After opening arguments made clear the competing stories offered the jury by prosecutors and the defense -- common drug dealer vs humanitarian activist/author -- witnesses for the prosecution began describing the small warehouse operation where Ed Rosenthal grew medical marijuana.

DEA agents will resume testifying at 8:30 Wednesday morning. Part of that testimony will include a videotaped tour of the Mandela Parkway facility in Oakland.

Also scheduled to testify Wednesday is a former friend and partner of Rosenthal, Jimmy Halloran, who agreed to testify against him in exchange for leniency at sentencing. Halloran, who is serious ill, sought to minimize federal prison time he could have received for a large commercial marijuana cultivation operation he ran in an abandoned movie theater, an operation unconnected to Rosenthal.

A shortened schedule means that court will adjourn at roughly 1:30pm, when Rosenthal and defense attorneys will speak to the press in the federal building plaza.

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.

Attorneys say this is the first case in which a defendant has been retried after serving his sentence.

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.

###

For interviews or more information, contact William Dolphin (510) 919-1498, mail@williamdolphin.com