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Demonstrators Protest Pot Dispensary Raids
01.22.07|CBS 2 News

A day after a teen was allegedly killed by a cancer patient who thought he was trying to steal his marijuana plants, demonstrators Monday protested recent federal raids of Los Angeles-area pot dispensaries.

Several hundred people rallied about noon outside the Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, holding up signs with such sentiments as "Safe Access: It's the Law," and "The DEA is Stealing Cannabis."

As some passing motorists honked their horns in apparent support, demonstrators lined both sides of the street in the 200 block of East Temple Street -- some spilling into the roadway -- and shouted "safe access now!"

The demonstration, organized by Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access, took place a day after the death of a 15-year-old boy allegedly shot by a cancer patient while supposedly trying to steal some marijuana the man was growing in a shed behind his Bellflower home.

Jerry Cress, 57, who lives in the 8500 block of Park Street, told sheriff's deputies he confronted two young men on his property about 6:25 a.m. Sunday and shot at one who was carrying a hammer, according to deputies with the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

Jacob T. Walker, of Paramount, later turned up at a hospital with an apparently fatal wound, and detectives tied him to the confrontation in Bellflower, deputies said.

Detectives then arrested Cress on suspicion of murder, along with Walker's brother or half-brother, 24-year-old Duane Berry, who allegedly had been with Walker when he was shot, deputies said.

Under California law, accomplices to a crime can be charged with murder if someone dies while that crime is in progress.

Cress, who supposedly has stage three liver cancer, had about 15 pot plants growing in the shed.

Cress apparently told deputies he fired at the trespasser with a pellet gun. Berry, however, told authorities he and his brother were simply walking by the shed when Cress shot at them.

Neighbors told television station reporters that Cress, who has razor wire ringing his back yard, had complained about being burglarized before. An autopsy on the boy is pending.

The shooting comes on the heels of Drug Enforcement Administration raids at 11 medical marijuana outlets. While California laws allows some people to grow and smoke pot, federal law prohibits marijuana use and cultivation for any
purpose.

Jacob's mother Yolanda Rice told the Los Angeles Times she saw entry wounds in Jacob's right shoulder and his lower back.

"I just don't understand how somebody could shoot somebody, even if he thought somebody was on his property," she said.

Rice said her older son recently was released from jail and was charged with the alleged sale or furnishing of marijuana, the newspaper reported.

Cress and Berry, both of whom were denied bail pending arraignment, were booked at the sheriff's Lakewood Station.

Americans for Safe Access estimates that pot raids and prosecutions over the past 18 months have cost California taxpayers more than $9 million.

Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton recently issued a report to the Police Commission on guidelines for medical marijuana outlets in Los Angeles.

 

Buzzby

If Walker was threatening Cress with a hammer, it would make it self-defense. There is no justification for shooting someone simply because they are stealing your property.

It would be ironic if the brother gets charged with murder and the guy who pulled the trigger is let off on a justifiable homicide.

Which means he'd probably not live long enough to make it to trial even if charged.

It's almost impossible to kill someone with a pellet gun unless you hit them in the eye.

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Lit_Match

You'd be surprised, I have two pellet guns. One will shoot through a phonebook with over 800 pages, the other cost $99 and will shoot through over 600 pages. I have little doubt of the deadliness of either.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

Unregistered

To Buzzby:

My younger cousin, Jacob didn't have the gun. My asshole, retarded cousin Duane had it. I just wish Jacob didn't go along with Duane's stupid plan. I always thought that Duane was going to be the one shot and killed, either because of the color of his skin or because he is not so smart. I don't care how mean this sounds, but if I could choose....

Anyway, my family was trying to cover things up, like destroying the marijuana leaves that trailed from Cress's house to my Aunt's, and I doubt it if Jacob was simply walking by. Still, it don't give that man the right to shoot him in the BACK (which indicates that he was running away). He wasn't even supposed to have a gun.

Thanks for having all of the facts on here.