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February 03, 2003

Pot Trial- Jury Ignorance as Weapon

Once upon a time there was right to trial by jury.

But over time, judges have assumed more and more power to control what information juries could be given by the defense. Control the information flowing to the jury and the right to a jury trial becomes meaningless.

Take the recent California verdict of Ed Rosenthal, convicted for conspiracy to grow more than 100 marijuana plants.

That's all the jury was told.

What they weren't told-- what the judge barred the defense from telling the jury-- was that Rosenthal was officially working for the city of Oakland growing marijuana for dispensaries and clubs serving seriously ill people.
And now the jury who convicted Rosenthal is outraged at their own verdict, since they were denied the information of Rosenthal's reasons for growing the marijuana and his official position.

"It was like a kangaroo court. It's like we were just following orders," said Marney Craig, a Novato property manager on the jury. "I'm horrified and dismayed that I wasn't strong enough to stop it."

When the government has to hide the truth from juries to get a conviction, you know the law has jumped the rails into oppression.

Such is the war on drugs.

Posted by Nathan at February 3, 2003 03:40 PM

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