Pubdate: Mon, 27 Nov 2000
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2000 The Trentonian
Address: 600 Perry St, Trenton, NJ 08618
Feedback: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1697&pag=460&dept_ID=44436
Website: http://www.trentonian.com
Author: Tom Fernandez, Staff Writer
Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.

UP IN SMOKE

Waiting in Canada for asylum in Cuba, the New Jersey Weedman is confident 
that he could argue out of existence the anti-marijuana laws in the Garden 
State.

If only he was given a chance.

"I didn't get a fair trial. I have a right to choose my defense. I have a 
right to legal assistance. I chose to challenge the laws with the jury and 
I am entitled to assistance from counsel to do this," said New Jersey 
pot-legalization activist Edward Forchion.

Calling The Trentonian from an undisclosed location in Canada, Forchion 
said he will find out today whether officials will grant him asylum in Cuba.

He also expressed conflicted emotions about his Canadian jaunt, declaring 
that he dearly missed his wife Janice and his five children: King, Daeja, 
Ajanea, Maria and Chanel.

"I'm a little stressed out and all. I don't know whether I made the right 
move or not," Forchion admitted over the phone.

The practicing Rastafarian, who stunned onlookers in March when he lit a 
joint in the chambers of the New Jersey Assembly, faces a sentencing 
hearing Friday for charges on conspiracy and possession of marijuana with 
intent to distribute.

Authorities allege that Forchion was part of a group that had shipped 25 
pounds of marijuana to a business in the Bellmawr Industrial Park.

In Oct., 1998, Forchion was indicted on the conspiracy and possession 
charges related to those allegations.

Forchion pleaded guilty in state Superior Court to these charges but 
subsequently filed a motion to retract the plea.

With Friday's sentencing hearing, Forchion could face up to 10 years in prison.

However, he argued that he will not officially become a fugitive from 
American law enforcement until Friday.

Forchion said that he will think about his next move after he receives the 
result of his asylum request from officials of Cuba, which he made last week.

"If nothing else, they took it seriously, I'll tell you that," he said.

He added that he also made requests for asylum in several European 
countries and is waiting for a response from those governments as well.

Forchion's argument for asylum is simple: He was denied a fair trial when 
officials denied him the right to use a legal defense known as "Jury 
Nullification."

In this process, a defendant indicted of charges outlined in a newly 
enacted law can argue to a jury that the law is bogus.

Forchion's argument was given support by a July 20, 1999 editorial written 
by Haddon Heights-based attorney David Marcos Ragonese -- who also stressed 
in the editorial that he did not approve of Forchion's lifestyle.

In that editorial, Ragonese wrote of "jury nullification" that "it is an 
indispensable political right in a free, self-governing republic."

Ragonese wrote later in the editorial that "jurors serving in New Jersey 
Superior Court are left in the dark regarding their power and right to pass 
on issues of law and fact in criminal prosecutions."

Admitting that whileconsitutions of only three states (Maryland, Georgia 
and Indiana) explicitly protect "the right and power of juries to nullify 
the law," Ragonese argued that "I would agree that the New Jersey 
Constitution implicitly recognizes jury nullification and commands that 
jurors be instructed regarding their proper function."

Even Camden's Assistant Deputy Public Defender Deborah C. Collins admitted 
to the power of "jury nullification" in a June 3, 1999 letter to Camden 
County Judge Ronald J. Freeman.

"Jury's power of nullification by finding guilty defendant not guilty is 
unfortunate but unavoidable power that should not be advertised, but to 
extent constitutionally permissible, should be limited; efforts to protect 
and expand jury nullification are inconsistent with real values of system 
of criminal justice," Collins wrote.

Forchion argues that the Camden Public Defender's Office should have 
allowed him and assisted his efforts to use jury nullification against New 
Jersey's anti-marijuana laws.

He argues that New Jersey's zero-tolerance pot policy is unrealistic given 
national trends of growing acceptance towards marijuana use for medicinal 
purposes -- which he said is legal in over 35 states.

"New Jersey marijuana laws, and the extreme prison sentences they 
prescribe, don't match up with the crime, nor with scientific fact or 
evidence."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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