Judge Throws Out Pot Case

[Eric L. VanDussen]

January 18, 2011 - http://macombdaily.com/articles/2011/01/18/news/srv0000010665478.txt?viewmode=default

 

By Carol Hopkins - For The Macomb Daily

 

A case involving medical marijuana found in a barn has been dismissed in Genesee County.

 

The case of Chason William-Gregory Pointer of Clarkston began when an Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team arrested Pointer in October 2009. Officers found marijuana and growing equipment in Pointer's barn in Genesee County.

 

Pointer was charged with unlawful manufacture of marijuana contrary to the Medical Marijuana Act.

 

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

 

Genesee Circuit Judge Geoffrey Neithercut dismissed the case against Pointer, who had a state medical marijuana card on Jan. 14, saying the prosecutors failed to show evidence that Pointer had more than 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana.

 

The court's opinion indicated that instead of presenting the marijuana in its "processed and usable form, the Prosecutor brought in a very large quantity of unprocessed marijuana well in excess of 2.5 ounces, and said a jury could infer a percentage of usable material."

 

Neithercut said, "There was no need of the jury to infer the weight of usable (marijuana). The prosecutor and law enforcement had the unprocessed marijuana and could have processed it down to a useable form ... and presented that as evidence."

 

He continued, "(The) Prosecutor made a tactical decision to sway the jury with large bags of unprocessed and legally meaningless marijuana refuse instead."

[Eric L. VanDussen]

Edited January 18, 2011 by Eric L. VanDussen

[svandyke09]

Great news, keep up the good work Mr. Komorn!

Edited January 18, 2011 by svandyke09

[mizerman]

Below is an updated article from Carol Hopkins after she spoke with attorney Michael Komorn.

 

******************************************************************

 

 

UPDATED Medical marijuana case against Clarkston man dismissed in Genesee County

Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011

 

By CAROL HOPKINS

Of The Oakland Press

 

The defense attorney involved in a dismissed medical marijuana case in Genesee County said the drug enforcement task force raiding medical marijuana patients are being “overly aggressive.”

 

“The way police are doing investigations needs to change,” said Michael Komorn of Southfield, attorney for Chason William-Gregory Pointer of Clarkston.

 

Pointer had been charged with unlawful manufacture of marijuana contrary to the Medical Marijuana Act. His case was dismissed last week in Genesee Circuit Court.

 

According to Komorn, the case began when Pointer, a medical marijuana patient, was robbed of his medical marijuana in a Clarkston restaurant parking lot on Oct. 26, 2009. Pointer reported the incident to the police, and Komorn said his client cooperated with the robbery investigation, which resulted in four people being arrested and charged with armed robberies and gun charges.

 

Then Pointer’s barn in Flint Township, located in Genesee County, was raided by the NET team.

 

Komorn said of the case, “An interesting twist to all of this was that the entire witness list for the prosecutor was the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET), yet the venue for the trial was Genesee County.”

 

Judge Geoffrey Neithercut, with Genesee County Circuit Court, dismissed the case against Pointer, who had a state medical marijuana card, on Jan. 14, saying the prosecutors failed to show evidence that Pointer had more than 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana.

 

The court’s opinion indicated that instead of presenting the marijuana in its “processed and usable form, the prosecutor brought in a very large quantity of unprocessed marijuana well in excess of 2.5 ounces, and said a jury could infer a percentage of usable material.”

 

Neithercut said, “There was no need of the jury to infer the weight of usable (marijuana). The prosecutor and law enforcement had the unprocessed marijuana and could have processed it down to a useable form ... and presented that as evidence.”

 

He continued, “(The) prosecutor made a tactical decision to sway the jury with large bags of unprocessed and legally meaningless marijuana refuse instead.” Continued...

 

Komorn said, “The judge looked at this case from the patient’s perspective,” he said.

 

“Stems, stalks and seeds are not usable.”

