cannabisnews.com: Man Acquitted in Pot Case





Man Acquitted in Pot Case
Posted by CN Staff on March 28, 2008 at 05:24:52 PT
By Nicole King and Sean Thomas, Amarillo Globe-New
Source: Amarillo Globe-News
Texas -- A man acquitted of marijuana possession in an Amarillo court Tuesday said he's going to try prescription drugs to combat his nausea and vomiting.Tim Stevens, 53, was arrested in October by Amarillo police and charged with possessing less than four grams of marijuana. He has Human Immunodeficiency Virus and says he uses the marijuana for medicinal purposes.
An Amarillo jury acquitted Stevens, who suffers from nausea and cyclical vomiting syndrome, which causes chronic vomiting. Stevens said he'd never been in trouble with the law before and was pleased with the verdict."I feel good in the sense that I think that it's pretty clear the public is ahead of the government. There are some compassionate uses of marijuana," he said.Attorney Jeff Blackburn, who represented Stevens, said he hopes the case will set a far-reaching "political precedent."Stevens' defense centered around the necessity defense - the necessity that Stevens uses marijuana for medical purposes to avoid imminent harm was of greater importance than the law being broken, Blackburn said."I think this could easily represent a trend, and I strongly, strongly hope other medical marijuana users will get aggressive lawyers and fight any charges that come their way," Blackburn said. "If jurors in a conservative part of a conservative state are willing to give a guy like Tim a break, I bet they are in other parts of the state."Potter County Attorney Scott Brumley said Stevens had enough marijuana to roll eight joints."Had this guy been in his home using it, it is reasonable to say this issue wouldn't have come up," Brumley said. "This guy isn't the first one who has come to court with a sad story to supposedly excuse criminal conduct."In the end, our position was and continues to be the law doesn't allow for medicinal marijuana. ... Until the legislature decides different, our job is not to decide what the law should be."Dr. Steve Jenison testified in Stevens' case as an ordinary citizen on the use of medicinal marijuana. "A lot of these people who are using it medically smoke a really, really small amount of it and derive a benefit from those small doses. Most of them aren't at it to get high," said Jenison, medical director for the New Mexico Department of Health's Infectious Disease Bureau.Stevens said he is going to get a prescription for a pharmaceutical version of marijuana known as Marinol, though he's doubtful it will stay in his system long enough to work. "Hopefully, I won't have to take something like that every day," he said. "I will abide by Texas law or relocate to New Mexico, where ... (it's) available to people like me." Note: Says he used marijuana medicinally.Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)Author: Nicole King and Sean Thomas, Amarillo Globe-News Published: Friday, March 28, 2008Copyright: 2008 Amarillo Globe-NewsWebsite: http://amarillonet.com/Contact: letters amarillonet.comCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by john wayne on March 30, 2008 at 02:29:51 PT
Holy Effing Feces
This was in Texas, folks.I smell prohibitionist blood.
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Comment #6 posted by charmed quark on March 29, 2008 at 14:17:02 PT
why did they arrest him in the first place
"In October, Stevens felt a cycle starting and bought ten dollars worth of marijuana. An anonymous tip led to his arrest for possession. But officers did not have to arrest Stevens, they could have written him a ticket."
http://www.kvii.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=113432Why in the world were the police wasting resources on this? They even threw him in jail until he could post bond.Well, the outcome of their incredible jihad has had results they perhaps didn't foresee.
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Comment #5 posted by RevRayGreen on March 28, 2008 at 14:57:45 PT
In my back pocket now
that and jury nulification. See you in May PP......
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Comment #4 posted by paulpeterson on March 28, 2008 at 14:48:50 PT
Too bad you didn't know the magic words
"Compulsion"...since the judge obviously didn't know that was a MM necessity defense, eh?
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Comment #3 posted by RevRayGreen on March 28, 2008 at 14:33:10 PT
Paul
I used a medical marijuana defense for a probabtion violation from the original posession charge of less than 1 gram. The judge said she didn't doubt there is medical benefit for me but gave me six days in county to complete my probation due to Iowa law.
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Comment #2 posted by user123 on March 28, 2008 at 11:56:57 PT:
Better Thee than Me
Potter County Attorney Scott Brumley said Stevens had enough marijuana to roll eight joints."Had this guy been in his home using it, it is reasonable to say this issue wouldn't have come up," Brumley said. "This guy isn't the first one who has come to court with a sad story to supposedly excuse criminal conduct.What idiots like Brumley mean is - "I don't feel sick, so therefore you must not be sick. You're faking it."May he or someone in his family always be so lucky that they don't come down w/something that MMJ helps. Cause if they do, 50% of idiots like Brumley won't believe them anyway.
