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A federal appeals court that has slapped restraints on the government's campaign against medical marijuana grappled Wednesday with its first criminal case on the issue, a Chico man's conviction and 10-year sentence for growing pot for himself and other patients.
Bryan Epis' appeal is based on December's ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that barred the use of federal drug laws against marijuana grown in the state and distributed without charge to patients under California's medical marijuana law. Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce does not extend that far, the court said.
Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the Bush administration's request to review and overturn that ruling. But Wednesday, a panel of the appeals court heard arguments in San Francisco over how the December ruling by a different panel of the court applies to Epis, who was convicted by a federal jury in 2002 of conspiring to grow more than 1,000 marijuana plants.
The court could grant him a new trial if it finds that the ruling applies to a defendant who was growing marijuana for others and expected to be paid for any portion of it.
Epis, 37, is the first Californian convicted by a jury of charges involving a medical marijuana club, a small cooperative he organized and supplied from his home. His appeal is the first in a federal prosecution to reach the appeals court since state voters approved Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that legalized marijuana for medical use under California law.
Others have since been convicted, including Ed Rosenthal, the prominent marijuana advocate found guilty by a San Francisco federal jury last year of growing pot for a cooperative that supplied the drug to patients. Rosenthal is appealing his conviction, and the government is appealing the trial judge's decision not to sentence him to prison.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, June 17, 2004 - Page A - 6
Copyright: 2004 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com
Website: Home
Bryan Epis' appeal is based on December's ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that barred the use of federal drug laws against marijuana grown in the state and distributed without charge to patients under California's medical marijuana law. Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce does not extend that far, the court said.
Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the Bush administration's request to review and overturn that ruling. But Wednesday, a panel of the appeals court heard arguments in San Francisco over how the December ruling by a different panel of the court applies to Epis, who was convicted by a federal jury in 2002 of conspiring to grow more than 1,000 marijuana plants.
The court could grant him a new trial if it finds that the ruling applies to a defendant who was growing marijuana for others and expected to be paid for any portion of it.
Epis, 37, is the first Californian convicted by a jury of charges involving a medical marijuana club, a small cooperative he organized and supplied from his home. His appeal is the first in a federal prosecution to reach the appeals court since state voters approved Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that legalized marijuana for medical use under California law.
Others have since been convicted, including Ed Rosenthal, the prominent marijuana advocate found guilty by a San Francisco federal jury last year of growing pot for a cooperative that supplied the drug to patients. Rosenthal is appealing his conviction, and the government is appealing the trial judge's decision not to sentence him to prison.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, June 17, 2004 - Page A - 6
Copyright: 2004 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com
Website: Home
