NEWS: NJWeedman goes to trial

Twenty-five months after he was arrested with a pound of high-grade pot in his car, his doctor will testify today that marijuana is the right presecription to alleviate the pain and shrink the bone tumors in NJWeedman’s right leg.

Robert Forchion’s highly publicized trial began May 1 and could lead to sweeping changes in Jersey’s medicinal marijuana laws, or, he could be convicted and face serious prison time stemming from his arrest near Willingboro on April 1, 2010, about four months after Jon Corzine signed the state’s Compassionate Use Act into law as one of his final acts as governor. But the law did not go into effect until July of 2010, and implementation continues to lag during Gov. Chris Christie’s administration, so in the eyes of the state NJWeedman was, and still is, a dope fiend who had a pound of Cali bud in his car.

NJWeedman will appear on Trentonian TV at 7:30 this morning before he drives his Weedmobile back down to Burlington County Superior Court in Mount Holly. Watch the live interview HERE.

“One of the reasons I came to Los Angeles was because when I’m in Los Angeles I’m treated like a medical marijuana patient, not a criminal like I am in New Jersey,” NJWeedman says in one of his many YouTube videos that hit the air in the weeks leading up to his trial in Mount Holly. He held up a medicinal marijuana card issued by Kaisser-Permanente and then held up X-rays of his right leg that he says show the C-cell bone tumors low on his right femur near the knee.

The Burlington County native with dredlocks is acting as his own attorney and argues that he should be found innocent because of jury nullification, meaning he believes Jersey’s marijuana laws are unjust, not his actions. Yesterday he told The Trentonian that Judge Charles Delehey barred him from telling the jury of 7 women and 5 men — 11 whites, one black — that the state’s Compassionate Use Act was signed before his arrest but didn’t go into effect until a few months after. Two of the jurors are nurses.

The judge ruled in January that determining the state’s pot laws is “not the jury’s function.”

But NJWeedman still tells The Trentonian that “the law is wrong, not me.”

For months NJWeedman has said he needs just one juror to understand his pain, his plight, his need to smoke pot as a viable treatment against the bone tumors that Dr. Steven Fenichel is set to talk about today. NJWeedman said he thinks he’s struck a nerve in at least a few “sympathetic” jurors. He said he would appeal a guilty verdict.

“I’ve had this happen to me before when I was in New Jersey, in prison,” NJWeedman said in a video. “It took eight months to get taken care of, under horrible conditions. In California, I not only use medical marijuana, but it’s been shown time and time again to shrink the size of my tumors, reduce the size of their growth, and doctors here have no issues with me using medical marijuana.”

New Jersey’s Compassionate Care Act does not list tumors as one of the reasons to be eligible for medicinal pot. “There is a listing for cancer,” NJWeedman said, “but my condition, luckily for me, has been benign. Each time I’ve been tested (the tumors) have been benign, but they have to be removed, and medical marijuana does work.”

During the trial, NJWeedman said the prosecution has called him “a charlatain” whose use of bone tumor X-rays are part of his “gimmick.”

But the defendant said the part that hurts most is exposing his kids to the cancer Dr. Fenichel will say continues to ravage his right leg.

“At the end of the day I’m Ed Forchion,” he said. “I talk to my kids as Ed Forchion, and I’m in this trial as Ed Forchion. ... It’s tough to bring my kids to court to hear I have cancer. They’ve heard me refer to them as tumors and lumps.”

Source: The Trentonian

NEWS: Long Beach judge recuses himself from medical marijuana case before sentencing

LONG BEACH -- A local judge recused himself from a medical marijuana case at the 11th hour Wednesday, admitting he made a serious error when he sent a complimentary letter to the prosecutor prior to sentencing.

Long Beach Superior Court Judge Charles Sheldon voluntarily removed himself from the case of Joe Grumbine and Joe Byron, the owners and operators of a trio of medical marijuana collectives who were convicted of illegal drug sales last month.

In a stunning revelation that drew exclamations from many in the courtroom, Sheldon admitted he sent a "complimentary letter" to Deputy District Attorney Jodi Castano before the matter was finished.


"I don't know what I was thinking," Sheldon said, adding that he meant what he said in the missive, which was dated Jan. 5, but it was inappropriate to send while the case was still active.

His recusal drew raucous applause, cheers and shouts from a courtroom brimming with about 50 medical marijuana advocates who have rallied inside and outside the Long Beach courthouse throughout Grumbine and Byron's trial.

Defense Attorney Christopher Glew said outside court that the letter congratulated the prosecutor on a job well done and showed the judge's clear bias in case.

"I've never seen anything like it," Glew said. "But it was obvious from the start that Judge Sheldon was biased ... he said from the very beginning there are no legal sales of marijuana of any kind."

Grumbine and Byron were convicted Dec. 21 -- on 13 felony counts including illegal sales of narcotics, grand theft, and filing false tax returns -- following a roughly three week trial.

Supporters of the defendants insist the charges are nothing more than an attack by zealous police and prosecutors in violation of the state's medical marijuana law and have accused authorities of fabricating evidence.

Castano insisted in her opening statements to the jury the case was about two men using the sick and infirm as a shield for illegal drug deals.

"This case is not about whether people have the right to medical marijuana," Castano told the jury at the start of the trial last month. "This case is about two wolves in sheeps' clothing. It's about two men who were out to line their pockets ... with millions of dollars."

Grumbine and Byron were arrested in December of 2009 after police raided the three locations, two in Long Beach and one in Garden Grove.

The legal wrangling began long before the trial, with numerous motions heard as both sides sought to block some witnesses and evidence.

The district attorney and defendants' attorneys disagreed from the start over whether a medical marijuana defense could be presented. Initially, Sheldon ruled no such a defense would be allowed, said supporter Cheri Sicard.

Glew and co-defense Attorney Allison Margolin challenged Sheldon's ruling in a higher court and was awarded a judgement that required the lower court to allow the medical marijuana defense, Sicard said.

Nonetheless, police and prosecutors insisted the defendants used the collectives as profit-driven drug dealing operations run like stores with frequent flier cards, specials and discounts offered inside the businesses.

The defendants, Castano said, tried to hide the businesses by using fictitious business names. She also said the accused stole electricity from neighboring businesses to hide the large amount of power needed to grow the plants.

Bills were paid by money order to eliminate paper trials, the prosecutor noted. The defendants, she said, under-reported their sales tax for two years, pocketing more than $2 million.

Though Sheldon has recused himself from the case, the convictions still stand. However Glew and Margolin said they are preparing motions for a new trial, which will be heard in a new court, by Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani, on April 3.

The motions will include arguments that Sheldon's bias denied their clients a chance at a fair trial and will also cite juror misconduct, Glew said, referring to one jurors revelation post conviction that the group used the Internet to look up the definition of marijuana collectives even though they were instructed by the court that they could not use any outside source of information while deliberating the case.

Even the appointment of the new judge looked as though it was going to be a tough fight Wednesday morning, as Glew and Margolin told Long Beach Superior Court Supervising Judge James Otto they opposed the case being transferred to Comparet-Cassani.

Moments later, however, they withdrew their challenge of the venue.

Outside the courtroom, Glew explained that though he is concerned about Comparet-Cassani's strict ruling record the only other options left at the Long Beach Court would prove even more unfavorable to the defense's case.

"We don't have a lot of options for a fair trial in Long Beach," Glew said.

Source: Press-Telegram

NEWS: Trial Begins For Former Medical Marijuana Collective Manager

SAN DIEGO -- Opening statements are scheduled Monday for the former manager of a medical marijuana collective accused of illegally possessing and selling the drug.

Jovan Jackson -- himself a medical marijuana patient -- was acquitted last year of similar charges stemming from a raid at the Kearny Mesa collective in which an undercover detective bought marijuana in the summer of 2008.

The medical marijuana dispensary -- called Answerdam Alternative Care -- was also raided on Sept. 9, 2009, leading to the second set of charges against the 32-year-old Jackson.

Defense attorney Lance Rogers has said that part of the problem is the vagueness of the state law, which allows medical marijuana patients to grow the drug for medicinal purposes.

The California Attorney General's Office issued guidelines in 2008 on how medical marijuana could be grown and distributed, but those guidelines are interpreted differently in different counties.

Another problem is "cross-sworn officers" who are charged with enforcing both state and federal law, because all marijuana possession is illegal under federal law, Rogers said.

Jackson faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Source: 10 News - San Diego