State, defense lawyers try to save pot IDs

intangible child · 11-04-2009, 01:21 PM

(11-03) 18:12 PST BERKELEY -- In a rare display of harmony, prosecution and defense lawyers urged the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to save California's medical marijuana identification card program from a flaw in the legislation that created it.

Both Deputy Attorney General Michael Johnsen and Gerald Uelmen, the lawyer for a man challenging his marijuana conviction, agreed that a state appeals court went too far last year when it ruled that the 2003 law protecting card-holding pot patients from arrest clashed with California law allowing medical use of marijuana.

Proposition 215, which voters approved in 1996, allows patients with doctors' approval to possess an amount of marijuana reasonable for their medical use. The 2003 law set limits of 8 ounces of dried marijuana, or six mature or 12 immature plants, and allows patients who comply with those standards to carry county-issued identification cards.

The case reached the courts after police found seven marijuana plants and 12 ounces of marijuana in Patrick Kelly's home in Los Angeles County. A prosecutor argued that Kelly had exceeded the limits of the 2003 law, and he was convicted of illegal possession and cultivation and sentenced to two days in jail.

In a May 2008 ruling, the Second District Court of Appeal overturned Kelly's convictions and said the limits that the Legislature set in 2003 were an unconstitutional amendment of Prop. 215. The initiative contained no such limits.

The court said defendants who possessed greater amounts of marijuana could still try to persuade a jury that they had only what they needed for medical use. Neither side disputed that in Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing at the UC Berkeley law school.

Read more: State, defense lawyers try to save pot IDs

11-04-2009, 01:21 PM	#1
intangible child New Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 91 Grams: 827.00 Thanks: 29 Thanked 55 Times in 25 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	State, defense lawyers try to save pot IDs (11-03) 18:12 PST BERKELEY -- In a rare display of harmony, prosecution and defense lawyers urged the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to save California's medical marijuana identification card program from a flaw in the legislation that created it. Both Deputy Attorney General Michael Johnsen and Gerald Uelmen, the lawyer for a man challenging his marijuana conviction, agreed that a state appeals court went too far last year when it ruled that the 2003 law protecting card-holding pot patients from arrest clashed with California law allowing medical use of marijuana. Proposition 215, which voters approved in 1996, allows patients with doctors' approval to possess an amount of marijuana reasonable for their medical use. The 2003 law set limits of 8 ounces of dried marijuana, or six mature or 12 immature plants, and allows patients who comply with those standards to carry county-issued identification cards. The case reached the courts after police found seven marijuana plants and 12 ounces of marijuana in Patrick Kelly's home in Los Angeles County. A prosecutor argued that Kelly had exceeded the limits of the 2003 law, and he was convicted of illegal possession and cultivation and sentenced to two days in jail. In a May 2008 ruling, the Second District Court of Appeal overturned Kelly's convictions and said the limits that the Legislature set in 2003 were an unconstitutional amendment of Prop. 215. The initiative contained no such limits. The court said defendants who possessed greater amounts of marijuana could still try to persuade a jury that they had only what they needed for medical use. Neither side disputed that in Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing at the UC Berkeley law school. Read more: State, defense lawyers try to save pot IDs

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