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Newshawk: Jane Marcus
Pubdate: Tue, 18 Feb 2003
Source: San Mateo County Times, The (CA)
Copyright: 2003, MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87%257E2524%257E,00.html
Website: http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/392
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
ROSENTHAL VERDICT CHEAPENS AMERICAN JUSTICE
IT'S not every day jurors apologize to the person they convicted just
days after they issued their verdict. But that's exactly what happened
in the trial of Ed Rosenthal, convicted of three federal felonies for
cultivating marijuana. He faces between five and 85 years in prison.
Jurors said if they had known Rosenthal was acting as an officer of
Oakland under a city ordinance to grow marijuana for cooperatives and
patients for medical use, they would never have convicted him. Oakland's law is in accordance with California's Proposition 215,
approved by voters in 1996 to permit marijuana use for medical
purposes. Not coincidentally, Rosenthal's official role for the city
was the one fact the judge went to great lengths to keep from the jurors.
We think the trial of Rosenthal was more of a persecution than a
prosecution. The conviction should be appealed and overturned. The
case is a true test of the higher courts' respect for states' rights. More important, any trial that leaves jurors feeling they have been
manipulated and misled is a disservice to our system of justice.
[Remainder snipped]
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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