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Media
Contact: William Dolphin (510) 919-1498, mail@williamdolphin.com
Former Racquetball Partner to Testify Against Rosenthal Monday
Plea Deal Allowed Seriously Ill Man to Avoid Possible Life
Sentence
WHAT: Prosecution witnesses in Rosenthal Re-Trial;
Press conference to follow at 4:00pm; Rosenthal and his
attorneys will also be available for comment at the lunch
recess shortly after noon.
WHEN: Monday, May 21, 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
The retrial of medical marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal continues
in San Francisco federal court Monday with the testimony of
a friend and former racquetball partner turned witness.
James Halloran, 65, was indicted in 2003 as a co-conspirator
with Rosenthal but agreed to testify against his friend in
exchange for leniency at sentencing. During the first trial,
he told the court that he had begun growing marijuana immediately
after California passed the Compassionate Use Act, otherwise
known as Prop 215, in 1996.
According to his 2003 testimony, Halloran entered into a
year-long partnership with Rosenthal in late 1997 or early
1998 to produce marijuana for the local medical clubs. Halloran,
who is serious ill, said in 2003 that he was testifying to
avoid a 50-year mandatory minimum with the possibility of
a triple life sentence. He had been charged with large-scale
cultivation and money laundering related to a commercial growing
operation he operated in an abandoned movie theater.
An unusual provision of Halloran's plea agreement with the
government allows him to seek dismissal of his conviction
at such time as the federal law on marijuana is either determined
to be unconstitutional or repealed by Congress.
The prosecution, which has said it plans to call more than
50 additional witnesses, has said its case will last more
than a week.
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.
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