cannabisnews.com: No Lock Up for Jones!










  No Lock Up for Jones!

Posted by CN Staff on March 04, 2003 at 18:51:37 PT
By Ann Harrison 
Source: Counter Punch 

A judge who sentenced a medical marijuana advocate to three months in jail for jury tampering, reversed his decision yesterday after discussing the case with his 17-year-old son. U.S Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski had sentenced Jeff Jones, executive director of Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, to three months in jail last week for handing out pamphlets on the steps of a Sacramento federal courthouse. 
Jones was instead given three years of probation by Judge Nowinski who waived $1,000 in fines saying, ''I'm sure Mr. Jones has had $1,000 worth of anguish over the weekend.'' Jones was preparing to conduct a prison hunger strike to draw attention to federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients and caregivers. He was arrested after leafleting the courthouse during jury assembly for medical marijuana grower Bryan Epis, who was later sentenced to ten years in prison. Jones' defense attorney, Michael Bigelow, says Jones knew that the pamphlets supported the state law governing medical marijuana. But said his client was not aware that they included information specific to Epis' case.As in the recent case of medical marijuana grower Ed Rosenthal, Epis was convicted by a jury who was not told that he was distributing medical cannabis under California law. According to Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy group, twenty-four patients and caregivers will face the same fate in federal court this year. Both cases have received extensive publicity. Judge Nowinski told the court that he discussed his decision to reverse Jone's sentence with his 17-year-old son who asked him, ''People will think you are responding to the publicity in the newspaper, and won't that be embarrassing to you?'' ''Yes, it will be embarrassing to me,'' Judge Nowinski said he replied. ''But my feelings are not worth one day in jail for anybody.'' Judge Nowinski was significantly more subdued in court yesterday than during Jones' February 27 sentencing hearing. On that occasion, Judge Nowinski reacted angrily to Bigelow's suggestion that U.S. District Judge Frank Damrell Jr., was unreasonable when he dismissed an entire panel of prospective jurors who entered the courthouse while Jones was leafleting. Bigelow argued that tainted prospective jurors could have been selectively removed. Concluding that Jones was attempting to duck responsibility for his actions, Judge Nowinski slapped him with $3,924.93 in restitution to cover the cost of seating a new jury. The judge then attempted to send Jones directly to prison on a misdemeanor charge of influencing a juror by writing. Judge Nowinski was so riled that he forgot to grant Jones' ''elocution" right to express himself at sentencing, and insisted that Bigelow not discuss why Jones was distributing information about medical marijuana. Bigelow said that while Judge Nowinski was clearly worried about the integrity of the jury system, he was puzzled by the force of Nowinski's outburst, which seemed to outstrip this immediate concern. ''He was so angry that I felt he was responding emotionally and he acknowledged from the bench that he was responding emotionally,'' said Bigelow.Ethan Nadelman, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance which lobbies for the medical use of marijuana, points out that officials who strenuously reject drug law reform arguments, often elevate the ideology of abstinence over legal reasoning. ''In the U.S., the belief in abstinence and drug freeness is a quasi-religious imperative,'' said Nadelman at a recent conference. Judge Nowinski's change of heart was conveyed by his clerk who called Bigelow at 7:30 a.m. requesting that Jones appear again in court. Bigelow, who was busy preparing motions for Jones' bail pending appeal, and an emergency stay of his sentence, explained that his client was due in prison that afternoon. When Jones finally arrived in the courtroom, Nowinski acknowledged that he had spent the past week sentencing violent criminals."I don't think Mr Jones is a candidate to have a bunk with any of them,"said Judge Nowinski. Since the judge had already passed a sentence and lost jurisdiction over his case, Jones said he was required to withdrew his request for appeal in order to allow the judge to vacate his sentence. ''It was the most amazing set of circumstances,'' said Jones. "The guy actually had a conscience.'' Judge Nowinski told the court that earlier in the day he and Judge Damrell had been approached by a person demonstrating against Jones' impending imprisonment. Unaware that he was a judge, the protester handed Judge Nowinski a pamphlet entitled, ''How could this happen in America?'' and asked ''Did you hear what happened here last week?'' That same afternoon, Judge Nowinski said that both he and Judge Damrell, who tried Epis, had received letters containing an unidentified white powder. Bigelow also received a suspicious letter which he said contained a long diatribe against marijuana laws addressed to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Both envelopes addressed to the judges had return addresses from Washington, D.C., while the letter to Bigelow had no return address. ''Passions are way too high,'' Judge Nowinski told the court. A county hazardous materials team and Sacramento Fire Department personnel took possession of all three letters, and had quarantined a floor of the courthouse earlier that afternoon. Some court employees were evacuated from the area, and mailroom workers were briefly isolated. An FBI spokesman said later that the powder tested negative for anthrax and other toxins, but that one of the judge's letters contained threatening language. Medical marijuana advocates strongly condemned the incident which appeared to be an elaborate hoax. ''I think it's misguided,'' said ASA executive director Steph Sherer, who extended her sympathy for the judge and anyone involved in the evacuation. "Tactics like this take away from the issue,'' she said. Jones says he does not yet know the terms of his probation, except that it does not involve urine tests. He said he will not refile his appeal, and told the court that he takes full responsibility for his actions. "Am I sorry I distributed the flyers? Absolutely. Am I sorry I broke the law? Absolutely. Am I sorry I disrupted the court? Absolutely. Will I ever do this again? Absolutely not."Jones also read a declaration saying he had no intention of violating an injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Club, which has prevented the group from distributing medical cannabis since 1998. The US Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that the club could not dispense cannabis under ''medical necessity,'' and the case is still under appeal. Jones said Judge Nowinski appeared to be under the impression that the club was still distributing. At the end of the hearing, Judge Nowinski informed Jones that he planned to scold him, but this was no longer necessary. ''He is a very good man, and ultimately a very good judge and this is the proof,'' said Bigelow. "Judicially it was the right thing to do, legally it was the right thing to do, and his conversation with his son added that last dimension.'' Note: Judge Summerville Decides Medical Marijuana Advocate Does Not Belong in Prison; "The Guy Actually Has a Conscience."Ann Harrison is a freelance journalist, in the Bay Area. She can be reached at: ah well.comNewshawk: VirgilSource: Counter Punch (DC)Author: Ann HarrisonPublished: March 5, 2003Website: http://www.counterpunch.org/Contact: counterpunch counterpunch.orgDL: http://www.counterpunch.org/harrison03042003.htmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:OCBChttp://www.rxcbc.org/Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Bryan Epis Protest Pictures & Articles http://freedomtoexhale.com/protestpics.htmOakland Pot Activist Spared From Prison http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15626.shtmlPot Activist's Prison Term is Thrown Outhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15623.shtml

