Since that defense is not available in federal court, Harvey et al.’s only chance to avoid prison seems to be convincing the jury to ignore the law, which will be tricky. Last week U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle granted the prosecution’s request that he “prohibit the defendants from eliciting testimony concerning their motives, justifications, or beliefs as to why the marijuana was being cultivated at the residence in question.” Prosecutors argued, and Van Sickle agreed, that “any evidence of medical purposes as well as the Defendants’ belief that they were lawfully engaged in marijuana cultivation is inadmissible.” The judge explained that allowing such evidence, even to rebut the government’s allegation of a conspiracy to distribute marijuana, would be too risky, since it “could confuse the jury with respect to whether compliance with the state [Medical Use of Cannabis Act] is a defense” or even “tempt the jury to disregard federal law.”
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:59:41 +0000
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