cannabisnews.com: Rosenthal Faces Music in Key Med Marijuana Case Rosenthal Faces Music in Key Med Marijuana Case Posted by CN Staff on May 10, 2003 at 13:11:33 PT By Alexander Cockburn Source: Counter Punch Come June 4 Ed Rosenthal will be back in US District Court in San Francisco, to hear what sentence Judge Charles Breyer has decided to impose. Earlier this year a California jury found him guilty of cultivating marijuana, of maintaining a place to cultivate marijuana and of conspiring with others to cultivate marijuana. He's in his early 50s now and he's looking at the possibility of hauled off to prison for the rest of his life.Let's all hope that it won't come to that, and that Breyer will stay his sentence, pending appeals that may end up in the US Supreme Court. The feds went after Rosenthal because he's a high profile advocate of legalized marijuana, famous for his books and articles, not least in High Times. The charges seemed surreal. Under the terms of California's Compassionate Use Act of 1996, okaying the cultivation and use of medical marijuana the City of Oakland designated Rosenthal the legal supplier of marijuana starts to those in chronic pain.Back then, on the eve of the trial, Rosenthal told me, "This is a tipping point case. If they put me behind bars they are going to start closing these clubs. The clubs will have no excuse. Everyone will have to plead out. It's really important that I win this case."He will win in the end, but Rosenthal lost that round in US District court. His trial was a grim farce. Breyer (brother of US Supreme court justice Steven) overruled every effort of Rosenthal's lawyers to introduce the fact that the man in the dock had been working under the aegis of the city of Oakland, abiding by the provisions of a state law approved by the voters of California.Thus kept in the dark, and with the ground cut from under Rosenthal's defense, the jury found him guilty. Then the jury stepped out of the jury box and for the first time learned the actual circumstances and background of the charges. Within days six of them mustered in front of the US courthouse to apologize publicly to Rosenthal, and to proclaim their shame and indignation that they had been dragooned into this parody of justice.I was there and it was truly an amazing occasion. Terence Hallinan, the District Attorney of San Francisco, SF supervisors Tommy Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez, and the chairman of the city's board of supervisors all stepped to the microphone to applaud the penitent jurors for their stand, to denounce the conviction. Board Gonzalez invoked the long tradition of jury nullification which, had this jury known about it, would have enabled them to set aside Breyer's instructions, consult their consciences and found Rosenthal innocent.The next round in the case concerned precisely this issue of whether a juror can discount a judge's instruction. In the wake of the verdict two jurors, Marney Craig and Pamela Klarkowski, disclosed to Rosenthal's lawyers that during the trial, outside the jury room, they had discussed, at least twice, the issue of disobeying Breyer's instruction. Craig said she had phoned an attorney friend who had told her forcefully that she had to follow Breyer's instructions and would be get into big trouble if she used her own judgement. Craig had then discussed this call with Klarkowski.Rosenthal's lawyers went before Breyer again, arguing for a mistrial on the grounds of malfeasance by the two jurors. Though Craig took the Fifth, the facts weren't disputed. Breyer hasn't issued a ruling yet. On the face of it, you'd think it's open and shut. Aside from Breyer's outrageous restrictions, did Rosenthal get a fair trial if two jurors were secretly sitting on a piece of bad legal advice, to the effect that if they stepped outside the narrow lines drawn by Breyer they'd face serious sanctions?But Breyer doesn't want to order a new trial, one in which the chances of a jury aware of the background of the case and also of the possibility of nullification would be far higher. If he rejects the defense's motion for retrial, it will be one more grounds for appeal, along with the basic issue of the contradiction between state and federal laws, already being considered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.Last September, the DEA raided a marijuana club in Santa Cruz, arousing enormous rage, not least among Santa Cruz's city council, which has now filed suit in federal court demanding damages as well as an injunction to prevent the DEA from infringing on state affairs again. In February, the feds launched a hundred raids across the US, seizing glass bongs and kindred materials. They made more than 50 arrests, even though they found no drugs, and even though, in California and other states, possession of marijuana pipes has been decriminalized.So, just as Rosenthal predicted to me, the feds took the guilty verdict as a green light. Across California people acting within the terms of the 1996 California statute have every reason to fear that DEA will come crashing through the door and that federal judges like Breyer will back up their right to do so. Down in Los Angeles people involved in medical marijuana activities have plead