Pubdate: Sat, 31 Jan 2004
Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2004, Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Dave Kopel
Note: Dave Kopel is research director at the Independence Institute, an 
attorney and author of 10 books. He can be reached at  
MountainNews.com.

KOPEL: POST GETS MEDICAL POT STORY RIGHT

Dispute Over Hayden Man's Possession Of Marijuana Is Not Yet In Federal Court

The Denver Post excelled and the Rocky Mountain News did not in reporting 
the latest legal development in the Hayden medical marijuana case. Last 
year, a group of federal and state agents raided the home of a 57-year-old 
man in Hayden who possessed marijuana in accordance with Colorado's medical 
marijuana law. A Routt County judge threw out the case and ordered the 
agents to return the man's marijuana. When the agents refused, the judge 
threatened to find them in contempt of court.

On Jan. 23, as accurately reported in the Post on Jan. 25, the U.S. 
attorney's office filed papers in federal court, asking that the state case 
be "removed" from state to federal court. Removal is a procedure by which a 
federal court can take jurisdiction over a state court case. The Post 
article explained the legal procedures, and made it clear that the federal 
court has not yet ruled on the U.S. attorney's effort to remove the case.

In contrast, the News article on Jan. 24 began, "U.S. authorities moved a 
conflict between federal and Colorado marijuana laws to federal court 
Friday, snatching it from a Colorado judge . . ." The News incorrectly 
claimed that the case had already been "moved."

The News vaguely referred to "U.S. authorities," while the Post specified 
that the office of the U.S. attorney had filed the motion.

The News never explained the procedure for moving a case from state to 
federal court, while the Post accurately explained "removal" and quoted 
from the U.S. attorney's motion arguing why removal should be granted in 
the Hayden case.

Part of the problem with the News article, I learned, was that editors cut 
too much from the reporter's orignal story. Also, the reporter reasonably 
relied on mistaken information from a U.S. attorney's spokesman; the 
spokesman thought that removal is self-executing. Instead, removal is 
automatically self-executing in civil cases, but not in criminal cases. At 
the time the reporter talked with the spokesman, the federal court clerk 
had not yet decided to classify the case as a criminal case.

According to the Post, there has been a decline in the most lucrative 
contracts for baseball players. The Post reported on Jan. 20 that "the 
number of four- and five-year deals has tumbled 800 percent since the 
signing period of 2000-01." Actually, it's impossible for anything to 
decline "800 percent." Once something declines by 100 percent, it's 
completely gone.

The News reported on Jan. 28 that Gary Hart's victory in the 1984 New 
Hampshire primary was a "last gasp," and that after winning New Hampshire, 
Hart's campaign "faded."

In fact, Hart followed up the New Hampshire win with crushing victories in 
Maine and Vermont, and followed those wins by capturing seven of nine 
states on Super Tuesday. Hart ended up winning 26 states, and seriously 
contesting the nomination until the last day of primaries, when Walter 
Mondale won a majority of delegates by winning the New Jersey primary.

Appearing on Page 6A of the Jan. 25 Post was an article about Mel Gibson's 
controversial new film, The Passion of the Christ. The article was written 
by Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times. Rutten pens an opinion column 
called "Regarding the Media" for the arts and entertainment section of the 
Times.

When I spoke with Rutten, he was shocked that the Post had taken his 
opinion column and run it in the national news section.

Rutten said, and I agree, that opinion columns should be clearly labeled as 
such, and it is inappropriate to repackage an opinion column as if it were 
news.

Post sports columnist Adam Schefter knows more about professional football 
than almost anyone in the state of Colorado. So how did he do in his Jan. 2 
predictions for the NFL playoffs?

Schefter foresaw that tomorrow's Super Bowl would feature Philadelphia 
versus Denver. But what actually happened was that Denver was crushed in 
the first round of the playoffs, and Philadelphia lost the NFC conference 
title game. Of the four teams that advanced to the conference finals, 
Schefter only forecast one (Philadelphia).

Schefter is not a lazy or ill-informed columnist; he's just the opposite. 
My point is that it's very difficult for even the best-informed pundits to 
forecast sports - and it's at least as difficult for pundits for forecast 
politics or the economy. So during the 2004 political season, don't let 
pundit forecasts influence your behavior too much.

According to the punditocracy, George Bush has gone from being unbeatable 
(as of late 2003) to being in desperate trouble (these days); pundit 
opinion will probably shift a few more times during the election season. 
Among the Democrats, the conventional wisdom of late 2003 pronounced John 
Kerry dead, and now the c.w. says that Kerry is unstoppable.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman