Lit_Match

`Ganja Guru' sentenced to ... nothing
Nonetheless, Ed Rosenthal plans to appeal his federal convictions
07-06-07|The Mercury News|By Josh Richman

Oakland "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal was sentenced to no penalty at all Friday for three felony marijuana-growing convictions, bringing this phase of his Kabuki-like retrial to a close.

But Rosenthal's story is far from over; he renewed his vow Friday to appeal his convictions -- punishment-free though they may be -- as a miscarriage of justice.

Rosenthal, 62, defiantly told Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan that he's proud of having grown as many as 96,000 marijuana plants from 1998 through 2002, because by doing so he helped thousands of medical-marijuana patients. He then told U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer that unlike most defendants about to be sentenced, he offers no remorse or repentance: "You get none of that from me -- I'm proud of what I did, and I know I've done nothing wrong."

Rosenthal noted that after the jury convicted him May 30 and was discharged, Breyer visited the jury room and told jurors what they hadn't been allowed to hear at trial: that Rosenthal had been acting as an agent of the city of Oakland in growing marijuana for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, and so had believed in good faith that his work was legal.

"If it didn't matter, you wouldn't have felt compelled to go to the jurors and provide that information before they faced the world again," he said, urging Breyer to void his convictions. "This, today, is your last opportunity to stop this overreaching, vindictive prosecution by the federal government."

Rosenthal called the one-day, time-served sentence Breyer imposed at his original trial in 2003 "recognition that this case should never have been filed criminally. But that is not enough. I should not remain a felon. Citizens around the country urge you to do the right thing, to serve justice, to void this conviction."

But Breyer said Rosenthal's complaints of an unfair trial are proper fodder for 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Rosenthal already has said he'll seek review. Breyer then pronounced Rosenthal's sentence -- one day, time already served, just like last time -- and Rosenthal walked out a free man.

Outside the courtroom, Rosenthal said he'll appeal because his conviction marks a victory for the federal government in its crackdown on state-sanctioned medical-marijuana use -- a political precedent which mustn't stand. But first, he said, he'll spend this weekend at a friend's wedding and taking some time to "putter around my garden"

Defense attorney Robert Amparan rolled his eyes at this potentially loaded statement from the noted marijuana horticulturist who now has felony convictions on his record: "No gardening -- you're not safety-valve eligible anymore, Mr. Rosenthal."

But Rosenthal replied he'll confine his gardening to patio flowers and vegetables.

Federal agents in February 2002 arrested Rosenthal and others while raiding a warehouse on Oakland's Mandela Parkway; the Harm Reduction Center medical-marijuana club on San Francisco's Sixth Street; Rosenthal's home and other sites.

A federal jury convicted Rosenthal in 2003, but within hours, most jurors publicly renounced their own verdict, claiming they'd been railroaded into convicting him by a court that allowed no consideration or discussion of medical marijuana. Breyer later sentenced Rosenthal to only one day in jail and warned any such cases in the future would receive harsher penalties.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2006 ruled there had been juror misconduct, and overturned Rosenthal's convictions. Prosecutors re-indicted Rosenthal in October, adding charges that he'd laundered marijuana proceeds and falsified three years worth of tax returns; Breyer in March tossed out those new charges, deeming them to be vindictive prosecution.

A new jury convicted Rosenthal on May 30 of three of the five marijuana-growing felonies of which he stood accused: a conspiracy count; one count of growing, intending to distribute and distributing marijuana; and one count of using the Mandela Parkway warehouse as a site for growing and distributing marijuana. The jury acquitted him of growing and distributing marijuana at the Harm Reduction Center, and deadlocked on whether he had conspired to do so; at the judge's stern suggestion, prosecutors quickly dropped the deadlocked count.

But prosecutors and the judge had agreed long before the retrial began that Rosenthal couldn't be sentenced now to anything beyond the one day of time -- already served -- to which he was sentenced for his 2003 convictions.