guilty, not prepared to risk the possible twenty year sentence that Rosenthal is staring at.The only silver lining thus far, aside from the edifying stance of principle taken by Ed Rosenthal is that the issue of jury discretion, or jury nullification is on the front burner again. In the days after Rosenthal's conviction about half Rosenthal's jurors began to proclaim publicly their disillusion with the justice system as disposed by Judge Breyer, you could hear intense seminars on jury nullification on at least one of San Francisco's biggest AM stations.Hey, nullification worked for John Peter Zenger and for those nineteenth century folk charged with sheltering runaway slaves. As anti-slavery sentiment grew juries wouldn't convict them. You've been called to serve on a jury? I strongly recommend you take the time to study a useful little guide drawn up by Clay Conrad, chairman of the Fully Informed Jury Association. Money to help with Ed Rosenthal's defense should go to Green-aid.comAnd yes, this is a Republican administration rhetorically committed to states rights. Bush himself made a campaign issue of it, ladling out a plateful of pledges on states' rights alongside equally vociferous promises that he wouldn't be in the nation-building business. But don't conclude from this that Clinton Time was better. So far as marijuana was concerned it was awful.Ed Rosenthal, incidentally, is a man of tireless energy. Amid his tribulations he's found time to sue the trust which controls the money from the very successful High Times magazine, founded by Tom Forcade, who died, allegedly a suicide, though under slightly odd circumstances back in the 70s. Rosenthal has now won standing in Maricopa County, Arizona, as a plaintiff who can to get discovery to prove he has standing.That went by you, didn't it. Rosenthal, a 20-year outside staff contributor to High Times charges that those controlling the trust set up by Forcade have abused the trust's original mandate and filched millions."It's more than the case of a writer being screwed," Rosenthal tells me. "If it was just me, you could say, too bad that justice was not done', and leave it at that. But these days could have given NORML and the Alternative Press Syndicate between $20 and $40 million. Think of what difference that would have made. When NORML had a budget of $100,000 to $200,00 instead they could have had a million a year."Let's say someone stole money from Enron, from Lay, who would care. This is different, removing money from a political movement. Millions were affected. The whole environment could have been changed." Complete Title: CounterPunch Diary: Ed Rosenthal Faces the Music in Key Med Marijuana Case; He Charges Millions Stolen by High Times Trust "Could Have Changed History"; Bush and Blair Named for Peace Prize; More on Breasts and MartinisSource: Counter Punch (DC)Author: Alexander CockburnPublished: May 10, 2003Website: http://www.counterpunch.org/Contact: counterpunch counterpunch.orgDL: http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn05102003.htmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Ed Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articleshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmConvicted Pot Grower Jabs at Feds http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15899.shtmlJuror Takes The Fifth in Medical Marijuana Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15866.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #20 posted by paulpeterson on May 16, 2003 at 09:53:16 PT reverend jon adler Mr. Adler it is nice to hear from you again. I'm the lawyer in Illinois that lost all for trying to gain proper authorization under the 1971 Illinois MM law (720 ILCS 550, sections 11 & 15). I now am forming a church "the Church of the Tree of Life" under the RFRA of 1993. I have a federal suit filed for a declaratory judgement that the RFRA is good law in the 7th Circuit. I also have my appeal of the suspension of my licensure going on. The Illinois Supreme Court has aided and abetted perjury (but of course, nobody will take them down).I am planning to open some church "retreats" in Wisconsin (also in the 7th Circuit) and Iowa (8th Circuit, where federal prisoners have been granted some rights to freedom in jail).The dogged thing is getting ANY PUBLICITY in this state run by the pharmaceutical industry. Oh well, good to hear you're out. God bless, keep the faith. PAUL [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by Rev Jonathan Adler on May 12, 2003 at 16:11:05 PT: Guilty of Being Legal! Aloha, And another case of "guilty of being legal" is in the news. When I stood up for religious and medical rights in Hilo court on the basis of "BEING LEGAL" and there was a "hung jury" you read about it and wondered. When a Judge here gave back an ounce of my personal medicine (White Rhino), by court order, you read about it here too. When I was sent straight to jail, not much was said or done about it. I did the whole six months as a penalty for me running for Governor and using cannabis legally for medicine and religion. What reasonable person could convict someone of being legal? Only a subverted Judge. Think about it. Good Luck to Ed and all others who stand up for our freedom Peace and progress ...Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute Rev. Jonathan Adler / Executive Director and Head Reverend Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by ekim on May 12, 2003 at 12:53:18 PT green-aid.com for interviews for Ed. call 1-888-271-7674 anyone doing a cable access show or radio show --- [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by mayan on May 11, 2003 at 03:15:02 PT Our Last, Best Hope... Our Last,Best Hope - Jury Nullification: http://www.sierratimes.com/03/02/10/robinson.htmThe way out is the way in...9/11 Film Draws Overflow Crowd: http://onlinejournal.com/Media/050703Lynn/050703lynn.htmlAn Interesting Day - President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html9/11 Prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledgeWas 9/11 Allowed to Happen? http://www.wanttoknow.info/911timeline2pgThe truth about 9/11: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jpdesm/pentagon/investigation77.htm9/11 CitizensWatch: http://www.911citizenswatch.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by goneposthole on May 10, 2003 at 22:04:58 PT He is guilty He cultivated marijuana.He provided a place to cultivate marijuana.He conspired with others to cultivate marijuana.He abided by the laws of California governing such activity.Guilty of being a law abiding citizen seems to be his only crime. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by FoM on May 10, 2003 at 21:20:03 PT ekim Thanks ekim. We'll check it out. Hopefully it will be repeated or available on line to watch. I hope you get to ask a question on the air. I never called into any program ever. I'd have something I'd want to say or ask and would forget it as soon as I was able to ask my question. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by ekim on May 10, 2003 at 20:38:50 PT correction FOM the Direct TV Ch is 375 yes the show is repeted and I don't think Ralph will be on untill 8 or 9 i will be calling to ask him if he will promote a debate on the cannabis issue, if others feel inclined to ask MR. Nader something by all means do. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by The GCW on May 10, 2003 at 19:39:25 PT The Boulder Weekly always makes a point. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT.#1. Getting it straight #2. Watch your web slinging #3. Nuns are dangerous http://www.boulderweekly.com/incaseyoumissedit.htmlGetting it straight Poor Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Santorum, Senate Republican Conference chairman, recently got himself in trouble for telling an A.P. reporter that, "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything."But wait a second. Santorum’s comment was taken out of context. Here are a few other Santorum quotes from the A.P. interview, quotes not included in the corresponding A.P. story, that should help straighten things out:"I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts… I have no problem with someone who has other orientations. The question is, do you act upon those orientations?""(Committing homosexual acts) comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution.""In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be." "The idea is that the state doesn’t have rights to limit individuals’ wants and passions. I disagree with that."There. Now Santorum should appear in a much better light. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch your web slinging You might want to think twice next time you decide to do anything naughty on the Net. A U.S. district court recently ruled for a second time that Verizon Communications must reveal the identity of an anonymous Internet subscriber accused of swapping music files online. The decision is considered a victory for the entertainment industry, which is eager to get its hands on music fans who have the gall to share music with other music fans.So what’s next? Could your boss go snooping around your e-mails? Could companies create programs that record what websites you visit, to determine what types of advertisements they should send your way? Could the government begin monitoring your Internet activity, to determine if you are a dangerous individual? Oh, wait a minute, all that already happens.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nuns are dangerous All law-abiding American citizens should watch their backs–three convicted criminals are on the loose. Last week Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68, and Carol Gilbert, 55, walked out of the Clear Creek County jail in Colorado. The three Dominican nuns were recently found guilty by a jury of their peers of obstructing national defense, a ruling that reinforces the obvious: That praying and making crosses with your own blood at the site of a Minuteman III missile is, of course, a serious threat to our national security. The nuns are due back in court on July 25, for a prison sentence expected to be more than five years, a sentence they so justly deserve.The three say they will take this time to say goodbye to friends and relatives, since they say they may never live to see the end of their sentence, but don’t believe them. The nuns have received thousands of letters of support from all over the world, and grew so close to their fellow inmates and guards that there were tears a-plenty when they were released. It seems obvious, therefore, that they will use their last months of freedom to brainwash as many more people as possible into believing that their actions were just. But we, as god-fearing, righteous Americans, must hold strong. We must not fail to see these individuals in their true light. We must place them alongside other criminals who have been rightly jailed for their unpatriotic beliefs, such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi. Only then will we be able to understand the sheer magnitude of the actions of these three scofflaws.Respond: letters boulderweekly.