cannabisnews.com: Attempt to Silence Activist in MMJ Trial Fails





Attempt to Silence Activist in MMJ Trial Fails
Posted by CN Staff on January 24, 2003 at 09:34:25 PT
By Michael Hess
Source: BBSNews 
The U.S. government's attempt to silence marijuana-cultivation expert and author Ed Rosenthal, as well as his attorneys, was thwarted today in federal court, but those assembled to hear the outcome of the latest twist in what was already a Kafkaesque legal saga had to wait to the end of the day for the judge's decision. Fear of pervasive media reports on the trial "contaminating the jury" had yesterday prompted Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan, Jr. to ask the judge to put a stop to all press interviews until the conclusion of Mr. Rosenthal's federal trial. 
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer responded yesterday by asking Mr. Rosenthal to agree not to speak to the press, with the added threat that -- in the event of a conviction -- he would take Mr. Rosenthal's conduct during the trial into account in considering the wide range of sentencing options available - 10 years to life in prison, and up to $6,500,000 in fines. But with an attorney from the San Francisco Chronicle and a media-law expert from the First Amendment Project present in court to argue the matter today, Judge Breyer rejected the requested order, saying that the media attention was part of a "legitimate public controversy" and that the government had not made a sufficient showing that the jury was being influenced. But that came at the end of the day, after court had recessed. Today's proceedings, which saw eight witnesses called, began with Judge Breyer directing the prosecution to play for the jury several minutes of videotape from the raid on Mr. Rosenthal's Oakland cultivation facility. The video depicted DEA agents holding up small marijuana cuttings, or clones, to demonstrate which of them had begun to show roots. The number with roots is of grave importance, because only cuttings with visible root structures can be counted as plants, and federal marijuana sentences are based on the number of plants, regardless of size. The vast majority of the marijuana plants seized in the raid were clones or cuttings a few inches tall, and only a small fraction of them had roots, even by DEA accounts. The defense is disputing the number of rooted plants the government can prove were present. Special Agent Charles Taylor of the DEA was called to the stand to testify about the plants he had helped count during the raid. One counting sheet bearing his initials showed a number crossed out and a different one entered, just as had a counting sheet seen yesterday during another agent's testimony. Agent Taylor stated under cross-examination that he had no idea why several large garbage bags filled with marijuana clippings had been left behind after the raid, since it was DEA policy to seize all such contraband. Next up was Lesley Wilmer, the 74-year-old former landlord of the Oakland building that housed the cultivation facility. A retired MUNI bus driver, Mr. Wilmer testified that after initially leasing the site, Mr. Rosenthal had bought the building, with financing help from Mr. Wilmer. Defense attorney Robert Eye asked Mr. Wilmer if Mr. Rosenthal had told him that he was growing marijuana there under the authority of the city of Oakland, but -- as with all such questions during this trial -- a prosecution objection sustained by the judge stopped him from answering. IRS Special Agent Anita Dobberstein then climbed into the witness stand to briefly testify about two checks she had recovered from the Rosenthal home. Made out to Ed Rosenthal from the Harm Reduction Center and signed by Robert Martin, the checks had been returned for insufficient funds. Agent Dobberstein said she had neither written a report about the seizure of the checks nor done any investigation into the circumstances that lead to their being written. The next witness called was a firefighter/paramedic for the Oakland Fire Department, "German" Sierra, who had filled out an initial fire-safety inspection report on Mr. Rosenthal's cultivation facility. He testified that he had been shown a valid City of Oakland business license, and that Mr. Rosenthal had, after explaining that the marijuana was for distribution to the local medical clubs, shown the fire department inspectors through the building. Mr. Sierra said that at no time had Mr. Rosenthal attempted to hide anything or prevent them from inspecting any part of the building. He also said that neither he nor the other Oakland firefighters present had either commented on the marijuana growing in the building or reported it to any law enforcement officials. The inspection report showed that Mr. Rosenthal had brought the building up to code. Another IRS Special Agent, John Wilson Baker III then came to the stand to tell the jury about a surveillance he had carried out with a DEA agent in which they had observed Mr. Rosenthal leave his