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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on March 05, 2003 at 11:02:49 PT
Paragraph of the day
It appears this is the only article to mention the white powder concerning the Jeff Jones strory. I can see how Jeff Jones story was ignored by the media because because they sleep through everytning cannabis which might be the definition used to classify cannabis as a narcotic. A secret definition. The reason Ed Rosenthal got so much coverage is because the media realized he was not going to dissapear from thenews anytime soon.Remember the mailboxes in the midwest that took the media's attention. The slightest hint of terrorism was raised to the top for airwave saturation. I think the white powder incident is supressed by the controlled media first out of habit and secondly that it might show the raw emotion felt by people that wake up day after day waiting for their fellow citixens to see the injustice of the drug wae by first being overwhelmed by the injustice of the MMJ crusade.I think there is a third reason the white powder story did not get picked in that it could lead to copycat crimes.People wonder when groups will join in the effort to reform the WOD say like different denominations of churches. The cannabis issue is an issue of freedom and it is not the only freedom under attack. There is a website called http://votetoimpeach.org/ where you can do your part to roll back the fascist tide. The articles of impeachment were drawn up by the former attorney General of the United States under Johnson, Ramsey Clark. He is a heavyweight in intellectual thought and experience and the issue is serious. He calls for the impeachment of Busch, Cheney, and Rumsfield, and Ashcroft. Let's not be so blind as to fight for one freedom when it will do no good if the fascist war to remove them all completes its circle of laws, judges, and politicians.The Drug Policy Alliance is calling on people to address the new Rave Act and its sister legislation that will only magnify and streamline the property seizure laws as the government squirms for more money to waste- http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=1516 The best investment will in the rubber stamp business. Just look at the headline- Congress Threatens Live Music and Dancing!!Rebecca Knight has a new article out at Buzzflash- http://www.buzzflash.com/southern/03/03/04.html - with the following quote-"When we see the extravagance of public expenditure fast reaching the point of reckless waste, and the undeserved distribution of public money debauching its recipients, and by pernicious example threatening the destruction of the love of frugality among our people we will remember that economy in the public expense is an important article in the true democratic faith."Grover Cleveland – January 8, 1891The paragraph of the day comes from the article by William Rivers Pitt speaking mainly aabout the guy that was arrested for saying "Bush is out of control" in a chat room. He says the same thing several times and derives the title "Arrest Me" for having said it repeatedly. It contains the paragraph of the day- http://truthout.org/docs_03/030503A.shtml Upon her detention in Chicago last month, McAliskey was fingerprinted and photographed. One of the men holding her told her that he was going to throw her in prison. When she snapped back that she had rights, she was told not to make the boss angry, because he shoots people. "After 9/11," said one officer, "nobody has any rights." 
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