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by FoM on May 10, 2003 at 18:21:06 PT ekim Thank You! 7 in the morning? Oh me oh my what to do! I don't get up that early. I only go to sleep a few hours before 7. I've always been a night owl. Maybe they will repeat it! I hope so and thanks again. If I miss it let us know how it was if you want. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by ekim on May 10, 2003 at 18:17:30 PT yes FoM it is Ch 378 one correction the Wash Journal is on from 7-10 and Ralph will be only one of the guests. so iam not sure when he will be on the show will reair right after 10. the book Iam reading Reefer Madness By Eric Schlosser has some info on the secret studies of LSD that the Gov't did on the people. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by ekim on May 10, 2003 at 18:09:22 PT Washington Journal tomarrow -- Ralph Nader starts at 7 to 12 sometime will have Ralph on. it is a call in program on Direct TV Ch 350. Ralph ran for President on the legalizing platform. Now it is time to have a real debate. If Jerry Brown could get Bill Buckley JR. and Gov. Johnson and DR.Weil and Judge Gray and the Sherif of CO. Masterson I think and a host of others. It will be a powerfull thing to behold. It is important that the debate include other Countrys like Canada and those of the EU which have allready crossed over. Mr.Buckley knows how the Swiss are thinking and will be able to bring someone from there as well. It is allso important that a Rep. from the Eastern front Romania is the largest grower of Cannabis for fiber in the world. It should be asked how the USA will move thousands of Army there if the country is such a large drug producing country. To read more on this issue please see Richard Cowans page at Marijuananews.com -----What ever debate is set up the sooner the beter so those who would be president both here and in Canada be heard on the subject. Dubba has allready gone back on his statement that he would allow the States to set up local cannabis laws. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on May 10, 2003 at 17:41:28 PT The GCW This is what the program was about last night. I wish more people could get World Link TV. It has always been an eye opener for me but you need a satellite and I'm not sure if the Dish Network even offers World Link TV. Direct TV does luckily.http://www.frankolsonproject.org/Articulations/Script-CodeNameArtichoke.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by FoM on May 10, 2003 at 17:14:25 PT Lehder and Everyone I saw about the Nobel Peace Prize in the rest of the article. I don't know what qualifies someone for that award but it really surprised me. Being cynical is smart but hanging onto hope is all that will keep us caring. I think I'm crazy sometimes to keep hoping each day that our government will understand but I just want to know that I've done the best I can do and if it isn't enough it will be up to the next generation. These are hard times but the Internet allows us to learn more then we ever could have learned before it's creation. Thank goodness for the Internet. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by The GCW on May 10, 2003 at 17:10:11 PT Frank Olson on google... The Frank Olson Murderhttp://www.serendipity.li/cia/olson2.htmDick Cheney, current U.S. Vice-President, and Donald Rumsfeld, current Secretary of Defense are implicated.Cheney's name sure gets around the scum circles.The Bush, CIA, Nazi, Chaney, etc. connections are like what it says:Everything unknown will become known.These must be very desperate people... there seems no end to their dirty deeds. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 10, 2003 at 16:48:16 PT Concern for Us as a Nation This is off topic but it was interesting to watch last night. I actually didn't move thru watching the whole program because it shocked me and it really scared me too. It was a documentary on World Link TV about a Man named Frank Olson. I don't even want to talk about it more then to mention his name and you can read up on it if you want. The Vice President and Rumsfeld were in the article on the net. Check it out if you want too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by malleus2 on May 10, 2003 at 16:28:55 PT Tipping point, indeed The feds have gotten their butts in a vise on this one.Surgeons are always told not to nick a cancer tumor for fear some cells may escape as it's being removed and they might spread elsewhere, causing more damage.Breyer has permanently changed the whole course of California