Oakland building with a white grocery bag and drive to the Sixth Street Harm Reduction Center in San Francisco, which he entered, carrying the bag. The agent couldn't say if he'd left with the bag, nor could he say what the purpose of the surveillance was. He did say that Mr. Rosenthal made no attempt to hide either the bag or where he was going. Robert W. Martin was then compelled to testify. One of several witnesses subpoenaed by the prosecution and forced to testify under a grant of immunity to keep them from asserting their fifth-amendment rights against self-incrimination, Mr. Martin described for the jury the circumstances surrounding the checks he had written Mr. Rosenthal (which had been seized in the raid of the Rosenthal home), the number of times he'd seen him at the Harm Reduction Center, and conversations he'd had with others at the HRC about Mr. Rosenthal's involvement with providing medicine for the patients. In answer to a question from the judge, Mr. Martin explained that he sold Mr. Rosenthal's clones to patients for $10 so they could "grow their own medicine and make their life better." Another grant of immunity was then issued to force the testimony of James Joseph Kyne, who had been living on property in Petaluma belonging to Ken Hayes and working as a volunteer at the Harm Reduction Center at the time of the raids. Mr. Kyne was put on the stand in an attempt to identify a particular phone number as belonging to Mr. Hayes, the proprietor of the HRC, but the best he could do was say he'd seen a piece of paper with Mr. Hayes name and a phone number on it, which the DEA had seized in raiding Mr. Hayes' home. He described his volunteer work at the HRC as counseling patients, helping them find housing, and the like. Last on the stand was John Brian Padgett, the DEA Special Agent in charge of the search at the Harm Reduction Center. But he'd barely gotten started on testifying about the marijuana plants he'd found in the basement of the HRC when the court day ended. He's scheduled to return to the stand when trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 29. The prosecution estimated that they have an hour and a half left in presenting their case. The defense told the court they will present its opening argument at that time and expect to call at least a day's worth of witnesses. Judge Breyer then instructed defense counsel not to try and call such witnesses as Barbara Parker, the assistant city attorney for Oakland; Nate Miley, a former Oakland City Councilman; Lt. Richard Hart, the head of the Oakland Police Narcotics unit; or anyone else who might testify -- as they all did during pretrial hearings -- about the City of Oakland's medical marijuana program, for which Mr. Rosenthal had been deputized to cultivate. Complete Title: Government's Attempt to Silence Activist in Medical Marijuana Trial Fails Note: Court Hears Testimony on How Rosenthal Helped Patients Live Better Lives. FOR MORE INFORMATION:  Updates and background information on Ed Rosenthal’s case are available on the web at: http://www.green-aid.com Source: BBSNews (NC) Author: Michael HessPublished: January 24, 2003 Copyright 1990-2003 Michael HessContact: michael bbsnews.net Website: http://www.bbsnews.net/DL: http://bbsnews.net/bw2003-01-24a.htmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:Green-Aid.comhttp://www.green-aid.com Americans For Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.orgEd Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articleshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmFeds Falter on Pot Plant Counthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15267.shtmlGag Order Draws First-Amendment Expert http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15256.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Richard Lake on January 25, 2003 at 08:45:40 PT:
Listen to Ed in on line interview
Cultural Baggage host Dean Becker and Buford Terrell, Professor of law at South Texas College of Law interviewed noted author and activist Ed Rosenthal about his ongoing federal trial for growing medical marijuana. The low bandwidth RealAudio file of the KPFT radio show is now on line at http://www.cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/rosenthal.ram
This is a low bandwidth RealAudio file
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Comment #1 posted by AlvinCool on January 24, 2003 at 14:43:19 PT
I don't understand
I understand how Breyer can keep people from testifying concerning medical marijuana. But, on the same note, I don’t see how they can block testimony from city, county, state and DEA officials. The officials should have to say that they supported, and in many cases, sought Rosenthals help and expertise. They should just not have the opportunity to say WHY,the same thing they do to Ed. This would show that if the federal government wants someone it should be the STATE of California, not the individual they picked for their program.
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