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Judge Urges Feds To Drop Charges In 'Ganja Guru' Trial
A federal judge told prosecutors Friday to consider dropping pot-growing charges against self-proclaimed marijuana guru Ed Rosenthal.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer granted the Department of Justice's motion for a delay in Rosenthal's retrial, which was scheduled to begin Monday. Earlier in the week, the judge dismissed money laundering and tax charges against Rosenthal, saying they resulted from a "vindictive prosecution."
Prosecutor George Bevan requested the postponement to review a last-minute flurry of defense motions. But Breyer said he also wants the government to assess "whether it makes sense to go forward with the marijuana prosecution" in light of his ruling.
Rosenthal, 62, was convicted on three marijuana-growing felonies in 2003. Breyer sentenced him to just one day in prison, which Rosenthal served, saying the "Guru of Ganja" reasonably believed he was growing the plants on behalf of Oakland officials for a city medical marijuana program.
A federal appeals court overturned his conviction last year because of misconduct by a juror who consulted an attorney on how to decide the case. Federal prosecutors indicted Rosenthal again in October over the same marijuana operation, adding four counts of hiding money and five counts of filing false tax returns.
In his pointed instructions to Bevan Friday, Breyer said he should estimate "if the government's resources and the court's resources are well spent" by trying Rosenthal a second time.
Breyer also said he expected the lawyer to be prepared to answer when the case returns to court on April 13 whether the government had ever retried someone who had already served his sentence.
Rosenthal, a longtime pro-marijuana activist, has written books on how to grow marijuana and how to avoid getting caught.
EVENTS
"Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal is bringing in another martyr of the marijuana movement to help him raise funds for his upcoming federal trial.
Tommy Chong -- half of of the Cheech and Chong comedy duo renowned for stoner movie classics such as "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams" -- will appear a $125-per-head event March 4 at Rosenthal's Lake Avenue home in Piedmont. Some advance tickets are available for only $100 at Rosenthal's legal defense fund's Web site, www.green-aid.com.
"The party will celebrate how far we've come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our rights," Rosenthal, 62, said in an e-mail Thursday. He's scheduled to appear in federal court March 19, and he estimates his trial and related expenses could cost more than $300,000.
Chong was prosecuted, convicted and served nine months in federal prison a few years ago as part of a federal crackdown on purveyors of drug paraphernalia; he'd financed and promoted a line of glass water pipes often used for smoking marijuana, and he said he pleaded guilty to prevent charges from being filed against his wife and son. The case made Chong, already beloved for his comedy act, a poster boy among marijuana advocates.
Famed for his marijuana cultivation books and the "Ask Ed" column he wrote for High Times magazine, Rosenthal was convicted of three marijuana-growing felonies in 2003, more than a year after federal agents raided sites including his Oakland home, an Oakland warehouse in which he was growing marijuana, and a San Francisco medical marijuana club he supplied.
Medical use of marijuana on a doctor's recommendation is legal under state law but prohibited by federal law, so Rosenthal was barred from mounting a medical defense at trial. A judge sentenced him to one day behind bars -- time he'd already served.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his convictions in April 2006, finding juror misconduct -- a juror's conversation with an attorney-friend during deliberations -- compromised Rosenthal's right to a fair verdict and so warranted a new trial. But the court also rejected Rosenthal's claim of immunity from prosecution as an officer of Oakland who grew the drug under the city's medical marijuana ordinance.
Federal prosecutors filed a new indictment with additional charges in October, essentially claiming Rosenthal from October 2001 through February 2002 conspired with Kenneth Hayes and Richard Watts to grow marijuana at sites on Sixth Street in San Francisco and on Mandela Parkway in Oakland; laundered marijuana proceeds by buying four money orders totaling $1,854 during that time; and falsified tax returns for 1999, 2000 and 2001 by omitting income from his marijuana distribution.
Hayes and Watts face similar, related charges. Both were charged after the same 2002 raids that nabbed Rosenthal, but injuries sustained in a car accident have kept Watts from trial until now and Hayes fled to Canada just before he was indicted.