jurispridence by 'nicking the tumor' of American legal proceedings in his sloppy, ham-handed attempt to excise people's rights to know *all* the facts in a trial. More people than ever before know about FIJA, about jury nullification...and about how judges have had them hoodwinked about those rights to *judge the case for themselves* for decades. Getting a conviction against Rosenthal *now* could only happen if the jury were rigged with all cops, judges and prosecutors.Which would be terribly obvious. The game is up in California, as far as the feds being able to use the law to hammer MMJ activists. The feds could save themselves a ton of embarassment if they would just do what they should have long ago...namely, legalized. But they had to cut that tumor, and now the 'cancer' of jurors demanding all the facts in a case will spread to other states and across the country.Somebody here said a long time ago that the government in the end will have only one card to play when all the legal fictions against cannabis are worn away by legal challenges in court. That is, plain old ugly force, like the club attacks. So long as they could do it in isolated areas, they could get away with it. But push is coming to shove, and not just in California but around the US. The dinosaurs running the justice department have been surprised by the vehemence of the reaction of the jurors, and know that that anger has been mirrored around the nation. They know that if they lose the next Rosenthal trial, their anti-cannabis efforts in California and the rest of the west will be fatally compromised.If I were Mr. Rosenthal, I would be very careful. Feds have killed other activists like McWilliams, and the Rainbow Farm people. But Mr. Rosenthal is even more of a 'threat': he's awakened many people who previously didn't care what the government was doing as to it's much darker side. That makes him VERY dangerous to a government that would like you all, in the words of Bush the Elder, to "Sit down and shut up!" [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Lehder on May 10, 2003 at 16:27:34 PT Nobel Peace Prize This article by Alexander Cockburn of Counter Punch contains three stories. Only the first, Rosenthal's, has been reproduced here. The second is "B___ and Blair Named for Peace Prize." As linked above, here it is again, http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn05102003.htmlIf you are like me, or at least as I used to be when I first began studying the drug war, then you come to this board not expecting to see any really great news, but, maybe, one always hopes, that maybe you'll see that first bit of good news that tells us, yes, the end is in sight - we're about to use our resources constructively, we're about to embark on a golden age and life, even for us who will live to see only it's threshold, is about to get better, much better. But as I learned more about the drug war I grew more cynical - we'll more likely see a dark age and more violence more persecution. And when I see an article like this about the Nobel Prize for Peace, I know that corruption is boundless in its power and I am sad for our entire species. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by WolfgangWylde on May 10, 2003 at 16:19:34 PT If Ed... ...doesn't head for Canada and demand asylum, then he is an idiot, that's right, an idiot. The latest latest news indicates that the Canadian Government and DEA-land have been working in concert all along, and the Canadian Courts are the only chance he has. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on May 10, 2003 at 15:59:32 PT Question I've seen a few articles about Ed Rosenthal and High Times but I really didn't understand what this was all about. When High Times was a young magazine we liked it a lot. I don't know if we just got older and changed or the magazine changed but it is different then it was back in the 70s. We have only seen a few High Times since it started changing way back years ago. I didn't know High Times was worth a lot of money either. We just don't have easy access to it. You've got to get it from an adult store now and we don't even have any of them close to where we live. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Lehder on May 10, 2003 at 15:20:22 PT self-indulgence Rosenthall has been very brave, and we need more like him. But he's a minority. Others - >>could have given NORML and the Alternative Press Syndicate between $20 and $40 million. Think of what difference that would have made. When NORML had a budget of $100,000 to $200,00 instead they could have had a million a year. "Let's say someone stole money from Enron, from Lay, who would care. This is different, removing money from a political movement. Millions were affected. The whole environment could have been changed." So, potheads are no betteer than corporate big shots. And it works the same way with the weed as it does with the money (both are hard to get) - a smoker, being human and understandably afraid of the law, gets his hands on some weed and disappears, smoking and partying by himself or with a clique - and to hell with the movement, to hell with the future. Where's William Bennett when you need him? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment