As jokes go, it's not that funny, though: As the first week in Byron and Grumbine's trial in Sheldon's courtroom draws to a close today, it's becoming rapidly clear the robe-wearing octogenarian isn't exactly worried about appearing overwhelmingly biased against the two defendants.
First of all, Sheldon denied the two Joes their right to mention medical marijuana in their defense. This prevented their attorneys from sending subpoenas to witnesses who could testify they were following state law, which, in California, allows patients to smoke marijuana for medical reasons and to establish collectives to grow the plants. But thanks to a ruling last week by the California Court of Appeal, Sheldon was left with no choice but to allow such witnesses to testify.
On Monday, when confronted with this ruling, however, Sheldon refused a follow-up motion by the defense to delay the trial for a week so defense lawyers Alison Margolin and Christopher Glew could get ahold of those previously off-limits witnesses. No dice, ruled Sheldon, who insisted the trial start right away. It's been all downhill from there. According to court observers and the blog of the activist group The Human Solution, Sheldon has ruled against almost every defense objection, including ones in which prosecution witnesses were rambling onstage without answering any pending question, in which cases Sheldon simply instructs prosecutors to pose a question so that the witness can keep going.
Today, Sheldon went so far as to order a screen erected between the jury and the audience to prevent jurors (some of whom observers have already been noticed rolling their eyes at Sheldon) from seeing audience members, most of whom support the two defendants.
Supporters have been protesting the trial for weeks now, gathering every morning at 8 on the courthouse steps. The protests--and the trial itself--are scheduled to resume Monday morning.
Source: OC Weekly
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