Upcoming Court Dates

­­Federal defendants need support from the community! Please consider attending any of the upcoming court dates o­f medical­ ma­rijuana patien­ts, caregivers, and doctors from the list below. For more in­formation on what you can do to help, see our Guide to Organizing Court Support. ­

You can also refer to listings of federal medical marijuana cases compiled by ASA and California NORML.

November 3, 2008 (likely to be postponed) -- Galen & Laura Lawton (CA case)

State Criminal Trial at 8:30am before Judge Allan P. Carter in Solano County Superior Court in the Solano Justice Center at 321 Tuolumne Street, Department 12 in Vallejo, CA. In 2004, the Fairfield P.D. raided the house of Galen Lawton, a former star-football player and coach, and long time medical cannabis activist, and his wife Laura, and arrested both of them. Their house was ransacked by local police, their garden destroyed, and both of them were forced to spend Christmas that year in jail. Galen serves as Chief Financial Officer and Board Member for the medical cannabis advocacy group, Compassionate Coalition, and formerly was the owner of the Everything Green hydroponics shop. After nearly 4 years of court proceedings, the Lawtons may finally have their trial in court on November 3 (represented by Omar Figueroa and Tony Serra), although it appears the prosecution intends to continue its stall tactics, and may be able to successfully postpone the trial again. For more information, see the always excellent Vanessa Nelson.

November 17, 2008 -- Luke Scarmazzo & Ricardo Montes (California Healthcare Collective)

Sentencing Hearing at 1:30pm before Judge Oliver Wanger in U.S. District Court (E.D., CA), 2500 Tulare Street, Fresno, CA. After the City of Modesto failed to shut down the California Healthcare Collective by banning dispensaries, it called in the DEA. On September 27, 2006, the DEA raided the collective and arrested four people (owner-operators Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes and two staff members) on charges of distribution of marijuana and conspiracy to distribute. Scarmazzo and Montes were also charged with possession of firearms and money laundering. Later, an additional five people were indicted, totalling nine who were being prosecuted by the federal government. In the raid, the DEA allegedly seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana, one thousand plants, multiple firearms, and more than $200,000 in cash. The raids were the result of a 15-month investigation between the DEA and the Modesto Police Department. In 2007 and early 2008, Stephen DeMattos's case was dismissed in the interest of justice, Bradley Heinmiller and Bradley Wickliffe pled guilty, while the other six defendants (Scarmazzo, Montes, Monica Valencia, Lucky Boissiere, Jose Malagon, and Antonio Malagon) remained to stand trial. After a special hearing, Judge Wanger decided to allow the prosecution to play the "Businessman" music video in front of the jury during the trial. On April 27, 2008, the day before the trial was scheduled to commence, Boissiere, Valencia, and the Malagon brothers accepted plea bargains. Boissiere & Valencia pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana and the Malagon brothers pled guilty to conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana.  Boissiere and the Malagon brothers agreed to testify against Scarmazzo & Montes, joining Heinmiller & DeMattos. Valencia refused to testify for the government, turning down the reduced plea bargain she was offered as an incentive. Valencia received 1 year and day in prison, most of which she had already served. Antonio Malagon was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 5 months in a community confinement center while Jose Malagon received 3 months in prison and 4 months in community confinement and Boissiere was sentenced as well. On October 2, 2008, Antonio will self-surrender at Lompoc and José will self-surrender at Taft Correctional Institution. At the trial, Scarmazzo took the stand, and was able to present evidence of medical marijuana but it was to no avail, and on May 15, 2008, the jury returned its verdicts. While the jurors had deadlocked on the conspiracy counts and acquitted on the firearms counts, they delivered a grand total of eight guilty verdicts against the defendants, including a conviction for continuing criminal enterprise, which puts Scarmazzo and Montes at risk of life imprisonment. At the end of the trial, both defendants were literally wrested out of the arms of their families and taken into the custody of U.S. Marshals because of the severity of the penalties. Several jurors, upon learning the severity of the possible penalties, expressed reservations about their votes to convict and the legitimacy of medical marijuana prosecutions. Prosecutors have already successfully seized $200,000 and are seeking $9.2 million in forfeiture. After allegations of juror misconduct, Scarmazzo & Montes' lawyer made motions for a new trial, but they were denied. For more information, please see the consistently excellent Vanessa Nelson.

