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A Big Rapids man licensed as a medical marijuana patient and caregiver pleaded guilty to federal charges after a judge denied his request to invoke Michigan's medical marijuana law as a defense at trial.
John Clemens Marcinkewciz II pleaded guilty Thursday to manufacture of 100 or more marijuana plants and conspiracy. Both charges carry a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
His girlfriend, Shelley Renee Waldron, earlier pleaded guilty to manufacturing 100 or more plants, while his nephew, Jaycob Peter Montague, pleaded guilty to manufacturing 50 or more plants.
Marcinkewciz's attorney had asked a judge to either dismiss the indictments or allow his client to assert the state's medical marijuana law as a defense.
U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell said the request lacked legal merit.
"Even if (Marcinkewciz) was in compliance with the (medical marijuana law), state medical-marijuana laws do not supersede federal laws that criminalize the possession or manufacture of marijuana," Bell wrote in an opinion.
Marcinkewciz and Waldron were licensed patients and caregivers under the state's medical marijuana law, court records said.
Federal prosecutors filed charges after Mecosta County prosecutors filed, then dismissed, charges.
Defense attorneys conceded that federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have upheld the federal government's authority to prosecute marijuana cases despite state laws protecting medical marijuana patients and caregivers.
"However, defendants respectfully submit, that the trend in this country is for more and more states to enact medical marijuana laws and that notwithstanding the prior federal court rulings, eventually, individual states will have the power to regulate the use of marijuana, just as they currently regulate the use and distribution of alcohol," attorney Leon Weiss wrote in a court filing.
"In the meantime, your defendants herein face the prospect of federal criminal convictions and long prison terms, for conduct that the proofs would show, was within the lawful, permissible activities of their state law governing medical marijuana ... .
"This has created a collision course between the state and federal laws, the result of which is the destruction of the constitutional rights of the accused defendants herein and the rights and ability of the defendants to present a thorough, fair and competent defense at trial, so as to totally eradicate their fundamental right to due process of law."
The attorney said state medical marijuana laws have been "judicially 'repealed' by federal court rulings. ... This state law has no legitimate effect, if this prosecution is allowed to continue with the complete ignoring of the (Michigan medical marijuana law), as if it never existed at all."
The judge had granted a federal prosecutor's motion to preclude the defense from using the medical marijuana law as a defense at trial.
Assistant U.S Attorney Rene Shekmer said the Central Michigan Enforcement Team used a search warrant in July 19, 2011, to enter a storage building in Mecosta Township and found 88 plants.
Police found another 120 plants at the Big Rapids home of Marcinewciz and Waldron, records said.
Police had received multiple tips that "Marcinkewciz was involved in a large-scale growing of marijuana," Shekmer wrote in court papers.
Shekmer said Michigan's law would not allow the defendants to grow so many plants, or have a cooperative grow operation.
Marcinkewciz had a 2005 conviction for possessing 25 to 49 grams of a controlled substance in Cheboygan County, records showed.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: mlive.com
Author: John Agar
Contact: Contact Us - MLive.com
Website: Attorney: Federal prosecution gives Michigan's medical marijuana law 'no legitimate effect' | MLive.com
John Clemens Marcinkewciz II pleaded guilty Thursday to manufacture of 100 or more marijuana plants and conspiracy. Both charges carry a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
His girlfriend, Shelley Renee Waldron, earlier pleaded guilty to manufacturing 100 or more plants, while his nephew, Jaycob Peter Montague, pleaded guilty to manufacturing 50 or more plants.
Marcinkewciz's attorney had asked a judge to either dismiss the indictments or allow his client to assert the state's medical marijuana law as a defense.
U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell said the request lacked legal merit.
"Even if (Marcinkewciz) was in compliance with the (medical marijuana law), state medical-marijuana laws do not supersede federal laws that criminalize the possession or manufacture of marijuana," Bell wrote in an opinion.
Marcinkewciz and Waldron were licensed patients and caregivers under the state's medical marijuana law, court records said.
Federal prosecutors filed charges after Mecosta County prosecutors filed, then dismissed, charges.
Defense attorneys conceded that federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have upheld the federal government's authority to prosecute marijuana cases despite state laws protecting medical marijuana patients and caregivers.
"However, defendants respectfully submit, that the trend in this country is for more and more states to enact medical marijuana laws and that notwithstanding the prior federal court rulings, eventually, individual states will have the power to regulate the use of marijuana, just as they currently regulate the use and distribution of alcohol," attorney Leon Weiss wrote in a court filing.
"In the meantime, your defendants herein face the prospect of federal criminal convictions and long prison terms, for conduct that the proofs would show, was within the lawful, permissible activities of their state law governing medical marijuana ... .
"This has created a collision course between the state and federal laws, the result of which is the destruction of the constitutional rights of the accused defendants herein and the rights and ability of the defendants to present a thorough, fair and competent defense at trial, so as to totally eradicate their fundamental right to due process of law."
The attorney said state medical marijuana laws have been "judicially 'repealed' by federal court rulings. ... This state law has no legitimate effect, if this prosecution is allowed to continue with the complete ignoring of the (Michigan medical marijuana law), as if it never existed at all."
The judge had granted a federal prosecutor's motion to preclude the defense from using the medical marijuana law as a defense at trial.
Assistant U.S Attorney Rene Shekmer said the Central Michigan Enforcement Team used a search warrant in July 19, 2011, to enter a storage building in Mecosta Township and found 88 plants.
Police found another 120 plants at the Big Rapids home of Marcinewciz and Waldron, records said.
Police had received multiple tips that "Marcinkewciz was involved in a large-scale growing of marijuana," Shekmer wrote in court papers.
Shekmer said Michigan's law would not allow the defendants to grow so many plants, or have a cooperative grow operation.
Marcinkewciz had a 2005 conviction for possessing 25 to 49 grams of a controlled substance in Cheboygan County, records showed.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: mlive.com
Author: John Agar
Contact: Contact Us - MLive.com
Website: Attorney: Federal prosecution gives Michigan's medical marijuana law 'no legitimate effect' | MLive.com
