cannabisnews.com: Pot Jury Tainted, Lawyers Claim





Pot Jury Tainted, Lawyers Claim
Posted by CN Staff on February 27, 2003 at 08:24:11 PT
By Josh Richman, Staff Writer 
Source: Oakland Tribune 
Attorneys for medical marijuana grower and federal convict Ed Rosenthal of Oakland on Wednesday gave a judge what they say is evidence of jury misconduct that could require a new trial. The papers say one of the federal jurors who convicted Rosenthal, 58, on Jan. 31 of three marijuana-related felonies, has admitted that during the trial she called a friend who is a lawyer. 
With misgivings about U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's instruction to ignore California's medical marijuana law, the juror asked her friend whether she had any wiggle room to exercise her own thoughts and conscience. The friend apparently told her she did not -- that she must follow the judge's instructions explicitly -- and the juror then shared this information with another juror. "We're not really sure what the judge is going to do with this, if there will be a hearing," Rosenthal spokeswoman Teresa Schilling said Wednesday evening. "It's hard to say at this point." The U.S. Attorney's office, which doesn't comment on pending cases, has until March 5 to respond to the papers filed Wednesday. "It is generally not proper for a jury to rely upon ... statements of the law from a source other than the trial court," said professor Charles Weisselberg, a criminal law expert at the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. "The question the court will wrestle with is, assuming this was not proper: How did it harm the defense?" Professor Franklin Zimring, also at Boalt Hall, predicted Breyer "is not going to be enormously receptive. The question is whether something like that is going to influence a judge to reverse a verdict, and the answer is probably not."Not a convincing hook Even as grounds for an appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he said, "I don't think these jury communications all by themselves will be a convincing hook." Federal agents raided Rosenthal's home, his West Oakland marijuana-growing facility and other sites a year ago. Although state and local laws permit medical use of marijuana, federal law bans all growing, possession and use.Possible lighter sentenceJurors were ordered not to consider state law, and weren't told of the Oakland ordinance meant to protect certain growers from prosecution. Rosenthal faces at least five years in federal prison at his June 4 sentencing, although Breyer has said he'll seek reasons to impose a lesser sentence. The two jurors cited in Wednesday's filing have been among the most vocal in stating their regret at having convicted Rosenthal; they said if they'd known about the city ordinance, they would have refused to convict no matter what federal law says.Note: Rosenthal's attorneys say juror received outside legal advice.Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)Author: Josh Richman, Staff WriterPublished:  Thursday, February 27, 2003Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: triblet angnewspapers.com Website: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Ed Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articleshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmJurors Say They Received Outside Legal Advice http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15579.shtmlPot Case Fuels Jury Power Debatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15556.shtmlWhen a Jury Should Just Say No http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15502.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by DCP on February 27, 2003 at 20:32:42 PT
IF THE SHOE HAD BEEN ON THE OTHR FOOT
You can bet that if the shoe had been on the other foot that the feds would be the first to scream NEW TRIAL!!
Consider if one or more of the jury had voted to acquit, thus hanging the jury, and it later came out that the juror had consulted a lawyer friend and had received advice on jury nullification, then what would the fed say? 
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Comment #6 posted by Michael Segesta on February 27, 2003 at 14:07:11 PT:
Losing the battle but winning the war....
I've heard more people say they are getting involved since Ed's case went down and putting Jeff in jail for three months will even mobilize more people. To me it looks like the feds are winning the battle but losing the war. Just too bad they don't know it.
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Comment #5 posted by Ethan Russo MD on February 27, 2003 at 14:00:03 PT:
A Sad Day
It is a shame to hear news like this. How does society benefit from jailing a fine young man like Jeff, who is trying to help sick people? Does anyone think he is going to change his views because of this experience? I sure doubt it. I hope the time passes quickly and safely for him.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 27, 2003 at 13:21:48 PT
Important E-Mail News 
Jeff Jones Sentenced to 3 Months for Jury Tampering 
    
 SACRAMENTO, Feb 27, 2003 Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative director Jeff Jones has been sentenced to 3 months in jail on federal charges of jury tampering. Jones was arrested for distributing literature outside the federal courthouse during jury selection for the marijuana cultivation trial of Bryan Epis last September. The literature was not prepared by Jones and was handed out by several other protesters who weren't arrested. It contained background information on Epis' case, in particular the fact that he was a Prop. 215 patient and was trying to grow for a Chico patients' group. Epis was later sentenced to 10 years following a trial in which he was not allowed to present this information to the jury. Jones pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of jury tampering to avoid more serious felony obstruction of justice charges. He will go to jail next Monday, March 3rd. California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer denounced Jones' sentence as an inexcusable misuse of law enforcement resources. "It's time that our federal government took action to reform the marijuana laws, rather than waste yet more taxpayers' money to perpetuate its blatantly unjust, bankrupt and unpopular policy," he said.-- 
----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
California NORML
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Comment #3 posted by WolfgangWylde on February 27, 2003 at 11:50:50 PT
I don't get it...
...so a juror heard from a friend the EXACT same thing she heard from the judge on an almost daily basis. Don't get me wrong, I want Mr. Rosenthal off the hook as much as the next guy, but this doesn't make much sense.
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Comment #2 posted by paulpeterson on February 27, 2003 at 09:33:55 PT
THE HOOK
This could be the hook that allows the judge to set aside a verdict that has been questioned by some 7 jurors so far, not a small number at that. The judge surely knows just how pivotal this "battle" is for further generations of busts and trials. No jury is likely to lack information as to how they might craft a just remedy, ever again.Perhaps the guy will want to be remembered as the "honest judge" that helped to right this wrong that clearly will be seen for wrong, hence, rather than the stodgy old fool that clung to a despicable ode to "decorum" to blindly (or not so blindly) perpetuate lies already known to be lies.PAUL PETERSON
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Comment #1 posted by Dark Star on February 27, 2003 at 08:57:40 PT
Unimpressed
Maybe Breyer will be unimpressed, but he should be. Any factor that would make a juror change their vote has swayed the outcome of the case.Right now there is no justice. The judiciary is stacked against medical marijuana, and the Feds insist it's Congress' responsibility to change it. Yeah, when pigs fly!The people have no choice but to nullify.
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