I recently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana in
federal court. I paid a $1000 fine. The two judges, the prosecutors,
the court officers and especially the public defenders were all very
professional and compassionate. At my sentencing, I was offered a way
out with no conviction or fine, but it would have required I submit to
treatment?.
(I will gladly double my offer to the maximum, if a simple rational
explanation of the recent Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana
is made.)
On a very cold morning at about 5AM, I awoke to several loud
bangs. As I stumbled to the door thinking some one was locked out, I
was attacked, hit hard, and a gun put to my head. While I was being
questioned, other masked, jackbooted thugs destroyed my house. They
took me off to jail without ever showing a search warrant.
Two days and $10,000 bail later, I returned to an unsecured house
with all the windows open and every electrical appliance turned on,
including the heat (continuously). I am an electronics engineer with
thousands of parts in bins. At least they were. Everything was on the
floor, including files, photos, and irreplaceable prototypes.
It gets worse. About an hour after I got home, there was a knock
at the door. Two police officers said my son had to turn himself in.
My son was in his senior year as engineering student and his final
project was a solar powered sine wave inverter, and unfortunately he
used a metal-halide light to provide a stable output from the cells.
They confiscated it. As they did many things, such as power tools,
palm pilot, digital camera, what ever they wanted. I had ten car
batteries wired to my hi-current bench for electric vehicle controller
testing and they disabled and tagged it, as if it was illegal. They
created a huge trash pile outside with all the walls and stuff they
ripped out. I have pictures?.
Please understand, I had a little closet with one 400-watt sodium
bulb. My grow was staggered to provide about a two foot flowering
plant each week, just barely enough to keep the pain in my neck and
back off my mind, while allowing me to be productive, unlike the
prescribed drugs. No pot ever left my house. I assumed it was a ?don?t
ask, don?t sell? policy.
The officers who did this are criminals. If I had a video of there
behavior in my house, they might be in jail. They lied about the
number of plants. The first count was 320. Then, some other ?lab?
reduced to 120. By the time my lawyer got permission to see the
evidence, they said it ?degraded?. At that point the plea offer went
from a mandatory minimum of from 5 to 40 years for both my son and me,
to, misdemeanor possession, no time, $1000 fine for me, charges
dropped against my son. --- 5 to 40 years---no victims (except my
family), no drug sales, no crime. I have no evidence on why I was
targeted, but my long hair and anti-war stance was indicated during
the raid.
I would like to know if I have a case, and how to proceed. |
Request for Question Clarification by
cynthia-ga
on
28 Jun 2005 02:03 PDT
You accepted a plea, it is very unlikely you can change it, it's done,
unless there was a serious procedural error. Why did you wait until
now?
Your story is incredible --except for the pot plants being real, as
opposed to plastic/fakes, you had every reason to expect the charges
to be dropped if there was no warrant.
There has to be more information.
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Request for Question Clarification by
cynthia-ga
on
28 Jun 2005 02:11 PDT
As a sidenote, the other answer is all too simple.
You said:
..."I will gladly double my offer to the maximum, if a simple rational
explanation of the recent Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana
is made..."
We are in the middle of a Marijuana Prohibition.
Here's how it happened:
VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW
VOLUME 56 OCTOBER 1970 NUMBER 6
REFERENCE:
THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE: AN INQUIRY INTO THE
LEGAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN MARIJUANA PROHIBITION
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIBRARY/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm
Richard J. Bonnie* & Charles H. Whitebread, II**
'Assistant Professor of Law, University of Virginia. B.A., 1966, Johns
Hopkins University; LL.B., 1969, University of Virginia.
"Assistant Professor of Law, University of Virginia. A.B., 1965,
Princeton University; LL.B., 1968, Yale University.
Also, this is full of interesting quick-facts:
Marijuana Prohibition Facts
http://www.mpp.org/prohfact.html
~~Cynthia
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Clarification of Question by
freedumb-ga
on
28 Jun 2005 06:09 PDT
Thank you for a quick response, as it is 7:00am, and I posted it at
3:00am last night!
Although I have been researching this for over a year and have read
(or tried to) many papers and such, I will read (or skim) the
suggested material. But, be advised, I want intelligent debate on this
subject, not the political blather that I am sick of. (I watch CSPAN
all day). Without a doubt, our political system is demagogic logic
feeding on funny money. Please explain in YOUR words (for the double
pay) why in a country that loves freedom so much that they will invade
your house, attack and kidnap you, steel your valuables, arrest your
son, charge both with conspiracy that could get 40 years, were there
are no complaints except by the police, with the only evidence is what
they SAY they found in your trash.
When I got back from jail, a search warrant was on the floor, and it
did say cannabis cultivation. During the raid, they were looking for
cocaine and guns. My son had a safe in his room, and they broke in to
it and stole the contents. The only thing he got back was his
passport, and that took 6months. He had a prescription for vicodin, as
he was in an accident, and he had just filled it, and they took the
vial with his name on it, that he had just bought. They took all the
pills they could find (I am over 50), and even took books on
hydroponics. Many valuables were taken, and they played my drums with
my practice sticks, which are way to heavy to hit cymbals and heads.
In jail, I talked to a public defender. She was appalled at the story
and said ?there out of control?. Lawyers involved said it was the
patriot act that allowed them to do this.
This was TERRORISM? I sold the house as-is in about two weeks, and
spent my equity bailing and defending and moving. I don?t care about
my conviction as I?ll be gone soon, but my son, who graduated on the
dean?s list, top of his class, now has an arrest record. My family,
(daughter, Xwife, son) have no home, and we want compensation.
Every thing I said is true and most can be proved in court. I think
that privacy trumps.
