Pubdate: Wed, 28 May 2014
Source: Oakland Press, The (MI)
Copyright: 2014 The Oakland Press
Contact:  http://www.theoaklandpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2114
Author: Charles Crumm

MEDICAL MARIJUANA HAS KEEGO MAN IN LIMBO

Pete Trzos is in limbo.

Nearly 16 months after the medical marijuana dispensary he opened in
Holly - with village approval - was promptly raided, the case against
him is on hold in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Facing multiple felony charges for possession and delivery of
marijuana and unable to work because of it, he passes the days, his
medical degree unused and useless while awaiting his day in court.

Neither he nor his attorneys are exactly sure when that day will
come.

The case is stalled pending the outcome of appeals of other cases to
the Michigan Supreme Court that could affect it.

"We don't have any idea," Trzos' attorney David Rudoi said. "It should
be before the end of the year. But the Supreme Court is very
mysterious."

Prosecutions and court cases continue to define Michigan's medical
marijuana law, five-and-a-half years after voters overwhelmingly
approved it, leaving some in limbo and some with criminal records.

The Oakland Press has followed this case since its beginning as part
of ongoing scrutiny of Michigan's medical marijuana law, conducting
interviews along the way. Some have been willing to participate in the
continuing story. Some haven't.

HADN'T MADE ENOUGH TO PAY RENT

Trzos, now 33, opened the dispensary in late January 2013 with the
belief it was allowed by a ballot proposal approved by voters in 2008
that legalized medical marijuana.

The business didn't last long.

Called Well Greens, a play on the Walgreens drugstore chain name,
police raided the business at 15190 North Holly Road shortly after it
opened and arrested Trzos. Police reported they recovered 11 ounces of
marijuana, $770 and business records.

"I hadn't even made enough money to pay my rent," he said in an
interview with The Oakland Press a few months after his arrest.

The Holly raid was just the beginning.

A SECOND RAID

Police also raided the Keego Harbor home of his parents, where Pete
Trzos was staying.

The temperature was in the teens when Phil Trzos, Pete's father,
arrived home to find the door of his three-story, 5,000-square-foot
lakefront home broken in.

Phil Trzos had made the roughly 200-pound solid front door himself and
designed it to be sturdy, and said police used a battering device that
concentrates force to shatter the door latch enough to get into the
house.

Trzos said a notice from police who executed the search warrant had
been tossed on the floor near the door, listing what had been taken,
and that the door was left open.

"I don't know how many hours it was open," Phil Trzos said. "My wife
and I hand-built the door. It's not replaceable."

Phil Trzos said he considers the raid on his home in Keego Harbor to
be intimidation since the search warrant could have been served at his
nearby heating and cooling business.

Oakland County Sheriff's Lt. Brent Miles responded in an April 1, 2014
email:

"NET (Narcotics Enforcement Team) investigators knocked on the
residence numerous times without a response. Investigators exhausted
all efforts before forcing entry into the home. NET investigators
learned that the father had a business only after the execution of the
search warrant. The dad was not the focus of the investigation."

DEEP ROOTS IN KEEGO HARBOR

Phil Trzos originally owned just a small lakefront ranch and, over the
years, bought land next to it. He remodeled it to make a large,
three-level house, doing much of the work himself.

The home is within walking distance from the heating and cooling
business on Orchard Lake Road started by Phil Trzos' father in 1945
that still bears the senior Trzos' name, Otto A. Trzos Co.

Phil Trzos, now 68, still works the business where he employs more
than a half-dozen people at any given time, and his wife keeps the
books.

An avid golfer and bowler, Phil Trzos previously served on the Keego
Harbor Planning Commission.

News reports at the time of the raid of his home said police seized
three pounds of marijuana at the home, $900, eight handguns, vials of
anabolic steroids, a pair of brass knuckles and more business records
for Well Greens.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office, at the time, didn't mince its
words.

"This was not a compassionate guy trying to relieve someone's pain. It
was a front for an illegal drug operation," Oakland County
Undersheriff Mike McCabe was quoted as saying.

