07/07/2007 00:00:00
US: Ganja Guru gets no punishment in marijuana case ( Ed Rosenthal)
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'Ganja Guru' gets no punishment in marijuana case
'I'm proud of what I did, and I know I've done nothing wrong,' convicted
pot cultivator says
SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland
"Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal was sentenced to no penalty at all Friday
for three felony marijuana-growing convictions, bringing this phase of
his Kabuki-like retrial to a close.
But Rosenthal's story is far from over; he renewed his vow Friday to
appeal his convictions — punishment-free though they may be — as a
miscarriage of justice.
Rosenthal, 62, defiantly told Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan that
he's proud of having grown as many as 96,000 marijuana plants from 1998
through 2002, because by doing so he helped thousands of
medical-marijuana patients. He then told U.S. District Judge Charles
Breyer that unlike most defendants about to be sentenced, he offers no
remorse or repentance: "You get none of that from me — I'mproud of what
I did, and I know I've done nothing wrong."
Rosenthal noted that after the jury convicted him May 30 and was
discharged, Breyer visited the jury room and told jurors what they
hadn't been allowed to hear at trial: that Rosenthal had been acting as
an agent of the city of Oakland in growing marijuana for the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, and so had believed in good faith that his
work was legal.
"If it didn't matter, you wouldn't have felt compelled to go to the
jurors and provide that information before they faced the world again,"
he said, urging Breyer to void his convictions. "This, today, is your
last opportunity to stop this overreaching, vindictive prosecution by
the federal government."
Rosenthal called the one-day, time-served sentence Breyer imposed at his
original trial in 2003 "recognition that this case should never have
been filed criminally. But that is not enough. I should not remain a
felon. Citizens around the country urge you to do the right thing, to
serve justice, to void this conviction."
But Breyer said Rosenthal's complaints of an unfair trial are proper
fodder for 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Rosenthal already
has said he'll seek review. Breyer then pronounced Rosenthal's sentence
— one day, time already served, just like last time — and Rosenthal
walked out a free man.
Outside the courtroom, Rosenthal said he'll appeal because his
conviction marks a victory for the federal government in its crackdown
on state-sanctioned medical-marijuana use — a political precedent which
mustn't stand. But first, he said, he'll spend this weekend at a
friend's wedding and taking some time to "putter around my garden."
Defense attorney Robert Amparan rolled his eyes at this potentially
loaded statement from the noted marijuana horticulturist who now has
felony convictions on his record: "No gardening — you're not
safety-valve eligible anymore, Mr. Rosenthal."
But Rosenthal replied he'll confine his gardening to patio flowers and
vegetables.
Federal agents in February 2002 arrested Rosenthal and others while
raiding a warehouse on Oakland's Mandela Parkway; the Harm Reduction
Center medical-marijuana club on San Francisco's Sixth Street;
Rosenthal's home and other sites.
A federal jury convicted Rosenthal in 2003, but within hours, most
jurors publicly renounced their own verdict, claiming they'd been
railroaded into convicting him by a court that allowed no consideration
or discussion of medical marijuana. Breyer later sentenced Rosenthal to
only one day in jail and warned any such cases in the future would
receive harsher penalties.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2006 ruled there had been
juror misconduct, and overturned Rosenthal's convictions. Prosecutors
re-indicted Rosenthal in October, adding charges that he'd laundered
marijuana proceeds and falsified three years' worth of tax returns;
Breyer in March tossed out those new charges, deeming them to be
vindictive prosecution.
A new jury convicted Rosenthal on May 30 of three of the five
marijuana-growing felonies of which he stood accused: a conspiracy
count; one count of growing, intending to distribute and distributing
marijuana; and one count of using the Mandela Parkway warehouse as a
site for growing and distributing marijuana. The jury acquitted him of
growing and distributing marijuana at the Harm Reduction Center, and
deadlocked on whether he had conspired to do so; at the judge's stern
suggestion, prosecutors quickly dropped the deadlocked count.
But prosecutors and the judge had agreed long before the retrial began
that Rosenthal couldn't be sentenced now to anything beyond the one day
of time — already served — to which he was sentenced for his 2003
convictions.
Contact Josh Richman at jrichman@angnewspapers.com
http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_6321440
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12675
Author:
Alemeda Times-Star via UKCIA
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