cannabisnews.com: Ed Rosenthal Spared from Prison Sentence Ed Rosenthal Spared from Prison Sentence Posted by CN Staff on June 04, 2003 at 16:25:49 PT By Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Source: San Francisco Chronicle In a dramatic blow to the federal government's campaign against medical marijuana, a federal judge spared pot advocate Ed Rosenthal from a prison sentence Wednesday for his conviction on cultivation charges, saying Rosenthal reasonably believed he was acting legally. Rosenthal, 58, a prominent author, columnist and authority on marijuana growing, faced at least five years in prison under federal law for his conviction of growing more than 100 plants for the Harm Reduction Center, a San Francisco dispensary operating under California's medical marijuana law. A federal prosecutor asked for a 6-year sentence. But U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the "extraordinary, unique circumstances of this case," were not covered by the usual sentencing law and imposed the lightest term possible -- a day in jail, which Rosenthal served after his February 2002 arrest. He also fined Rosenthal $1,300 and put him on supervised release for three years, with orders not to violate any criminal laws and to submit to searches. "This is day one in the crusade to bring down the marijuana laws, all the marijuana laws," Rosenthal -- whose latest book is called "Why Marijuana Should Be Legal" -- proclaimed after the hearing to about 100 jubilant supporters. Some carried huge puppet figures showing President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft in jailhouse garb and depicting Rosenthal and other medical marijuana defendants with angels' wings. San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan was also in the gathering and praised the judge's decision. Rosenthal, who had denounced Breyer as biased during the trial, spoke respectfully to the judge before sentencing, saying he took responsibility for his actions and adding, "My conscience led me to help people who were suffering." But he was in no mood to praise Breyer afterward. "He did me no favors" in sentencing, Rosenthal said. "He made me a felon because he would not allow the jury to hear the whole story. He had an agenda. I call on Judge Breyer to resign." Rosenthal plans to appeal his conviction, based on Breyer's rulings that kept virtually the entire defense case from the jury -- Rosenthal's medical motives, his claim that the city of Oakland had designated him as an officer to supply marijuana to a city-endorsed dispensary, and his reliance on Proposition 215, the 1996 California initiative that allowed seriously ill patients to obtain marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Prosecutors could also appeal Breyer's decision to reduce the sentence below the standard federal guidelines. No decision has been made on an appeal, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Jacobs, spokesman for the office. But advocacy groups declared victory. Snipped: Complete Article: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/04/rosenthal.DTL Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: June 4, 2003 Copyright: 2003 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles & Web Site:Ed Rosenthal's Pictures & Articles http://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmCalifornia's 'Guru of Ganja' Freedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16525.shtmlMarijuana Guru Told He Will Not Go To Prisonhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16524.shtmlMedical Pot Guru Won’t Go To Joint http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16523.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 05, 2003 at 09:57:07 PT Slightly Different Article from The SFC http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/05/MN291734.DTL [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on June 05, 2003 at 06:10:56 PT: Anyone been to DEAWatch, lately? DEAWatch: http://members.aol.com/deawatch/daily.htmThe whole time that the Rosenthal trial has been going on, they have been curiously quiet on the entire matter, preferring to list their petty bureaucratic grieveneces with their leaders and their various misogynistic and anti-Zionist blather and general disaffection with the situation in the Middle East and (believe it or not) the President.Given the fact that anti-cannabis operations are literally their bread-and-butter (the lion's share of their operational budget is solely for that) you'd think they'd be more vocal. But no, they've been quiet as church mice. Granted, it's only one day after the Rosenthal victory. It takes time for government to come up with revised BS to spread after something like this has happened. But these agents don't have such constraints, they can spout off as they see fit. So, just out of curiosity, I took a look there, again, and guess what? Silence. A pin dropping would sound like a nuke going off.Looks like the 'wacky legalizers' (as they are so fond of referring to us as) scored big, doesn't it, Officer Jack Boot?Get used to it, guys; more's on the way... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Lehder on June 04, 2003 at 18:24:18 PT LTS Dear Senator Voinovich,As you know, what begins in California soon engulfs the country. Today, Federal Judge Breyer, in an atmosphere of enormous public outrage at federal judicial perfidy, was forced to all but excuse Ed Rosenthal from a guilty verdict for cultivating medical marijuana under the auspices of California state law. You replied to my previous letter in 2001 with a nonresponsive form letter explaining that you were too cowardly, fearful of "anthrax attacks", to enter your office and read your mail. I think that you were more afraid to address the issues I posed regarding the so called "war on drugs" that you so strongly favor at the instruction of your corporate bosses.Nevertheless, with the recent events in California, you will soon be forced to face this issue, and when the truth of federal persecution of medical marijuana patients becomes as well known in Ohio as in California, your scurrilous record of blind support for the drug wars will place you in the same public opprobrium as the corrupt prosecutors of the Rosenthal case.You were too cowardly too in 2001 to take the trouble to even read the USA Patriot Act, a piece of legislation that stinks of fascism, before voting for it. If you are so obsessed with terrorism that you must undermine our Constitution in the name of fighting it, then WHY DO YOU NOT DEMAND THE PUBLIC RELEASE OF THE 9/11 INVESTIGATION FINDINGS? The refusal to make these findings public, when all Americans are very concerned about the US failure to prevent the attacks, most strongly suggests a coverup far bigger than Watergate, and by leaving it all to the public imagination the issue can only grow. Why not make the report public? What are you hiding? Why, for more than an hour after the hijackings, did not a single AF jet take off to challenge any of the four hijacked planes? Why not when standard procedure calls for military jets to fly by any hijacked plane within minutes?On September 10, 2001, one day before the attack, more than a hundred federal agents and police officers menaced a farm in southern Michigan where they surrounded and killed two marijuana legalization activists. Would all this power not have been better directed at protecting the skies and air routes?These are your priorities, Senator, and they are treasonous. Count on me to vote against you in your every election and to speak relentlessly in opposition to you, your hateful views and your personal corruption and dishonor at every opportunity.Yours truly, [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by afterburner on June 04, 2003 at 17:26:12 PT: Bevan Has No Shame and No Honor. From the snipped portion:Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan...said Rosenthal..."used the City Council in an effort to put an umbrella around his illegal cultivation."Not only does this federal mouthpiece insult Ed Rosenthal, but insults the Oakland city council as well.ego transcendence follows ego destruction; after many years underground the "iceberg" is surfacing. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 04, 2003 at 16:49:30 PT goneposthole Yes he did let his conscience be his guide. That is a very important principle to follow I believe. What a hard time it must have been for them but it's over or at least I think it's over. I hope it's over. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on June 04, 2003 at 16:37:43 PT the law is the crime the time has arrived. the critical mass achieved. Mr. Rosenthal let his conscience be his guide. Not some dumb law against cannabis. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment