I've been avoiding the whole medical marijuana issue, for no other reason that the arguments tend to be muddy, expansive, and the goals are not altogether clear.
But there appear to be clear divisions between states trying for statutory innovation in this area, and the ham-fisted federal government. Charlie Lynch, who apparently carefully followed all state laws regarding his business in this area, was busted by the feds anyway.
I guess "states rights" for the federales only applies to state efforts to expand gun rights and restrict abortions.
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Jury finds defendant Charlie Lynch guilty of crimes alleged by the US Government
The verdict handed down from the jury was not unexpected. But make no mistake, justice will not be served by putting a reputable citizen in jail for helping sick people improve their quality of life.
Unfortunately, in our here-there-everywhere culture most citizens of this country miss the fundamental foundation upon which we base our vast criminal justice system on. And most of us barely know our true inaliable rights.
My heart goes out to Charlie L and his family. Charlie is innocent. He deserves a parade and medal of honor for his effort and diligence in this struggle.
Sentencing is likely to happen this fall and is up the Judge, it could be 100 years according to the sentencing guidelines. He will issue sentences for each of the 5 counts seperately. I hope you will join me in sending thoughts of generousity to Judge Wu while he deliberates.
"We, all of us, thought he was a good man. None of us doubted that. His intentions were good and he...got tangled up. . .But we thought that he had broken the law. There was nothing else we could do. We wanted to give him every benefit of the doubt."
-That is what the Forewoman of the jury told me. Every other juror ran from the room like a bat-outta-hell. They were noticibly disturbed, and seemed not to want to have anything to do with this case. My pov is that they didn't really know what was going on and they were scared to find out. Maybe they were scared to care.
I hope that these jurors have a chance to reflect on this matter in its entirety now that they have been released from their Civic Duty. And will come back in the future to support this "good man". The jurors did the best they could with the information they were given. It is not their fault that hardly any of us know our rights as a juror.
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