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Clarification of Question by
freedumb-ga
on
28 Jun 2005 06:15 PDT
I waited 1 year after the federal inditement, as my public defender,
whom I respect greatly, advised me that if I did anything before that,
they might re-prosecute my son. She said I had 2years to file suit. I
just dont want to waste any more money on lawyers unless "I have a
case".
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Clarification of Question by
freedumb-ga
on
28 Jun 2005 23:23 PDT
Another fact I did not mention was that after the raid, I had to pack
what little I could (in pain, with no medication) with out help,
because the police kept trying to arrest my son, who was not in the
house the night of the bust. He retained a lawyer ($1300), and was
informed he had nothing to worry about, but stay of sight, because he
was aware of this group?s tactics. We managed to set up our lab in an
apartment in a different county, and rebuild his senior design project
(I was the mentor of his senior design team). Instead of celebrating
commencement, my son was contemplating incarceration, because the DEA
called and said they had a federal warrant, and we had to turn
ourselves in. Seeing my son in chains like Charles Manson because of
something I did, will never be forgiven. About a month after we turned
ourselves in, at about 8:AM one morning, there was a knock at the
door. The voice said ?building maintenance!?? They pushed there way
in, and although not drawn, at least one of them had his hand on his
gun, and they said, ?Where?s Chris?. They dragged him off the toilet
and hand cuffed him. They showed no paper work, but took him jail.
Coincidently, our federal case manager came for her first visit, just
minutes after they took him, while I was freaking out. At first, she
was saying that his federal O.R. would be revoked, but when it became
apparent it was for the same ?offense? she got angry with the police.
I had his bail posted ($10000) before he got to the jail. I met his
federal PD at the jail by 11:00AM. By 3:00PM his lawyer said they were
playing games, and I would have to wait until Monday to get him out.
Many phone calls later, about to get arrested again myself for all the
trouble I was causing, my state case lawyer some how got him out at
about 8:00PM.
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Clarification of Question by
freedumb-ga
on
02 Jul 2005 03:35 PDT
Thank you for your comment,Iodem, even though it is negative and your
advice a bit glib. Sighting the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments, means
that you must know of what you write, but I, sir (or mam), am no
lawyer, and could not argue on those grounds. I could easily fall into
a cathartic hearsay description of my plight, but ostensibly,
deficient of empathy; it would only sharpen your ridicule. Therefore,
may I propose a metaphor that may include you personally, sometime in
the near future?
Using millimeter wave backscatter radar, the anti-pornography agency
(APA?) peeks through walls to observe private behavior. After
obtaining a warrant based on dubious recordings, a squad of young
irresponsible armed zealots are allowed break down your door, attack
you without cause, trash your place and cart YOU off to the pokey, in
your underwear, on a very cold morning, in front of all your
neighbors. Then, with no one there to represent your interests, teams
of ?investigators? go through your belongings, take whatever they
want, and exaggerate the collected evidence. They not only put your
picture in the paper and on TV, but a even GOOGLE search of you name
brings up the hole thing, guilty until proven innocent. They then
arrest a friend of yours because his fingerprints were on a Playboy
book in your home. Congress has gotten tough on porn war sentencing,
and the threat is up to 40 years for masturbation, and you might be in
BIG trouble. The circumstantial evidence and the no-knock-warrant are
iffy, but if you fight and loose, you better find the KY jelly. After
about a year of harassment and terror, they offer a plea, just admit
to having a Playboy, we will drop all charges against your friend, and
you pay a $1000 fine. (or anti-sex treatment if you prefer). You do
so, not only because you must remove your friend from peril, but also
because the risk is so lopsided (5 to 40 verses $1000 or treatment).
Then, you wait a year, as per legal advice, and ask a reputable
service a question, and some sadistic, fascist idiot sites something
without explanation, that belies his true guilt, as he must have been
involved in such crimes. Tell me, please, what would you do then? ?
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Clarification of Question by
freedumb-ga
on
02 Jul 2005 14:54 PDT
We have not compiled the data but there is plenty, most of it, in the
court records. They have far more pictures than I do. I requested at
every opportunity to lodge official complaints, but the lawyers
involved convinced me of the folly. My assumption as an American is
that after that much force is used there should be some kind of
independent investigation. I can forward you some private info if it
were official or something?.
|
Clarification of Question by
freedumb-ga
on
03 Jul 2005 06:49 PDT
Cynthia, after re-reading the thread, I realize I may have
inadvertently put you in a quagmire. The exchange with Iodem exposed
my all-too-sensitive wounds, negating any objectivity on my part. This
probably means anything short of a Dershowitz referral would cause a
counter-productive escalation of verbal hostility. Therefore, while I
hope you are researching something for my case, let me give you
another crack at the additional pay (that I will remit independently),
as I imagine that you might be a struggling law student.
I examined the links you pointed out, but they were historical. My
request was for an explanation or debate on the recent decision
(Ashcroft (Gonzales) v. Raich) where they ?claim? medical marijuana
hurts interstate commerce. This is unbelievable! Maybe the pubic hair
in his coke has finally affected his brain, but Justice Thomas is
right on. To quote the opening in his dissent:
? Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has
never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and
that has no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana.
If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can
regulate virtually anything ? and the Federal Government is no longer
one of limited and enumerated powers.?
Clear and to the point-- unlike the convoluted logic I find throughout
the decision. I feel our country is in serious trouble, because the
last line in the quote, by default, is true, and the pre-emptive
illegal war that we are in is a direct consequence of such hubris.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, has become strife,
insanity, and political wackiness.
I know a personal reply on this subject may be difficult for obvious
reasons, so, although this offer still stands, I will create a new
question, and post-it here in this forum.
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