cannabisnews.com: Court Upholds Guilty Pot Verdict 





Court Upholds Guilty Pot Verdict 
Posted by FoM on November 24, 1999 at 20:18:31 PT
By Alan Cooper, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer 
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Even if marijuana was the best medicine for his migraine headaches, that didn't excuse Brian Joseph Murphy's possession of the drug, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. 
Fairfax County police searched Murphy's home in September 1997 and found cultivated marijuana plants. They charged him with manufacturing marijuana. At his jury trial, Judge Kathleen H. MacKay turned down a request by Murphy's attorney to tell the jurors they could acquit him if they believed his marijuana use was a "necessity." The jury would have been instructed that a necessity existed if Murphy believed that using marijuana was essential for him to avoid harm and that other means were inadequate. Murphy contended that prescription medications for his headaches were not as effective as marijuana or had more serious side effects. MacKay refused to give the instruction, and the jury convicted Murphy of marijuana possession and recommended 30 days in jail and a $250 fine. Appellate Judge Rosemarie Annunziata, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, ruled that MacKay was correct in refusing to give the necessity instruction. Annunziata noted that state law at one time permitted physicians to prescribe marijuana for almost any medical condition. The General Assembly changed the law in 1979 to limit its use to treatment of cancer and glaucoma. "In restricting the legitimate medicinal use of marijuana to cases involving cancer or glaucoma, the legislature evinced its intent to circumscribe the value judgment an individual can make with respect to its use for treating other conditions," Annunziata wrote. Published: November 24, 1999© 1999, Richmond Newspapers Inc.
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Comment #6 posted by observer on February 28, 2001 at 17:34:00 PT
Pot Penalties? Depend$ on Who You Are...
It depends on who you are, what color you are, where you live, and what the prosecutor decides your fate shall be. (America used to have a trial by jury system, but that's largely been done away with now. The prosecutor decides what will happen to you.)see:NORML's State Guide to Marijuana Penalties http://norml.org/legal/state_laws.shtmlPerhaps people belive I am exaggerating about prosecutors' raw (and corrupting) power in the US. Plea bargains are another method of compelling self-incrimination. If an accused person will confess to a crime, perhaps even a crime that was not committed, other charges are dropped. Mandatory sentencing laws expedite the plea bargain process. Mandatory sentences give prosecutors, rather than judges, the power to determine what level of punishment shall be administered upon conviction for a criminal act. One act can violate multiple drug laws ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. "Mandatory" punishment for that one act is optionally determined by the prosecutor who draws the indictment. If a prosecutor threatens a person with long imprisonment unless the person confesses to a lesser crime, such a confession is coerced. Yet in the name of drugs, courts refuse to recognize the coercion. Plea bargains also neatly erase the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of trials. If an accused person can receive graver charges and greater punishment upon demanding a trial, a trial is no longer a right. Through plea bargains, drug warriors have gained a power similar to one seized by the Gestapo. Drug warriors cannot choose from a range of punishments as broad as that available to the Gestapo. But within perimeters of the permissible range, drug police and prosecutors have broad power to administer punishments.Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey, 1996, pgs.54-http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275950425 One man got life for possessing less than a single cigarette. Mandantory sentencing eliminates the independent excercise of authority by judges in criminal cases. Nuremberg prosecutors condemned elimination of judges' independence230 and entered mandantory sentencing as part of the evidence of crimes against humanity.231 A judge removed from office by the Nazis recalled that "in important criminal cases," the Nazi district attorney would "inform the presiding judge prior to the trial of the punishment which would be sought and point out that this sentence would be expected of him."232 Procedure is little different in important American drug war cases. Upon conviction, under mandantory sentencing judges must obey the sentencing decision of the prosecutor, who prearranges the sentence by fine tuning the indictment. Nuremberg prosecutors described "prearrangement of sentences between judges and prosecutors" as criminal.233Mandantory sentencing guidelines are ruthless. A first offense of simple marijuana possession now carries a five-year federal penalty.234 Escalator clauses take advantage of the repetitive nature of drug use. First-time possession of crack can be punished by five to twenty years if the amount exceeds five grams. A second offense brings the same punishment if the weight exceeds five grams. And a third offense brings the same punishment of the weight exceeds one gram. "Three felony convictions for drug offenses carries mandantory life with no parole, and it is a felony to commit a drug offense within 100 feet of a pinball or video arcade containing more than 10 games."235 Possession of a marijuana cigarette is such a felony. Federal law permits a $10,000 fine for possessing one marijuana cigarette.236 An Oklahoma man received a life sentence for felony possession of marijuana, 0.005644 of an ounce.237Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey, 1996, pgs.63-64http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275950425 
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Comment #5 posted by unkown on February 28, 2001 at 16:56:09 PT
marijuana
what is the amount of time spent in jail for the possesion of marijuana???????
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Comment #4 posted by Bill holzinger on November 27, 1999 at 08:37:01 PT:
Brian Murphy article
Anyone know how to get hold of Brian Murphy,I believe this is the same Brian Murphy that brought in the first Willie Nelson Hemp Collection clothing,what a trip that was up in Billingham,Wa.I,m involved in a medicial marijuana court case in Or. and need to talk with him.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on November 25, 1999 at 17:44:43 PT
Hi Crazy!
Happy Thanksgiving Crazy! I haven't seen you for a long time. I hope life is being good to you! Thanks for telling us about Marinol. Stop back here more often if you have time or e mail if you want!Peace, FoM!
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Comment #2 posted by Crazy FullMoon Eagle on November 25, 1999 at 15:54:54 PT:
migrain and marijuana
i have been dubbed the first Montanan to be prescribed Marinol for treatment of migraines.. Unfortunately, it isn't doing the trick. Causing sever headaches worse than the migraines. Regular pot helps in my chronic pain situation, but the thc dosage is too potent for my migraines. For more info om my life visit my site below.\crazy in montana
life's experiences from a crazy point of view
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Comment #1 posted by observer on November 24, 1999 at 22:23:36 PT
Legislature Intends to Circumscribe Liberty
> "In restricting the legitimate medicinal use of marijuana to cases involving cancer or glaucoma, the legislature evinced its intent to circumscribe the value judgment an individual can make with respect to its use for treating other conditions," Annunziata wrote. Which many believe is patently unconstitutional. Jefferson warned explicitly us of such tyranny. ``Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food.'' -- Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on the State of Virginia," 1787 To Jefferson and the other founders of this nation, there was no question about whether or not an individual has control over his own body, with respect to food and medicine. Such control is a fundamental part of life and liberty. Statists, not content to control their own bodies, are forever seeking new laws to limit what you may do within your most fundamental possesion and property: your own body.``I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent andsudden usurpations.''-- James Madison Yes, Madison was correct. 200 years later we have lost all but vestiges of our freedom. One statist law at a time.``An act of Congress repugnant to the Constitution is not law. When the Constitution and an act of Congress are in conflict, the Constitution must govern the case to which both apply. Congress cannot confer on this court any original jurisdiction. The powers of the legislature are defined and limited, and those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten is the reason the Constitution was written.''   -- Marbury vs. Madison ``No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.''   -- American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Volume 16, Section 177 see Is There Such a Thing as "Unconstitutional Laws?" http://www.webleyweb.com/klh/constunl.html``We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.''-- United States of America (In Congress Assembled, July 4, 1776)http://www.mcs.net/~knautzr/fed/decindep.htmlYes, Virginia ... you've come a long way baby. Unfortunately, you've strayed far from your founding, but daily more comfortable with the ways of the tyrant you purport to slay.
get active: Join the Drug Peace Campaign
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