Archie Kiel Sentencing Hearing - Video/article

[Eric L. VanDussen]

Video of Archie Kiel's October 6 sentencing hearing: http://www.upnorthmedia.org/watchupnorthtv.asp?SDBFid=2421#vid - produced by Eric L. VanDussen.

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ARCHIE KIEL Sentenced to Jail

 

By Anne Stanton - Northern Express - October 10, 2010 - http://digital.zoompubs.com/publication/?i=49293&p=11

 

Archie Kiel, perhaps the region’s most public supporter of medical marijuana, was sentenced to jail last week to what will amount to five months -- less 90 days probation if he pays more than $5,000 in court fines -- according to a 46th Circuit Court ruling last week.

 

Kiel, who lives in Rapid City, will not be able to use medical marijuana while incarcerated, but he will be able to leave jail for brief periods if necessitated by his medical condition, Judge Janet Allen ruled.

 

Kiel appeared on the cover of Northern Express in the summer of 2009, enthusiastically espousing the benefits of medical marijuana for those suffering from pain and even cancer.

 

He was a patient as well as a supplier of medical marijuana (called a caregiver) for four other patients. The article triggered a Traverse Narcotics Team helicopter fly-over and subsequent raid, in which detectives found more than the allowable 12 plants per patient. Two of the patients, including Kiel’s 21-year-old son, had not received medical marijuana cards, although their doctors had signed their state applications.

 

A jury found Kiel guilty last summer for the manufacture of less than 20 marijuana plants, but innocent of perjury. Kiel received a far shorter jail term than the potential maximum of eight years.

 

Kiel must stay in jail while his attorney pursues an emergency motion that will soon be filed with the state Court of Appeals. A copy of the appeal wasn’t available, but Wilson said it was triggered by a recent Court of Appeals decision, which says the so-called “affirmative defense” contained in the Medical Marijuana law can be used as a defense in a trial.

 

Kiel’s attorney was not allowed to present the affirmative defense after Judge Allen barred discussion before the jury. She ruled that the affirmative defense was nullified when considered with another section of the law.

 

CONFUSION REIGNS

 

Allen and judges across the state have decried the law as confusing, vague, and contradictory. The law says that a caregiver can grow 12 plants for each patient, and that each patient must have a medical marijuana card. Karen O’Keefe, who helped write the law, said the affirmative defense is intended for those situations when a caregiver or patient has not completely met the letter of the law.

 

Kiel’s first attorney, Ross Hickman, had intended to argue that Kiel could begin growing plants before their patients received a card to ensure an uninterrupted supply. He did successfully argue in the case that clones (pot branch clippings without roots) couldn’t be considered plants.

 

Kiel fired Hickman last month and replaced him with attorney Mike Matilone of Lansing.

 

Kalkaska Prosecutor Brian Donnelly described the Kiel case “as most unfortunate.” He said that Kiel has presented himself as a person of influence among medical marijuana users, but had deliberately overreached the law.

 

“He’s a pot grower, and he’s always been a pot grower …When caught, he went into a full-scale lie mode,” he said.

 

Kiel’s attorney did not appear at the trial, but his associate, attorney J. Frank Wilson of Petoskey, stood in.

 

Wilson alleged that probation officer Sharon Wagner’s pre-sentencing report was “colored by her bias” due to the fact she is married to Detective Wagner, whom he described as the lead investigator in the case. He asked that Kiel’s sentencing be put on hold while the Court of Appeals decides on the emergency motion, but Judge Allen denied the request.

 

Kiel, who limped into court, told the court that marijuana had saved his life. “I am totally disabled. I have benefited and I am alive today because of medical marijuana. … I feel 100 percent that I was within the law,” he said.

 

HEALTH PROBLEMS

 

Kiel suffers from a constellation of medical problems, ranging from a heart condition to mini-strokes to pain caused by a car accident and crashing his arm through a plate glass window. He told the courtroom that he has “died” twice, and was near giving up when he stopped using prescription drugs in favor of medical marijuana in 1998, 10 years before it was legal.

 

After the trial, Wilson said that the jail and prison systems ban the use of any prescription pain killers because they are narcotics. Medical marijuana falls into the same category. He believes that amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment,” and believes there could be a safe way for prisoners to find pain relief.

 

There were about a dozen supporters for Kiel in the courtroom. In an impromptu speech, Wilson told a small crowd in front of the courthouse that attitudes are changing toward marijuana, but some still have an old mindset. “We’ll see what happens. There are states out West that are trying to legalize it completely, but there will always be those who see it as a devil weed.”

[jmorrison71]

This was very sad to read today. I can't believe they would lock this man up when he has such debilitating health conditions. Another prime example of wasting tax payer dollars and locking this man up.

[bobandtorey]

Sad for sure i wish him luck in the COA it did good for us i think but it at over yet

[Phil78]

yeah, you lock someone up because of a F_ING PLANT!! people out there killing others, stealing, doing HARM, and our justice system is locking up someone and wasting tax payer dollars over a F-ING PLANT??????????

 

 

 

FFFFFFFF********KKKKKK!!!

[V420]

Sad indeed to read this ...and how our courts have time for such non sense...

