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Media
Contact: William Dolphin (510) 919-1498, mail@williamdolphin.com
Opening Arguments in Rosenthal Re-Trial Begin Tuesday, May
15
Medical Marijuana Case Pits community Conscience Against
Federal Prohibition
WHAT:Opening Arguments in Rosenthal Re-Trial; Press
conference to follow at 4:00
WHEN: Tuesday, May 15, 2007, beginning at 8:30am.
Court is scheduled to end at 4:00pm
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
After a jury selection process that saw roughly 60 of the
90 prospective jurors dismissed -- many because of strong
feelings about legal access to medical marijuana -- the re-trial
of outspoken author Ed Rosenthal is set to begin in earnest
tomorrow.
Opening arguments from the defense and prosecution will begin
at 8:30 Tuesday morning.
With sharp limits on the evidence to be presented again in
place, the issue at the heart of the trial is whether or not
the jury will refuse to convict Rosenthal because the marijuana
he was growing was medical.
While using and providing medical marijuana has been legal
under California state law for more than a decade, federal
law still does not recognize medical use. Defendants at federal
trial are not able to explain their actions, which in Rosenthal's
case entailed being a designated officer in the City of Oakland's
medical cannabis program.
Following 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, Rosenthal was sentenced
to a single day in jail.
Rosenthal successfully appealed his conviction last year.
The government reindicted in October 2006, adding 11 new charges.
Judge Breyer dismissed the additional charges as "vindictive
prosecution" but marijuana cultivation, conspiracy and
distribution charges remain.
The prosecution, which plans to call 57 witnesses,
has said its case will last more than a week, even though
the government has conceded that Rosenthal can receive no
additional punishment, since he has already served his sentence.
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