Additional charges that came weeks later against Pete Trzos included
possession with intent to deliver marijuana, possession of metallic
knuckles, possession of a controlled substance, and two counts of
possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony from the
presence of firearms and marijuana at the home.

There were no charges against Pete Trzos' parents, but some firearms
belonging to his father, Phil Trzos, were confiscated.

For the Trzos family, it was time to hire an attorney.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES

They picked Royal Oak attorney David Rudoi and Southfield attorney
Michael Komorn.

"These judges and prosecutors have been used to marijuana being
illegal and something that they've punished people for for so long,"
Rudoi said months after Pete Trzos' arrest. "It's my belief that it's
just difficult for them to change, and they're doing everything in
their power to find ways to prosecute anyone engaging in medical marijuana."

As president of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, Komorn is
an outspoken proponent of medical marijuana.

Komorn is blunt in his assessment, calling medical marijuana
prosecutions a crusade of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and
the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.

"Bill Schuette has caused more challenges to the implementation of the
Medical Marihuana Act than anybody," Komorn said. " It's not even
based in rational thought. He is literally obsessed with blocking
implementation."

Komorn's also critical of what he calls a "political" Michigan Court
of Appeals, which he says has taken up circuit court decisions evenly
favorable and unfavorable to medical marijuana patients and caregivers
to "19-0" against them, prompting appeals to the supreme court.

Schuette, for his part, has called the ballot proposal approved by
voters in 2008 "a sketchy statute."

"You saw a sketchy statute, and one that had more holes in it, some
say, than Swiss cheese," Schuette said nearly a year ago. His position
hadn't changed in a recent interview with The Oakland Press. "The fact
is nowhere in that statute were there provisions for
dispensaries."

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office says the law is pretty
clear.

"There has not been any court decision that has shocked us, or should
shock anyone," said Paul Walton, the chief assistant prosecutor. "The
language is pretty clear. You can provide, not sell. We're not a
dispensary state, we're not a pharmaceutical state, we're not a
recreational state.

"There's a limited exception, it's very limited," Walton said. "If
you're outside that realm, it's illegal.

Walton says the office doesn't keep exact stats on the number of
prosecutions. But, he added, the office never sees the patients and
caregivers who are in compliance with the limits of Michigan's medical
marijuana law.

WAITING FOR TRIAL

With lawyers in place, the case against Pete Trzos was assigned to
Oakland Circuit Judge Nanci Grant with Assistant Prosecutor Beth Hand
representing the prosecutor's office.

But weeks turned into months, and months into more than a year as
scheduling conflicts, legal strategizing and legal questions pushed
back scheduled court dates.

As it turns out, a trial for Pete Trzos was, and may remain, a long
way off.

In the meantime, court cases and legislative actions have continued to
further define Michigan's medical marijuana law. West Michigan
attorney Bruce Alan Block keeps a list of them.

Specifically affecting the case against Pete Trzos are two other
Oakland County cases: People vs Tuttle and People vs Hartwick, both in
various stages of appeal to higher courts.

"They both have stuff to say about medical marijuana's Section 8
defense," Rudoi said.

Section 8 provides a defense for medical marijuana caregivers if they
exceed the marijuana limits specified in Section 4 of the law. The
Michigan Court of Appeals, in particular, has ruled against Section 8
defenses in most cases.

"We don't want to have the Section 8 hearings with the standards set
forth in Hartwick and Tuttle," Rudoi said. "We believe those cases
will be overturned."

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

For Pete Trzos, it all adds up to an uncertain future.

"Every time I see a cop, I'm terrified," Trzos said. "I avoid the
police and I avoid going out in public. I live in constant fear of
these people. I'm fearful of being pulled over for a traffic ticket
and being harassed. I prefer to stay in the house for the most part so
that can't happen."

"I wish I'd never heard of medical marijuana. At the time, I thought
police had to follow the law," he said. "It just wrecks your life. I
don't understand why I got targeted."

Living under conditions of his bond and with felony charges pending,
he says he's unable to find work in the medical field.

However, he's trying to put his medical credentials to use by working
at becoming an expert witness in the legal system.

"I have a relevant education," he said. "It's a good career there for
someone with my pedigree."