Pubdate: Fri, 11 Sep 2009
Source: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (MI)
Copyright: 2009 Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Kk1qVKJf
Website: http://www.livingstondaily.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4265
Author: Lisa Roose-Church
Referenced: Initiated Law 1 of 2008 http://micares.org/
Referenced: Michigan Medical Marihuana Program 
http://drugsense.org/url/nDFeNDPs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana

JUDGE: POT LAW DOESN'T APPLY IN LIVINGSTON COUNTY CASE

A judge denied a defense attorney's request Thursday to dismiss 
marijuana charges lodged against his client, who claims he needs the 
illegal drug for medicinal purposes.

Livingston County District Judge L. Suzanne Geddis said defendant 
Michael Francis Collins could not retroactively apply the state's 
medical marijuana law, and she denied his request to dismiss a charge 
of possession of marijuana lodged against the 52-year-old man.

Collins' attorney, L. Bert Beurmann, immediately told Geddis that he 
will appeal her decision to the county Circuit Court. He declined to 
discuss the case after the hearing.

Collins was charged after county sheriff's officials discovered 
marijuana in Collins' home on Skyview Court in March. The find came 
after the officers went to the home to arrest a relative of Collins' 
who was wanted on an outstanding warrant.

Beurmann argued Collins could not be charged because the state 
Department of Community Health issued his client a registration card 
April 21 under the state's Medical Marijuana Act that says he can use 
marijuana to treat his Hepatitis C. He wanted an evidentiary hearing 
to prove his client's claim.

Section 8 of the law grants an affirmative defense and dismissal of 
criminal charges to patients under the act.

Michigan's medical marijuana law went into effect in December, but 
prosecutors argue it did not take full effect until the following 
April when rules for the state identification cards needed to verify 
a person was using marijuana for medicinal purposes were available.

As a result, Assistant Prosecutor Angela Del Vero said the state law 
could not be applied retroactively and that Collins was not entitled 
under the law to the hearing he sought.

To support her argument, Del Vero pointed to the case of Ryan Andrew 
Burke, a Hartland Township man charged with possession of marijuana 
with intent to deliver, a four-year felony, and a misdemeanor charge 
of possession of marijuana after undercover narcotics officers 
received a tip Aug. 18, 2008, that he was growing marijuana at his 
Pine Hill Trail home.

Burke also is arguing his alleged marijuana is for medicinal 
purposes. In Burke's case, Circuit Judge David Reader ruled in April 
the medical marijuana law cannot be applied retroactively.

The Michigan Court of Appeals in August declined to hear Burke's 
appeal and the case is currently set for a Sept. 18 status conference 
before Reader.

Beurmann said Reader's decision in the Burke case does not apply 
because Burke was arrested more than 100 days before the law went 
into effect, whereas his client's alleged offense occurred more than 
three months after the law went into effect. 
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