cannabisnews.com: Activist Convicted on Marijuana Charge 





Activist Convicted on Marijuana Charge 
Posted by FoM on October 07, 1999 at 08:08:21 PT
By Guillermo Contreras, Journal Staff Writer
Source: ABQ Journal
The head of a community activist group was convicted Wednesday of a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana, but he maintains he did nothing wrong. 
 In a bench trial, Metropolitan Court Judge Victoria J. Grant found that Andres Valdez, executive director of New Mexico Vecinos United, violated state law when he was caught with less than an ounce of marijuana at an Albuquerque park Aug. 12, reportedly with a fellow activist. Grant sentenced Valdez, also known as Patrick Andres Valdez, to 30 days' unsupervised probation with a conditional discharge, meaning the conviction will not go on his record if he obeys all laws. He was also ordered to pay $175 in court costs and fees and to perform 20 hours of community service. He also was banned from the park for a month. Valdez chose to perform an additional 25 hours of community service instead of paying the $175. "I don't believe I did anything wrong," Valdez, 48, said later. "I feel it was an innocent gesture of our freedom." He said he supports Gov. Gary Johnson's call for drug legalization, adding, "We feel it's criminal when you're being prosecuted for such a small thing." Albuquerque police officers John Corvino and John Guilmette, who prosecuted the case, testified they were on bike patrol near Morningside Park when they smelled what they believed might be marijuana and saw Valdez and Libbie Palmer, 46, smoking what appeared to be marijuana cigarettes. Grant limited most testimony to Valdez's case because Palmer has a separate trial, which is pending. She did not allow the officers to argue that Valdez allegedly gave them the name Patrick Valdez in order to conceal his identity. Corvino said there were families and children in the park not far from Valdez and Palmer. Corvino said that as he and Guilmette approached, Valdez threw his cigarette to his side. The officers testified that a third officer tested the cigarettes with a drug kit and found them to contain marijuana. Guilmette said the pair were handcuffed and Valdez asked them to issue a warning or a citation. Corvino told Grant that officers can use their discretion of whether to arrest a person in such cases and added that the officers took into account that "there was a family trying to have an outing and this was in plain view." Corvino testified Valdez and Palmer began chewing the bark off a tree while handcuffed. He also testified that Valdez saw an ant on the ground going in circles, and that Valdez said the ant might be on marijuana. Those "strange behaviors" are consistent with a person being high, according to Corvino. But under questioning by Valdez's attorney, Glenn Smith Valdez, the officers said Valdez and Palmer asked for water from the officers' water bottles but they wouldn't give them any. Guilmette said "it would be unsanitary to give them our water." Valdez said after the trial that Corvino's assumption they were "biting on the tree because we were high" is incorrect. He said it was an effort to squeeze moisture from the bark in order to quench their thirst. Valdez, who did not testify until making a closing plea for leniency, accused the officers of "malicious prosecution" for conspiring on how to handle his case, putting him in jail and trying to distort the facts. He also alleged police tipped off the media to the pair's arrest in an effort to "destroy my credibility." Valdez's group is a vocal critic of police, and has asked that officers who use excessive force be charged and disciplined. Thursday, October 7, 1999 Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 Albuquerque JournalGovernor Gary Johnson's Home Pagehttp://www.governor.state.nm.us/ N.M. Governor Predicts Marijuana Legalization http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3163.shtmlColumn: A More Sensible Drug Policy - 10/06/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3162.shtml
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