Man Who Ran Medical Marijuana Collective Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor After 3-Year Court Battle

[bobandtorey]

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A three-year court battle over the interpretation of the Michigan Marijuana Act as it pertains to collective grow operations has come to a likely conclusion with a plea agreement in Kent County Circuit Court.

 

 

Ryan Bylsma pleaded guilty Monday, Dec. 2, to a high court misdemeanor charge of maintaining a drug house and simple possession of marijuana more than three years after Grand Rapids Police raided a building on Market Avenue where Bylsma ran a grow operation.

 

 

Police seized 88 plants from the facility on Sept. 15, 2010, and Bylsma was then charged with the felony crime of manufacture and delivery of narcotics.

 

Bylsma, through his attorney Bruce Block, claimed he grew the plants as part of a collective within the secure facility.

 

 

 

 

 

He said he was in compliance with the relatively new act, which had been approved by voters, because only 24 of the plants belonged to him. Bylsma said he was acting as a caregiver, although he had applied for a license to use medical marijuana himself.

 

Judge George Buth rejected the argument that Bylsma was in compliance because only 24 of the plants belonged to the defendant. That decision was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals and State Supreme Court.

 

Related: Michigan Supreme Court rejects cooperative medical marijuana grow operations in Kent County case

 

Buth later ruled that because Bylsma possessed more than the 24 plants, he could not argue that he was immune from prosecution because of the act since he did not follow the strict provisions of the law.

 

 

 

After the plea hearing Monday, Block said the case was difficult because he believes his client made every effort to adhere to a law that was much murkier in 2010 than it is now.

“The system will self-correct, it always does, but you have casualties along the way,” Block said. “My client was a casualty.”

“This is exactly what the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act was supposed to prevent,” Block said “His crime was trying to help medical patients in pain have access to medical marijuana.”

Part of the plea agreement leaves open the possibility that the case can be appealed based on the fact that it was far less clear in 2010 that having more than 24 plants was absolutely forbidden regardless of the circumstances.

But after three years of wrangling in the legal system, his client may decide to leave things where they are, Block said.

“He’s been through three years of hell,” Block said.

He said Bylsma decided based on the decisions handed down so far, he was better off taking the misdemeanor rather than facing the 15-year felony.

Block said while the outcome is disappointing on many levels, he believe the law will become clearer regarding the act and marijuana law in general.

“The system will self-correct, it always does, but you have casualties along the way,” Block said. “My client was a casualty.”

 

 

Bylsma’s state sentencing guidelines call for a minimum sentence of zero to six months in the Kent County Jail, but the charge carries a maximum of two years in prison.

 

Bylsma is scheduled to be sentenced March 5.

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/12/man_who_ran_medical_marijuana.html

 

[t-pain]

wondered what happened to blysma.

 

to think, 3 years of moo poo could have been solved by $400 in fencing and padlocks.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

wondered what happened to blysma.

 

to think, 3 years of moo poo could have been solved by $400 in fencing and padlocks.

 

 

That's what makes this case and so many others a miscarriage of justice. An innocent mistake is pounced upon by overzealous courts and exploited for every ounce of flesh they can extract.

[trichcycler]

  he was in possession of 88 plants, and operating a collective, right?

[t-pain]

  he was in possession of 88 plants, and operating a collective, right?

 

if those are the facts, why did they give him a misdemeanor charge after he LOST in the supreme court?

 

somethings fishy...

[Celliach]

That's what makes this case and so many others a miscarriage of justice. An innocent mistake is pounced upon by overzealous courts and exploited for every ounce of flesh they can extract.

 

Yes, and nobody should get a speeding ticket for accidentally going 10 over the limit.

[trichcycler]

"Ryan Bylsma pleaded guilty Monday, Dec. 2, to a high court misdemeanor charge of maintaining a drug house and simple possession of marijuana"

if those are the facts, why did they give him a misdemeanor charge after he LOST in the supreme court?

 

somethings fishy...

[bobandtorey]

if those are the facts, why did they give him a misdemeanor charge after he LOST in the supreme court?

 

somethings fishy...

That is what they do 

3+years for him and almost 5 for us nothing fishy here

but luck

[t-pain]

i'm saying they caught him with 88 plants ,why didnt they charge him with 88 plants?

[trichcycler]

he was charged with more than he plead out to. His charges most likely did include the number of plants he illegally possessed .

[bobandtorey]

i'm saying they caught him with 88 plants ,why didnt they charge him with 88 plants?

the # is 20 to 200 same charge 

[trichcycler]

Police seized 88 plants from the facility on Sept. 15, 2010, and Bylsma was then charged with the felony crime of manufacture and delivery of narcotics.

 

then he took a plea to avoid the felony, happens every day in court.

if those are the facts, why did they give him a misdemeanor charge after he LOST in the supreme court?

 

somethings fishy...

[bobandtorey]