Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 2010
Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Pueblo Chieftain
Contact: http://www.chieftain.com/forms/letters/
Website: http://www.chieftain.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613
Author: Jeff Tucker

POT CASE GETS SPLIT VERDICTS

A Beulah man's conviction 'sets up' patients, some charge.

A Pueblo jury took nearly eight hours Saturday to  decide that a 
Beulah marijuana farmer was innocent of  cultivating marijuana, but 
guilty of possessing it.

The 12 men and women were asked to settle the question  of whether 
Thomas Sexton, 55, was legally growing 128  marijuana plants on his 
property off Siloam Road or  whether he used the vague language of 
Colorado's  medical marijuana law to manipulate the system into 
getting a higher plant count.

The past week was filled with testimony about the  legality of 
medical marijuana, the botany behind  growing the plant and a growing 
body of scientific  evidence suggesting marijuana is useful for many  ailments.

But for advocates looking to the Sexton case as a test  for Amendment 
20, they may have to look elsewhere.

"I think in regard to the medical marijuana law, there  is so little 
guidance for somebody who chooses to use  medicinal marijuana and 
cultivate it, it's almost a  setup for failure for anybody who sticks 
their neck out  and tries," said Sexton's attorney, Karl Tameler. 
Sexton expressed his own frustration, noting that he's  followed 
every piece of legal advice he's given to stay  within the law.

"I don't know how to be any more impeccable than to  follow the law," 
he said. "I've taken every step I know  how to follow the law."

District Attorney Anthony Marzavas said he respected  the jury's decision.

"They certainly put a lot of thought into this, that's  for sure," he said.

He also noted the difficulty presented by the law's  language and 
said he hoped the Legislature would be  able to clarify some of it.

Other's of Sexton's supporters were frustrated with 
the  contradiction of the verdict.

"How can you be found guilty of one and not the other?"  said Robert 
Love, one of three people whose extended  plant counts were at the 
center of the case.

"I feel like this sets up every state-registered  medical marijuana 
patient for prosecution," he said.

Tameler said he was disappointed with the outcome of  the trial and 
believed that he had presented sufficient  evidence that each of 
Sexton's plant would have been  used for medicinal purposes.

The medical marijuana law allows patients and their  caregivers to 
possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana and  six plants.

The law allows patients and caregivers to defend their  possession of 
greater amounts of marijuana if they can  exhibit a justifiable medical need.

When Pueblo County sheriffs deputies raided Sexton's  farm Aug. 14, 
2007, Sexton provided them with a  notebook containing medical 
marijuana registry cards  for seven people and three physician 
recommendations  allowing Sexton, Love and Angeline Medina to have 
more  than six plants.

Sexton was listed as caregiver to Love. Love was listed  as caregiver 
to Sexton and Love's wife was caregiver to  Medina.

But Marzavas and Deputy District Attorney Steve Jones  painted the 
caregivers as a social group and suggested  the added plant counts 
were negotiated rather than  medically justified.

They also argued that the medical marijuana garden was  started 
before Love, Medina and Sexton got  recommendations for the extended 
plant counts.

Sexton is scheduled to be in court March 1 to get a  sentencing date.
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