cannabisnews.com: Redding Mom, Son Jolted by Sentences





Redding Mom, Son Jolted by Sentences
Posted by FoM on May 06, 2000 at 13:37:07 PT
By Kimberly Bolander, Record Searchlight
Source: Record Searchlight
A Redding mother and son expecting to have their medicinal marijuana conviction overturned Friday were sentenced to jail and probation time instead. They immediately filed a motion to appeal their case.James Hall, 39, and his mother, Lydia Hall, 62, were found guilty in February by a jury of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. 
The jury acquitted them of growing marijuana and absolved Jim Hall of growing marijuana for sale.On Friday, Shasta County Superior Court Judge Bradley Boeckman sentenced Jim Hall to 75 days in Shasta County Jail. Lydia Hall will serve no more jail time; she has previously served the single day she was sentenced to.Both will be on probation for three years. However, Boeckman suspended their sentences until an appeal is finalized on their case.Meanwhile, the Halls may smoke marijuana again — if they get new recommendations from their doctors, Boeckman ruled.''I have to tell you quite frankly that there was room for this jury to disregard the medical approvals for both defendants,'' he said.Boeckman said their doctors' approvals were outdated. He refused to honor them as legitimate documents in the future.The Halls testified in court that they are medicinal marijuana patients and that under the Compassionate Use Act, passed by voters in 1996, they are protected from prosecution.Both had recommendations from their doctors approving pot smoking as medical treatment for Jim Hall's chronic back pain and his mother's glaucoma. Sheriff's deputies found 240 plants growing at their home, prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Tim Kam said.Before the sentencing, Jim Hall's attorney, Eric Berg, argued for more than an hour on several last-minute motions. About 25 medicinal marijuana supporters listened from the gallery, one wearing a shirt showing a large marijuana leaf logo.Boeckman denied Berg's pleas for a new trial, acquittals and dismissal of the charges for each defendant.Berg said the jury's findings in favor of conspiracy were inconsistent with their decision to acquit the Halls of marijuana cultivation.''As one juror aptly put it, you cannot criminally conspire to grow lemon trees because lemon trees are not illegal to grow,'' Berg said. Likewise, the Halls could not be guilty of conspiracy to grow pot if the jury's verdict said pot growing, for them, is legal, Berg argued.Berg also claimed he has sworn declarations from two jurors who said they didn't understand the jury instructions regarding the marijuana law.''The jurors believed that somehow, the Compassionate Use Act was only a small umbrella that protected (the Halls) from cultivating and possessing and did not protect them from conspiracy,'' he said.Kam countered that the jury's finding shows members believed the Halls planned to grow a large crop of marijuana — more than they would need for medicinal use — but their harvest didn't live up to expectations.Both Boeckman and Kam said the law allows for a jury's verdict to be inconsistent.After those motions, Berg put both Halls on the witness stand, as well as Jim Hall's doctor, to testify about what a jail term would do to their physical health. Hall's doctor said his patient's pain would likely be worsened in jail.In addition, Lydia Hall testified that if she was sentenced on the felony charge,, she would lose her job of nine years with Pacific Bell.Boeckman agreed that both Halls suffer serious ailments, but he did not excuse them from breaking the law. In the end, he ruled the Halls weren't simply medical marijuana users.''If I thought for a moment that that's all these defendants did and that was their only purpose, I'd be giving them a new trial. But that is not what the evidence supports ... the Halls' use was more than for medicinal use,'' he said.Boeckman's sentence was more lenient than the Probation Department's recommendation that Jim Hall should serve 150 days in jail and Lydia Hall, 90 days.Reporter Kimberly Bolander can be reached at 225-8339 or at: kbolander redding.comPublished: May 6, 2000© 2000 Record Searchlight - The E.W. Scripps Co. Related Articles:Sentencing for Duo Delayedhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5355.shtmlPair Guilty of Conspiracyhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4836.shtmlNo Medicinal Pot Verdict Yet http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4781.shtmlJury Weighs Evidence in Pot Trialhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4759.shtmlGrandma Says She Used Pot To Ease Painhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4637.shtml Pot Amount Issue in Trialhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4489.shtml 
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