Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Pubdate: Thur, 01 Oct 1998 NEW CHAVEZ CASE DELAY The case against Marvin Chavez on charges of selling marijuana has been delayed again, this time until October 19. Mr Chavez is founder of the Orange County Patient, Doctor, Nurse Support Group, which tries to provide education and cannabis to patients who have a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana for medical purposes. Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel expressed displeasure Monday when he granted the continuance. But Mr. Chavez's new defense attorney, James Silva, explained that he had not received hundreds of pages of documents from the previous attorneys until a few days before. One of the first issues to be raised will be a defense request for Judge Fasel to revisit his ruling that Proposition 215 (now Section 11362.5 of the California Health and Safety Code) could not be used as part of the defense. That initiative provides a defense for patients with recommendations from physicians against some marijuana-related charges. Judge Fasel had requested more evidence from Mr. Chavez's previous attorneys that Mr. Chavez qualified as a "primary caregiver" under the law. Mr. Silva says he is ready to furnish it. Part of the reason for the confusion is that neither the state government nor any local government in Orange County has developed written guidelines for the orderly implementation of Prop. 215, leaving prosecutors and those trying to supply marijuana to patients unable to grow it themselves to contest the issue in court. In a previous hearing in this case Judge Fasel expressed reluctance to have a court perform the essentially legislative function of developing guidelines. But in our system it is not inappropriate for juries, drawn from the people, the decide how a law they voted for should be implemented or applied to a particular situation. The Chavez case could be useful in the process of developing guidelines - even if a conviction shows how not to do it properly - but only if all the relevant issues are discussed. - --- Checked-by: Don Beck