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Rosenthal Medical Marijuana Hearing Tomorrow on Evidence,
Dismissal
Federal Judge Asked to Dismiss Remaining Charges; Government
Wants Science Excluded
WHAT: Hearing on motion to dismiss, exclusion of medical
evidence; press conference
WHEN: Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 2:15.
WHO: Medical marijuana advocate and author Ed Rosenthal
WHERE: Federal Building, Courtroom of U.S. District Judge
Charles Breyer, 19th Floor, 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco
Just days before his new trial is slated to
begin, medical marijuana activist and author Ed Rosenthal is
asking the federal judge in his case to dismiss the remaining
charges against him. Mr Rosenthal contends that the new indictment
against him has been brought improperly, as prosecutors have
not been able to cite another case in which someone has been
retried after completing his sentence.
US District Judge Charles Breyer has already
ruled that nine additional charges the government added were
vindictive and improper. He dismissed those counts -- all related
to financial transactions and tax filings -- but five marijuana
counts remain.
The hearing tomorrow will also take up the question
of what the jurors will be entitled to know about the facts
of the case, should it go forward to trial next week.
Judge Breyer has indicated that he will again
exclude information related to state medical marijuana laws
as well as any mention of the City of Oakland program that deputized
Ed to cultivate medical marijuana for patients. Defense attorneys
say that information is crucial to showing Mr Rosenthal’s state
of mind, a key element in the conspiracy charges.
Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to
begin Monday, May 14. Voir dire for the first trial stretched
over three days and required more than 80 prospective jurors
to find twelve that would agree to set aside their personal
beliefs about medical access to marijuana and the conflict between
federal prohibition and state laws and local ordinances that
permit doctors to recommend it.
Even so, following Mr Rosenthal’s January 2003
conviction, jurors in the case publicly recanted their verdict
and leveled harsh criticism at the government for withholding
information about the Oakland medical marijuana program. Convicted
of three felonies related to cultivating marijuana, Mr Rosenthal
was sentenced to a single day in jail.
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