cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Club Founder Faces Charges 





Marijuana Club Founder Faces Charges 
Posted by CN Staff on September 14, 2002 at 08:35:56 PT
By Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Source: Oakland Tribune 
Federal prosecutors filed charges Friday against the founder of a North Bay medical marijuana club, accusing him of crimes which could put him behind bars for life. Robert Schmidt, 52, founder of the Genesis 1:29 medical marijuana organization, is charged with one count of manufacturing and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.
The U.S. Attorney's office says DEA agents seized 3,454 marijuana plants in a Thursday morning raid at Genesis' farm in Sebastopol; a Petaluma dispensary office was raided too. This count carries a maximum penalty of life in federal prison with a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, plus a fine of $4 million. Schmidt also is charged with one count of assaulting a federal agent. Prosecutors say he grabbed a DEA agent's assault rifle and tried to wrest it away during the Sebastopol raid. This count carries a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Schmidt made his first court appearance Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero of San Francisco. He will remain in custody at least until a bail hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. The federal government deems all marijuana growth, possession or use illegal, even though California voters approved medical use in 1996. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington have similar laws. Accounts of the raid -- and the basis of the assault charge filed against Schmidt -- differ widely. "They woke him up with a gun to his head saying 'Get on the ground,' and he probably assumed he was being ripped off, so he just grabbed the barrel of the gun, and then they started beating him," said Schmidt's son, Genesis 1:29 CEO Ryan Bonelli, on Friday. "There was no struggle, there was nothing like that. We're completely peaceful here." But an affidavit filed by DEA Special Agent Brian Padgett says Schmidt was awake and on his feet when he refused to obey commands from clearly identified agents, and then tried to wrest Padgett's rifle from him in a brief scuffle. Exactly one week before this raid, almost to the hour, DEA agents raided the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana near Santa Cruz, about 60 miles south of San Francisco. WAMM co-founders Val and Mike Corral -- who helped author California's medical marijuana law -- were arrested but released the same day when prosecutors declined to file charges. The DEA has said the 167 plants seized in that raid were destroyed. Santa Cruz City Council members have invited the Corrals to dispense marijuana from a city hall courtyard on Tuesday afternoon. The DEA has declined to say whether it will act there. Steph Sherer, director of Berkeley-based Americans For Safe Access, said medical marijuana advocates across the nation are being told to stage protests outside their jurisdictions' federal buildings at noon Monday in support of Schmidt and Genesis 1:29's patients. Genesis 1:29 is named for the Bible passage which reads, "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Josh Richman, Staff WriterPublished: Saturday, September 14, 2002 Copyright: 2002 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Americans for Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org Genesis 1:29http://www.genesis129.org/News Articles on WAMM Raidhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/valc.htmWhen A Neighborhood Goes To Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14107.shtmlConflict Heightens in California Marijuana Battlehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14102.shtmlFeds Raid Sebastopol Pot Farm http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14096.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on September 14, 2002 at 18:43:09 PT
The 1st page of the Bible.
Genesis 1:29 is named for the Bible passage which reads, "And God said,...Also note Gen. 1:11-12 & 1:30.Also note in every translation, where there is the word "meat" here, it is the same in 1 Tim. 4:1-5, titled Apostasy, which is where the only Biblical restriction is placed on cannabis: that is, to accept it with thanksgiving.So, in the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, where it uses the word food, it also uses the word food in 1 Tim.ALSO NOTE! In 1 Tim. 4:1-5 titled Apostasy (furute told), this is also where We're told who will prohibit foods which were given for Us... THAT IS THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN AWAY FROM THE FAITH. Show Me a man who on the one hand says He is a Christian and on the other hand persecutes humans for using cannabis, and the Bible indicates that You are showing Me one who has fallen away from the faith, NOT GOING FOWARD in the faith.
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Comment #2 posted by p4me on September 14, 2002 at 17:55:15 PT
What kind of penalty is that?
This count carries a maximum penalty of life in federal prison with a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, plus a fine of $4 million.Well first they would confiscate everything under civil law which in no way represents being tried twice for the same offense, so how is it that he could pay his own lawyers fees much less some huge fine when he is in jail? How could anyone not think this is a violation of the eighth amendment to have such wicked penalties for something that should be legal to start with had the few fascist not twisted and/or broken our rights to create a war of the few rich against the people that are the state.The 8th Amendment:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.I wish some lawyer would explain what rights we have under the 9th amendment especially after the Patriot Act. It seems the only right we have left is one phone call even if it is on our own cell phone. I feel confident we still have the right under the constitution to one phone call unless they want to take that away from you by saying you are an unlawful combatant. 1,2
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Comment #1 posted by The C-I-R-C-L-E on September 14, 2002 at 12:21:38 PT
What's the deal?
Why is Nevada completely left out of every single list of US states that grant their citizens the freedom to use pot as medicine? Where are all these journalists finding their info? It must be the same place because a diverse list of news agencies continually spout out the "legal" states but omit Nevada. Is there any way to find out how to remedy the situation?(D.C. should be added as well. They did vote to put the law on their books.)
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