November 17, 2008 -- Charles C. Lynch

Motion for a New Trial Hearing at 8:30am before Judge George Wu in U.S. District Court (C.D., CA), Courtroom 10 at 312 North Spring Street in Los Angeles, 90012. San Luis Obispo County dispensing collective operator Charles C. Lynch was raided by the DEA and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs on March 29, 2007 at Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers (CCCC) in Morro Bay, CA. Lynch ran a very well-run dispensing collective that attempted to stringently follow state, county and city medical marijuana regulations since it opened in April 2006. The City of Morro Bay was actively aware of the purpose of CCCC. It issued a business license for a "'Medical Marijuana Dispensary" and a Cannabis Nursery Permit after a lengthy conditional use permit process. CCCC operated for nearly a year without incident until the the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff called in the DEA to raid the dispensary on March 29, 2007. Lynch was not arrested at that time and reopened with the blessing of his landlord and Morro Bay city officials. The DEA subsequently contacted the Landlord and threatened him with forfeiture of his property and possible prosecution if he refused to evict CCCC from his building, and as a result, CCCC closed its doors on May 16, 2007. On July 17, 2007, the DEA and local sheriffs arrested Lynch and he spent 4 days in federal detention before being released on $400,000 bail, posted by his family. Lynch was indicted for conspiracy to possess and possession with intent to distribute marijuana and concentrated cannabis, manufacturing (cultivating) more than 100 plants, knowingly maintaining a drug premises, and sales of marijuana to a person under the age of 21. Additionally, criminal forfeiture proceedings have begun on Lynch’s assets. On August 5, 2008, Lynch was sadly convicted on all counts. Watch Drew Carey’s account of Lynch’s struggle with the federal government on Reason.tv, and for more information visit http://www.friendsofccl.com and to give money, assistance, and support or write to Judge Wu directly and plead for Charlie's freedom. Letters of support helped Mickey Martin receive a relatively light sentence, and so we need to show the same support for Charles Lynch. If the motion for a new trial is denied, Lynch faces 20 years to life and will be sentenced on November 24 at 8am.

December 1, 2008 -- Eddy Lepp

Sentencing @ ?am before Judge Marilyn Patel in U.S. District Court (N.D., CA), at 450 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco, CA. High-profile medical marijuana patient-provider and Vietman veteran Eddy Lepp, operated a 25-acre collective cultivation site in Lake County off Highway 20, where, after verifying their recommendations and signing agreements, he allowed patient members to cultivate their medicine on designated plots. Lepp made no attempt to conceal his crop, which was growing in open sight along Highway 20 in the manner of a wine vineyard. Lepp maintains that he did not own the plants, but sold shares in the crop to patients for $500 each to cover costs of cultivation and fertilizer. His collective membership numbered some two or three thousand patients. Even though he had worked with Lake County Sheriffs in the past, Lepp, 56, was raided and arrested successively on August 18, 2004 and again in February 2005 by the DEA, who allegedly confiscated 32,524 and 11,000 plants, respectively. After the 2005 raid, served 63 days in jail, and has been out on bail ever since, preparing his case. With the knowledge that federal courts deemed the state law medical marijuana affirmative defense not relevant, Lepp also advanced a Rastafarian religious defense, based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was also denied by Judge Patel. After several years of court proceedings, Judge Patel, who had previously barred evidence seized using two defective warrants, reversed her decision, and allowed the evidence back into the case. On September 2, 2008, a jury convicted Lepp of conspiracy to possess marijuana with the intent to distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants and of cultivation of more than 1,000 marijuana plants (though the conviction only referenced approximately 25,000 plants, and not the alleged 43,500). Sadly, Lepp faces between 10 years and life in prison and a maximum fine of $4 million. You can write to Judge Patel to support Eddy with a sentencing letter at his website.  As always, the inestimable Vanessa Nelson has more.