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Comment #1 posted by paulpeterson on March 28, 2008 at 10:05:51 PT
MEDICAL NECESSITY DEFENSE FINALLY HITS
Many states have a codified "medical necessity" defense, but it is almost never heard from. Sometimes, it gets "swept under the rug", under different wording.For instance, if you want to find it in IOWA LAW, you have to go to "COMPULSION DEFENSE", under paragraph 704, I believe (this is from memory, folks).No attorney in Iowa I've talked to has even heard of it before. "COMPULSION?" they say, "WHERE?". Then they shake their heads and get away fast. You see, in two years, before the mast here, in 6 cases so far, NO IOWA MAGISTRATE OR JUDGE HAS EVER BEEN WILLING TO EVEN AGREE TO TEST THE "CONSTITUTIONALITY" OF ANY STATE LAW OR APPLY ANY "DEFENSE" THEORY. I can't even get an order, even mentioning the word.The Iowa Supreme Court, in fact, DISSED MY APPEAL, with an order, dated 1/23/08, with just a few words like DENIED, and "4 pending small claims" (like they were 4 small potato civil matters), BUT WAIT-THAT JUDGE DIDN'T EVEN READ THE CAPTION-which said it was a criminal setup. Oops-then 1/25/08, they changed the order-to "4 pending simple misdemeanors", but of course, they forgot the MOST GLARING ERROR IN REASONING-I APPEALED TO REOPEN ONE OF THE FOUR CASES THAT WAS DISMISSED OVER MY OBJECTION-because I need to get evidence that a "SMALL POTATO" COP, actually the big chip himself, CHIEF OF POLICE MARK PROSSER, criminally assaulted me.And if the Iowa Supreme Court says that case is "HAINES", it is "HAINES", right? I mean if the big Cahunas (the Supremes, that is), dance to the drummer, that makes that the song of the hour, don't it?So why can't I get any judge in Iowa to give up the ghost and give me the goods, eh? Because they are CODDLING CRIMINAL CRONIES, and that's that.And by the way, a FEDERAL MAGISTRATE in a Wild West town called SIOUX CITY, IOWA, the last river boat town on the MIGHTY MISSOURI RIVER, about as high up in the plaines that river boats can go, on their way to those DEADHEADS out in DEADWOOD, SD, just ordered that STORM LAKE CHIEF OF POLICE MARK PROSSER (and his gang of minions in the STORM LAKE POLICE DEPARTMENT, 6 strong on that squad of goons) ARE IN LIKE FLINT IN MY FEDERAL CONSPIRACY CASE, FILED UNDER C08-4005 for $30 MILLION SMACKERS, and that's that.And at least that Federal Magistrate has allowed me to sue the IOWA ATTORNEY GENERAL, so as to get a constitutional review of various state laws, WHICH AIN'T TOO SHABBY, either, folks.He even gave me a nice "SCORECARD", WHICH LISTS EACH ONE FOR THE VARIOUS CRIMINAL AND CONSPIRACY COUNTS, EACH ONE IS IN FOR, so I can do a "scratch and play", and keep up to snuff on which "X" marks which box, and I bet that means the FBI will want to keep up to snuff on this one, also.Just like for that philandering DETROIT MAYOR, that got taken to the cleaners with 18 MILLION paid out in hush money, that didn't keep hushed up. AND ONCE THOSE "RACY" TEXT MESSAGES got out of the barn, THE WAYNE COUNTY PROSECUTOR HAD TO ACT-now there are 15 felony counts-MOSTLY PERJURY, filed against him and his "AFFAIR TO REMEMBER", and that wouldn't have happened, if the "GOODS" DIDN'T GET AIRED IN THE WIND, EH?So here is the plot ploy: GET THEM IN CIVIL COURT, GET A CIVIL CASE TO "STICK", then get PRESS ABOUT THE FULL COURT PRESS, in whatever "CIVIL ACTION" A GUY HAS TO BRING, then get A PROSECUTOR FORCED TO LOOK AT WHAT THEY NEVER, EVER WANT TO HAVE TO LOOK AT, and then they are FORCED TO TAKE DOWN THE GOONS, THAT HAVE DONE WRONG, EH?Dave Patton, BV County Prosecutor, are you watching this? I mean, are you getting the wind change here? How about you, "SNAKES"? That would be Deputy Chief of POLICE, OF STORM LAKE, IOWA, TODD ERSKINE (I named him "Snakes", and its a good one, eh?).And as the sun sinks slowly into the Sunset, the Lone Ranger, rears up on his trusty steed, and rides out into the Sunset, with a "Hi-Oh Silver", and that's that.Stay tuned, sports fans, as we start to "X" the spots on a whole list of conspiracy crimes, by conspiracy criminals, some people call police, here in the Wild West "Badlands" of Northwest, Iowa, and I'll let you know if and when I get to see handcuffs placed on worthy wrists, the conspiracy criminals that are in my sights, right now (just a metaphor, of course, I turned in my firearm to the local Sheriff, and I'm thankful I did, right after Thanksgiving, last year, so nobody gets to say I'm a "gunman", caught napping, with some firearm somebody wants to worry about, eh?).PAUL PETERSON, No Silver Bullet, just real live conspiracy charges, that I put in print, and I'm just waiting for justice to hit its mark, and that's that.
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