DEA Agent
Mike Heald to testify in California at the time of
Rosenthal's bust, his federal task force north of the
Bay Area "was trying to make the 215 law work," as he
told the defense team. "We didn't want to interrupt
state legislation."

Of course the jury, like all juries, had the right to
consult their consciences and set the law aside, but
such is the deplorable state of civics instruction
today, and such is the dictatorial propensity of
judges and the hostility or indifference of elite
opinion that the fundamental principle of jury
discretion, the foundation stone of freedom is barely
known. Hopefully Breyer's brazen rulings and the
public support for 215 in California will bring the
issue of jury discretion, or nullification, to the
fore. (For more info the issue of fully informed
juries, see FIJA's website.)

If a jury picks up on an overwhelming public
sentiment, it will often find the courage to do the
right thing despite an overbearing judge. There was
public sympathy for Rosenthal, but though his
supporters worked their hearts out, the wave of
necessary outrage on this fundamental issue of states
rights and the rights of the accused was not there in
necessary force.

After dismissing the jury, Judge Charles Breyer said
that he would be conducting his own "independent
inquiry" into determining whether he could make a
"downward departure" on the sentencing, meaning impose
less than the minimum sentence mandated by law. Such
an inquiry would be to determine Mr. Rosenthal's
eligibility for an extraordinary exception to normal
sentencing

Breyer noted the extraordinary circumstances of the
case in rejecting the motion of Assistant U.S.
Attorney George Bevan, Jr. to have Rosenthal placed in
immediate detention. Breyer granted Defense Counsel
Robert Eye and William Simpich an additional 30 days
beyond the normal ten to file their request for a new
trial.

Breyer also set the sentencing date as June 4, much
farther out than is normal. The nearly six months
until sentencing should allow enough time for the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to decide the appeal of
another of Judge Breyer's cases that dealt with a
similar question of immunity from prosecution in the
context of medical marijuana distribution.If the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals overturns Judge Breyer's
interpretation of the federal statute, as he himself
said they very well might, it would guarantee that
Rosenthal's conviction would be overturned. 

While he was found guilty of all three counts, the
most serious chazrge had related to conspiracy to grow
more than a thousand plants, and on that count the
jury found that he had conspired to grow more than a
hundred but less than the thousand the indictment had
specified -- a finding defense attorneys counted as a
victory. That leaves his conviction for cultivation of
more than a hundred plants as the offense with the
stiffest penalty, with a sentencing range of from 5 to
40 years and a fine of up to $2 million dollars. 

Ironically, the jury did set the law aside in
declaring Rosenthal guilty of even that number of
plants. The defense had introduced as expert witness
Dan Weaver of Humboldt county, who testified that the
physical evidence offered by the prosecution consisted
of plant cuttings without viable root systems. A
cutting or even a slightly more developed clone, is
not a plant and plants are what the federal statute
concerns itself with. The jury inferred that Rosenthal
had plants, even though plants were not part of the
state's evidence.

STATEMENT of ED ROSENTHAL 

Statement of Ed Rosenthal on the Medical Marijuana
Trial Verdict January 31, 2003 

"I am disappointed in this verdict for several
reasons. "This was an unconstitutional prosecution. It
should never have come to trial. 

"Once it did, I was not afforded a jury of my peers.
They had to bring in 80 people to come up with 12 who
would agree to set aside their beliefs on this issue. 

"Even so, they would have acquitted me if they had
been permitted to hear my story. But I did not get the
chance in this trial to defend myself and explain my
actions.

"Federal prosecutors made extraordinary efforts to
block the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. Because the truth is that I was deputized by
the City of Oakland to legally grow marijuana for
medicinal use by sick or dying patients under
California's Prop 215, the Compassionate Use Act, the
law that is supposed to guarantee safe and legal
access to medicinal marijuana. 

"The City of Oakland showed courage in working to come
up with a safe, open, and legal system to harmonize
California's medical marijuana law with federal law.
And I was acting as an official of the city,
implementing their program to help patients. 

"Had the jury known about the City's attempts to give
immunity to their people, including me, it would have
acquitted me today. 

"The other victims of today's decision are patients --
people who are extremely ill or dying and who are
soothed by medicinal marijuana -- because I am only
one of many people that they are trying to put in jail
for helping sick people, as allowed under our laws. 

"For these reasons, we will be asking for a new trial.
This verdict will not be allowed to stand. 

"The federal government silenced my courtroom defense,
but it can't silence the court of public opinion. The
opinion of the American public is one of overwhelming
support of medicinal uses of marijuana. 

"The federal government needs to get this message. 

"My case clearly demonstrates that it is time for a
national debate on the issue of medical marijuana.
California voted to make medical marijuana legal, but
the federal government is trying to block that law.
The federal government is choosing to prosecute and
imprison individuals instead of working directly with
the State of California and local cities to resolve
the conflicts in medical marijuana law. 

"Our elected officials must have the courage to
discuss this issue publicly, and then resolve this
conflict. 

"Because helping sick people should never be a crime.
"For my entire family, thank you all for your
support." --Ed Rosenthal.

The Rosenthal defense team is in desperate need of
money to pay for the expenses of the trial and to
lodge appeals. Please visit http://green-aid.com to
learn how you can help. [...] 

continues:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn02012003.html



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