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Rosenthal Says Feds Are on a Mission to Shut Down Every Dispensary in State
Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal was reindicted by a federal
grand jury Thursday on a host of marijuana-related charges, roughly
six months after an appeals court tossed out his earlier convictions.
The superseding indictment filed Thursday contains 25 counts against
Rosenthal, 61, and two of his original co-defendants, Kenneth Hayes
and Richard Watts. Rosenthal faces 14 counts including conspiracy,
use of a place to manufacture marijuana for distribution,
manufacturing marijuana for distribution, laundering money from
marijuana sales, and filing false tax returns. "I knew they had a
grand jury but I didn't know what was going to happen," Rosenthal
said Thursday night. "What they're trying to do with these
indictments and with my continued persecution is to close down all of
the dispensaries in California, to deprive people of their medicine."
"It's not the way I planned to spend my time for the next year but
I'm resigned to it," he said, describing himself as an "everyman" who
won't be cowed. "Most people considering their circumstances for one
reason or another are forced to give in under the weight of
government pressure. I'm not only standing up for dispensaries but
for all these people who've been harassed and hounded by the government."
But he won't let it ruin his life, either. "We're still going out to
dinner tonight," he said wryly.
Famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he
wrote for High Times magazine, Rosenthal was convicted of three
marijuana-growing felonies in 2003, more than a year after federal
agents raided sites including his Oakland home, an Oakland warehouse
in which he was growing marijuana, and a San Francisco medical
marijuana club he supplied.
Medical use of marijuana on a doctor's recommendation is legal under
state law but prohibited by federal law, so Rosenthal was barred from
mounting a medical defense at trial. Breyer sentenced him to one day
behind bars -- time he'd already served.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his convictions in
April, finding juror misconduct -- a juror's conversation with an
attorney-friend during deliberations -- compromised Rosenthal's right
to a fair verdict and so warranted a new trial. But the court also
rejected Rosenthal's claim of immunity from prosecution as an officer
of Oakland who grew the drug under the city's medical marijuana
ordinance. The court in July refused Rosenthal's requests for
rehearing or for an "en banc" rehearing by a larger panel.
He and his lawyers appeared before Breyer in August and September as
prosecutors prepared to retry him on the original charges, even as
witnesses were being subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating new charges.
Watts was arrested and charged in the same 2002 raids which nabbed
Rosenthal, but injuries sustained in a car accident have kept him
from trial until now. Hayes fled to Canada to avoid prosecution.
Thursday's indictment essentially claims Rosenthal from October 2001
through February 2002 conspired with Hayes and Watts to grow
marijuana at sites on Sixth Street in San Francisco and on Mandela
Parkway in Oakland, laundered marijuana proceeds by buying four money
orders totaling $1,854 during that time and falsified tax returns for
1999, 2000 and 2001 by omitting income from his marijuana
distribution. Hayes and Watts face similar, related charges.
"With these new more serious charges, I think I'll get even more
community support," Rosenthal said Thursday. Citing recent federal
raids of Bay Area, Modesto and Granada Hills dispensaries, he said
his new indictment is part of "a concerted effort by the federal
government" to crack down on medical marijuana.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister www.420times.com
Pubdate: Fri, 13 Oct 2006
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Website: East Bay Times - Contra Costa and Alameda county news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle and commentary
Author: Josh Richman
Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal was reindicted by a federal
grand jury Thursday on a host of marijuana-related charges, roughly
six months after an appeals court tossed out his earlier convictions.
The superseding indictment filed Thursday contains 25 counts against
Rosenthal, 61, and two of his original co-defendants, Kenneth Hayes
and Richard Watts. Rosenthal faces 14 counts including conspiracy,
use of a place to manufacture marijuana for distribution,
manufacturing marijuana for distribution, laundering money from
marijuana sales, and filing false tax returns. "I knew they had a
grand jury but I didn't know what was going to happen," Rosenthal
said Thursday night. "What they're trying to do with these
indictments and with my continued persecution is to close down all of
the dispensaries in California, to deprive people of their medicine."
"It's not the way I planned to spend my time for the next year but
I'm resigned to it," he said, describing himself as an "everyman" who
won't be cowed. "Most people considering their circumstances for one
reason or another are forced to give in under the weight of
government pressure. I'm not only standing up for dispensaries but
for all these people who've been harassed and hounded by the government."
But he won't let it ruin his life, either. "We're still going out to
dinner tonight," he said wryly.
Famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he
wrote for High Times magazine, Rosenthal was convicted of three
marijuana-growing felonies in 2003, more than a year after federal
agents raided sites including his Oakland home, an Oakland warehouse
in which he was growing marijuana, and a San Francisco medical
marijuana club he supplied.
Medical use of marijuana on a doctor's recommendation is legal under
state law but prohibited by federal law, so Rosenthal was barred from
mounting a medical defense at trial. Breyer sentenced him to one day
behind bars -- time he'd already served.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his convictions in
April, finding juror misconduct -- a juror's conversation with an
attorney-friend during deliberations -- compromised Rosenthal's right
to a fair verdict and so warranted a new trial. But the court also
rejected Rosenthal's claim of immunity from prosecution as an officer
of Oakland who grew the drug under the city's medical marijuana
ordinance. The court in July refused Rosenthal's requests for
rehearing or for an "en banc" rehearing by a larger panel.
He and his lawyers appeared before Breyer in August and September as
prosecutors prepared to retry him on the original charges, even as
witnesses were being subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating new charges.
Watts was arrested and charged in the same 2002 raids which nabbed
Rosenthal, but injuries sustained in a car accident have kept him
from trial until now. Hayes fled to Canada to avoid prosecution.
Thursday's indictment essentially claims Rosenthal from October 2001
through February 2002 conspired with Hayes and Watts to grow
marijuana at sites on Sixth Street in San Francisco and on Mandela
Parkway in Oakland, laundered marijuana proceeds by buying four money
orders totaling $1,854 during that time and falsified tax returns for
1999, 2000 and 2001 by omitting income from his marijuana
distribution. Hayes and Watts face similar, related charges.
"With these new more serious charges, I think I'll get even more
community support," Rosenthal said Thursday. Citing recent federal
raids of Bay Area, Modesto and Granada Hills dispensaries, he said
his new indictment is part of "a concerted effort by the federal
government" to crack down on medical marijuana.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister www.420times.com
Pubdate: Fri, 13 Oct 2006
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Website: East Bay Times - Contra Costa and Alameda county news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle and commentary
Author: Josh Richman