 

Komorn said he believes the case points out how the current medical marijuana environment is “confusing for law enforcement and patients, but that the fault shouldn‚t be on the patients.”

 

Contact staff writer Carol Hopkins at 248-745-4645 or carol.hopkins@oakpress.com. Follow her on Twitter @waterfordreport.

 

**************************************************************************

 

Kudos to Komorn "The Genius of Genessee"!!!

 

 

Mizerman

[Frank R]

Excellent.

I don't think we'll see a PA in MI make that mistake again.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, wont get fooled again" W

Edited January 18, 2011 by Frank R

[bobandtorey]

Thanks Mr.K for all you do Things are getting better inn the Courts maybe when it's are turn they will have it figured out i/we hope

[Guest OxXGarfieldXxO]

I would of loved to seen the PA face when the Judge said these words.....Amazing.

[peanutbutter]

Thank you Michael!

 

Great work!

[Phil78]

effing PA.

 

 

if it were illegal to own more than 30 pounds of apples, would he bring in the whole flipping tree, roots and all?

 

i'm glad the judge called this douche on the carpet

[solabeirtan]

The prosecutor and law enforcement had the unprocessed marijuana and could have processed it down to a useable form ... and presented that as evidence.

 

my question still is wouldn't this be tampering with evidence? or does the PA have the right to do this? if it was seized it should be presented in the form it was seized, yes? example: if the DEA busted john doe for manufacturing crack cocaine and john doe had all the equipment and material necessary to manufacture crack cocaine and the DEA seizes 2.5 oz of lets say...only partially finished crack cocaine , can the PA finish making the crack cocaine with said equipment and present into evidence as seized, finished crack cocaine??

 

Seems Like you would be Right . It's at least tampering with it. If their aren't any Buds: its Debris, or if the buds got Cooties [ hairs, mold, bugs, etc. ] same, Debris .

[satdude84]

I would of loved to seen the PA face when the Judge said these words.....Amazing.

After all I've been through, the look on the PA's face was almost worth it, not that I wish that kind of pain on anyone, without going into too much detail, keeping in mind Oakland County still has an open case, I would describe it as painfully dumbfounded.

 

By the way, Atty: Michael Komorn did an amazing job, if I thought anyone would read it I would try to get the transcripts and post them, although there are probably thousands of pages, one of the most evident facts was he failed to give up, he kept fighting even when it looked hopeless, most of his words fell on def ears, until the law was actually read, by the way that was provoked by Atty: Komorn.

 

I believe there is a trend, Judges and Prosecutors aren't actually reading the MMMA Act, my personal belief is they're taking what small things they hear on TV and in the Newspaper as the law, instead of reading it. Anyone in the courtroom throughout my trial would've found this extremely evident.

Edited January 19, 2011 by satdude84

[bobandtorey]

After all I've been through, the look on the PA's face was almost worth it, not that I wish that kind of pain on anyone, without going into too much detail, keeping in mind Oakland County still has an open case, I would describe it as painfully dumbfounded.

 

Hello Man i left you a reply on your Blog am sorry i missed you court day lets hope thing get better and good luck on you next case

 

CASE DISMISSED i hope

[MR GREENTHUMB]

awesome news, about time a judge in mich. got it right

[MR GREENTHUMB]

ditto

Edited January 19, 2011 by MR GREENTHUMB

[imiubu]

About time some logic was applied. This hopefully should set presedence.

Congradulations and good luck w/ the rest of your battle.

 

Thank you Mr. Komorn for EVERYTHING you do.

[ozzrokk]

The prosecutor and law enforcement had the unprocessed marijuana and could have processed it down to a useable form ... and presented that as evidence.

 

my question still is wouldn't this be tampering with evidence? or does the PA have the right to do this? if it was seized it should be presented in the form it was seized, yes? example: if the DEA busted john doe for manufacturing crack cocaine and john doe had all the equipment and material necessary to manufacture crack cocaine and the DEA seizes 2.5 oz of lets say...only partially finished crack cocaine , can the PA finish making the crack cocaine with said equipment and present into evidence as seized, finished crack cocaine??

