Motion Asks Judge To Disallow Grower's Medical-Marijuana Defense

[Michael Komorn]

Motion asks judge to disallow grower's medical-marijuana defense

By Felisa Cardona

 

Chris Bartkowicz of Highlands Ranch will be tried in federal court on charges that include possessing marijuana with intent to distribute 100 or more plants. (Associated Press file photo)Related

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Highlands Ranch defendant in marijuana-growing case changes mind, will fight federal chargesProsecutors are asking a federal judge to eliminate Chris Bartkowicz's medical-marijuana defense before his upcoming federal trial on marijuana-cultivation charges.

 

In a motion filed Tuesday, prosecutors contend Bartkowicz should not be allowed to use Colorado's medical-marijuana laws as a defense or try to argue that he was singled out or didn't know he would be subject to prosecution.

 

"The provisions of state law cited in the Government's brief demonstrate the quagmire of Colorado state law and its medical marijuana provisions, and further demonstrates that none of those provisions have relevance to the federal prosecution of the Defendant," the motion says.

 

Bartkowicz was indicted on charges of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute 100 or more plants, using a place to manufacture a controlled substance, and distributing marijuana within 1,000 feet of a Highlands Ranch elementary school.

 

The charges came in February after Bartkowicz did an interview with 9News in which he discussed his marijuana-growing operation.

 

He faces life in prison because he has prior felony convictions.

 

Defense attorney Joseph Saint-Veltri would not comment on the government's motion until he had a chance to read it.

 

Saint-Veltri has filed his own motion to dismiss the case, arguing that his client didn't know he was breaking the law because the Justice Department issued instructions to federal prosecutors to use their resources to go after drug traffickers and not medical-marijuana users who are complying with state law.

 

The October 2009 Justice Department memo is commonly referred to as the "Holder Memorandum."

 

"The defendant was acting pursuant to Amendment 20 to the Colorado Constitution and the so-called Holder Memorandum," the motion to dismiss says. "The defendant's good faith belief that he was complying with the law, as it was understood by him, should have been submitted to the Grand Jury, especially because, upon best information and belief, this is the first federal prosecution involving Amendment 20."

 

Saint-Veltri also expressed concern over the amount of prison time Bartkowicz is facing, calling it "cruel and unusual punishment."

 

"A sentence of ten years or twenty years or sixty years or, as the government propounds, life imprisonment is not only unconscionable but grotesque," he wrote.

 

Prosecutors say Bartkowicz had more plants — 224 of them — than allowed per patient and he was out of compliance with not only federal law but Colorado's medical-marijuana laws.

 

Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219; fcardona@denverpost.com

 

 

Michael A. Komorn

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