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Hard time good and hard time fine, but first take care of head.
Here's the latest on medical marijuana in California. PLF might want close his ears for this.
Ed Rosenthal was convicted in February of growing more than 100 cannabis plants in an Oakland warehouse. Rosenthal's defense was the 1996 state ballot initiative permitting marijuana possession for medical purposes. He said he had been specially deputized by the city of Oakland to grow marijuana as its official supplier for medical use.
But federal judge Charles Breyer (that's Stephen's brother, for those of you with U.S.D.C. trading cards) granted the USA's motion in limine to exclude all testimony regarding Rosenthal's purported authorization to grow under state law, or reference to medical use of the plants he was cultivating.
The jury accordingly found Rosenthal guilty of three counts of cultivation. Several jurors later said they would have acquitted him if they had known he was growing the plants for patients in Oakland, a fact they never heard in evidence. Breyer denied Rosenthal's motion for new trial.
Rosenthal's sentencing was today. The federal probation department recommended a 21-month prison term. Prosecutors asked for 6 1/2 years, saying that Rosenthal was not entitled to a downward departure because of his refusal to accept responsibility and show remorse ("Your Honor, I am deeply, deeply sorry about the Supremacy Clause."). The maximum sentence is 60 years.
Breyer sentenced Rosenthal to one day in prison on each of three counts, to be served concurrently. He then set him free after crediting him for time served.
Rosenthal gave a press-conference through a cloud of smoke in which he told his supporters that he would appeal his conviction.
(I would have waited for my 420th post for style points, but that might be too late. Like tomorrow.)
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