[bobandtorey]

yeah, you lock someone up because of a F_ING PLANT!! people out there killing others, stealing, doing HARM, and our justice system is locking up someone and wasting tax payer dollars over a F-ING PLANT??????????

 

 

 

FFFFFFFF********KKKKKK!!!

 

i here you i have been following the case and he was Riaded right after us and then Kingpinn

[KathywithaK]

What a sad story,another injustice,NOBODY should be in jail for marijuana!

[drtarzanmd]

Archie Kiel, perhaps the region’s most public supporter of medical marijuana, was sentenced to jail last week to what will amount to five months -- less 90 days probation if he pays more than $5,000 in court fines -- according to a 46th Circuit Court ruling last week.

 

Kiel, who lives in Rapid City, will not be able to use medical marijuana while incarcerated, but he will be able to leave jail for brief periods if necessitated by his medical condition, Judge Janet Allen ruled.

 

 

I am very Sorry to hear this ...

 

I went to a few of Archie's court dates ...

as many as i could find out on this side of the state ....

 

There was' nt alot of communication or information to know

when all their court dates were ...

 

Sure wish there was some kind of calender that had peoples

court dates posted and what court system they were at so

that WE could be there to support them ....

 

I really feel for Archie and his Family and i really hope

they can pull through this Nightmare ...

 

It just does'nt seem right ...

 

I'm so sad things did'nt work out better ....

[thanks2]

"you must be punished"

 

The judge makes that statement after saying she made the wrong decision on the affirmative defense and that the appeals court is going to overturn this case and he may very well have been legal.

 

An Avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he a establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. – Thomas Paine (1795)

[solabeirtan]

Unbelievable, say it aint so..

Surely he's not sitting in jail ? Of course he was legal, he only had 20? plants.

 

 

 

No AD? It's Not even necessary if your a legal Patient / Caregiver. wtf ?

 

There must be a litany of legal crap wrong with this, Right to Fair and Speedy trial, violation of due Processs, Judicial Tenure ? ...

[bobandtorey]

Unbelievable, say it aint so..

Surely he's not sitting in jail ? Of course he was legal, he only had 20? plants.

 

 

 

No AD? It's Not even necessary if your a legal Patient / Caregiver. wtf ?

 

There must be a litany of legal crap wrong with this, Right to Fair and Speedy trial, violation of due Processs, Judicial Tenure ? ...

 

http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/20080-support-archie-help-yourself/page__st__20__p__184265__hl__%2Barchie+%2Bkiel%26%2339%3Bs+%2B__fromsearch__1#entry184265

[+Annnie]

FREE ARCHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is outrageous..

[jason j]

Don't know what to say watched the video a few days ago one thing it made me sick what a bunch of moo-poo

[Eric L. VanDussen]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bobandtorey]

she said he only had 1 day to grow his 4 foot plants what a SAD post but Thank you your only doing what needs to be done and i thank you again for all you do here

i was talking about Archie last night at the Marihuana Bowl party i think the MMMA should rent busses and go to the jail and Rally for Archies release :notfair:

[Frank R]

This was very sad to read today. I can't believe they would lock this man up when he has such debilitating health conditions. Another prime example of wasting tax payer dollars and locking this man up.

Agreed, there is zero value add in having this disabled man incarcerated.

There are 12 hard core fully-abled pedophiles within 2 miles of me and my family that sorely need to be locked up with the key lost.

Scumbag child molesters that's who I want off the streets for now and forever, not limping medical marijuana users.

I implore our Law Enforcement/Penitentiary Industrial Complex to apply its injustice on the murders and rapists, not the sick and infirmed.

But bullies always go after the weakest victims and never pick on somebody their own size...

[bobandtorey]

any one ready for a bus ride?

[Kingpinn]

Cant we all just get along ??

[Eric L. VanDussen]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Eric L. VanDussen]

 

 

 

 

[MI Compassion]

Wow, words can not express the sadness I feel for Mr. Kiel and has his family, nor can words describe the disgust I feel for our legal system.

[Wild Bill]

"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. "

- Hubert H. Humphrey

[Bisharoo]

Put this on the news today! Such a sad condition our government has led us to, that we will do this to out own people.

I really believe that most humans, if we could get the news outlets or others to show this to millions of people and ask everyone, is this what we want our country to be? Going after people who have harmed no others, making them into criminals, imprisoning them, destroying their lives, even killing them as a society, is this ok for us to do now? I believe most people would object, and the outcry would be great upon the land. Any way to put this out there even more to expose these criminals to the light of day and public scrutiny?

[+Annnie]

Where is the humanity with this judge??? She knows what she is doing it wrong. She admits the coa will probably overturn her decision Yet she claims Archie must be punished.. And She has put this sick and permanently disabled man in jail why? HER PRIDE?? Because she must prove that she is right? What will her punishment be if and when she is proven to be wrong?? And of course she ran unopposed in her district.The ppl in her district didnt even have a different choice to vote her out.. Oh the humanity..

[thanks2]

It is no wounder why sooooo many fear our government....

 

When the government fears the people, it is liberty. When the people fear the government, it is tyranny. – Thomas Paine

 

An Avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he a establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. – Thomas Paine (1795)