🚀 go-pugleaf

12 jurors, and not one with the common sense God gave an ant.

Can Grey Davis, who supported the medical marijuana law in CA pardon him?

Allison Trent <atrent@nospam.com> wrote in 
news:3E4046EB.8C37D94B@nospam.com:

> 
> 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." 
> ---------------------------------------------
> 



-- 
Oh, to have a President with a 75+ IQ instead of GW Bush,
who says:

"I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've
read, I understand reality. If you're asking me
as the president, would I understand reality, I do."

"...when I put my hand on the Bible, I will
swear to not, to uphold the laws of the land"