🚀 go-pugleaf

Jurors Regret Convicting Pot Grower  
                         
February 4, 2003 03:58 PM EST  
                         
SAN FRANCISCO - Jurors who convicted a man of cultivating 
marijuana and other federal drug charges say they would have 
acquitted him had they been told he was growing it for medical 
purposes for the city of Oakland. 

"I feel like I made the biggest mistake in my life," juror 
Marney Craig said. "We convicted a man who is not a criminal." 

Other jurors reached Monday agreed and planned to write to 
Ed Rosenthal to apologize. 

Rosenthal, 58, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," faces up 
to 85 years in prison when he is sentenced June 4. In a 
courtroom crowded with medical marijuana advocates wearing 
"Free Ed" buttons, a federal judge decided Tuesday that 
Rosenthal can remain free until then. 

After a two-week trial, the 12-member jury unanimously 
concluded Friday that Rosenthal was growing more than 100 
plants, conspired to cultivate marijuana, and maintained an 
Oakland warehouse for a growing operation. He was portrayed 
as a major drug manufacturer and put on little defense. 

The jury was not told that Rosenthal was acting as an agent 
of Oakland's medical marijuana program, an outgrowth of a 
1996 medical marijuana initiative approved by California's 
voters that conflicts with federal law. 

"I really feel manipulated in a way," juror Pam Klarkowsky 
said. "Had I known that information, there is no way I could 
have found that man guilty." 

Rosenthal's defense repeatedly tried to call witnesses to 
testify that he was growing marijuana for medical use. The 
judge denied those requests and was backed up twice during 
the trial by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Legal experts said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had 
federal precedent on his side. 

"A bank robber is not allowed a defense that he was stealing 
money for his starving children, even if he was," said Rory 
Little, a Hastings College of the Law professor. 

Also backing Breyer, experts say, was a ruling by the U.S. 
Supreme Court two years ago prohibiting advocates for the 
sick and dying from doling out marijuana to those with a 
doctor's recommendation. That decision prompted raids on 
medical marijuana growing operations throughout California. 

In addition, the federal government does not recognize 
medical marijuana laws in nine states that have them. 

Jury foreman Charles Sackett said he hopes Rosenthal's case is
overturned on appeal. 

"Some of us jurors are upset about the way the trial was 
conducted. ... I would have liked to have been given the 
opportunity to decide with all the evidence." 
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