Judge Denies Request To Dismiss Marijuana Case

[bobandtorey]

A  judge denied a request to dismiss marijuana delivery charges lodged against a Hamburg Township man.

An attorney for defendant Anthony Charles Portelli sought the dismissal because he says undercover narcotics officers cannot tie the 42-year-old man to the marijuana found at two Livingston County homes and Grow Green MI in Whitmore Lake.

“There’s not one shred of evidence that was established at the (preliminary) exam that Mr. Portelli was involved in anything,” defense attorney Michael Komorn said at a Friday hearing in Livingston County Circuit Court.

Assistant Prosecutor Scott Ehlfeldt told the court Portelli had “far in excess” of the amount of marijuana allowed under Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Act. He said there is “ample evidence,” including electric bills in Portelli’s name, “tying Mr. Portelli to the commission of a crime.”

“This defendant was operating a grow operation at two separate locations and selling it out of a third,” Ehlfeldt told the judge. “There is probable cause to support that based on the entirety” of the preliminary exam testimony.

Judge Michael P. Hatty denied the defense’s request to dismiss the case. The judge also denied the defense’s request to quash a search warrant on a global positioning system in a van associated with Grow Green.

Komorn argued police got information on his client from a co-defendant who was in the van when it was stopped. He said his client had a right to privacy, but Ehlfeldt argued that the co-defendant provided Portelli’s name when he showed officer’s his medical marijuana card listing Portelli’s name as a caregiver.

“(Portelli) doesn’t get an expectation of privacy everywhere (the co-defendant) goes just because his name is on (the co-defendant’s) medical marijuana card,” the assistant prosecutor said.

Court hearings revolving around possible defenses under the MMMA as well as the defense’s allegation of false arrest have been set in May.

Portelli is charged with delivery or manufacture of 20-200 plants and possession with intent to deliver marijuana from Grow Green, Komorn told the court.

The defense attorney said officers’ investigation of his client began in October 2010 when they confirmed Portelli, who is a caregiver under the MMMA, was in compliance.

 

Komorn said that in May 2013 the local undercover officers along with Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the two homes — on D-19 and Chilson Road — as well as Grow Green. He said the difference is DEA agents admitted they “were not concerned with Michigan’s” medical marijuana law.

“They cannot ignore compliance. The compliance means they do not have probable cause,” Komorn said. “… The (second) investigation was driven by federal law. …

“When they did their investigation, they did not care (about) the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. The protection my client was seeking was ignored,” he added.

Ehlfeldt said officers had probable cause because Portelli “wasn’t even in compliance” with the MMMA.

“There was far in excess the amount of marijuana the defendant could possess under the act,” he said.

Komorn said Portelli had six caregiver cards, “which means he can possess 72 plants (and) 15 ounces” of marijuana.

Officers found 40 plants, 2 pounds of marijuana and medical marijuana paperwork that Komorn said belonged to a co-defendant. At the second home, officers found 68 plants and medical marijuana paperwork belonging to Portelli, he noted.

Ehlfeldt said electrical bills at both homes, which Portelli quitclaim deeded to a co-defendant, remained in Portelli’s name.

“You don’t get to pretend like it doesn’t exist,” Ehlfeldt said about the second home. “That’s included. It’s (Portelli’s) marijuana as much as it is (the co-defendant’s).”

Komorn also argued the District Court judge confused Portelli with two co-defendants when announcing her decision regarding binding over the case for trial.

A judge dismissed marijuana-related charges against one co-defendant while the third co-defendant was sentenced in January to six months of probation for maintaining a drug house

 

http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/local/community/livingston-county/2016/03/21/anthony-portelli-charges/82089786/