 

 

Exactly what I have been saying. If it wasnt usable at the time they seized it then it

doesnt matter or count as usable LATER after it has had a chance to become usable and then

presented in court. It only matters what was usable AT THE TIME IT WAS SEIZED.....

[bobandtorey]

Exactly what I have been saying. If it wasn't usable at the time they seized it then it

doesn't matter or count as usable LATER after it has had a chance to become usable and then

presented in court. It only matters what was usable AT THE TIME IT WAS SEIZED.....

maybe it would all have to be Jared and labeled to count

[ozzrokk]

maybe it would all have to be Jared and labeled to count

 

 

I don't know that they would take it that far. But at this point

since it was all DOCUMENTED as USABLE at the time of seizure then

once you have proven that it was not ALL usable at the time of

seizure that would make ALL of that evidence not admissable in court

and if it was it would prove to a JURY that the prosecution , in effect,

manufactured or manipulated evidence. Either way the defense still wins.

[garyfisher]

wait. Was this in Gennessee county because the man lived in gennessee county?

Why was the OAKLAND SHERIFF raiding a gennessee county resident?

 

did I miss something here?

 

 

 

It looks like lawyers and judges are going to have to spell out the law to the idiots in charge of enforcing it, at the expense of taxpayers and patients.

Edited January 19, 2011 by garyfisher

[Wayne'sWorld]

Seems Like you would be Right . It's at least tampering with it. If their aren't any Buds: its Debris, or if the buds got Cooties [ hairs, mold, bugs, etc. ] same, Debris .

If this decision is left as written then the judge raised the bar for prosecution to an unreachable height. One small step for medical cannabis consumers!! Wars are won one battle at a time.

 

Perhaps a reason to avoid too much pre-packaging and labeling that may assist prosecutor's in future cases?

[StonedPlanet]

Exactly what I have been saying. If it wasnt usable at the time they seized it then it

doesnt matter or count as usable LATER after it has had a chance to become usable and then

presented in court. It only matters what was usable AT THE TIME IT WAS SEIZED.....

[Hempcheff]

[lawyercaregiver]

The prosecutor and law enforcement had the unprocessed marijuana and could have processed it down to a useable form ... and presented that as evidence.

 

my question still is wouldn't this be tampering with evidence? or does the PA have the right to do this? if it was seized it should be presented in the form it was seized, yes? example: if the DEA busted john doe for manufacturing crack cocaine and john doe had all the equipment and material necessary to manufacture crack cocaine and the DEA seizes 2.5 oz of lets say...only partially finished crack cocaine , can the PA finish making the crack cocaine with said equipment and present into evidence as seized, finished crack cocaine??

 

This is wrong. The statute says 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana. It is not usable until it is processed! The cops can't process it later and say: "See how much he could have had" because it would STILL not have been usable marijuana at the time of the arrest. Yah, yah, my opinion, not legal advice, etc.

 

I argue this also applies to FROZEN bud but here I really am saying this is not legal advice..

[dutch&Dutchess]

the more their dirty tricks, lies and corruption are exposed for all to see the more we win in the court of public opinion. Julian Assange is doing the same thing to the world community of diplomacy. Make em be honest and watch em fade away.

[stopgo]

The prosecutor and law enforcement had the unprocessed marijuana and could have processed it down to a useable form ... and presented that as evidence.my question still is wouldn't this be tampering with evidence? or does the PA have the right to do this? if it was seized it should be presented in the form it was seized, yes? example: if the DEA busted john doe for manufacturing crack cocaine and john doe had all the equipment and material necessary to manufacture crack cocaine and the DEA seizes 2.5 oz of lets say...only partially finished crack cocaine , can the PA finish making the crack cocaine with said equipment and present into evidence as seized, finished crack cocaine??

 

I think a better way to explain this would be to say that they factored in the weight of the baking soda along with the cocaine. Which would be ludicrous!