>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <00c101bf35fd$79bed210$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: LA Times of plea agreement >Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 13:55:37 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Here is a remarkably compassionate and accurate article from the LA Times. > >Enjoy, > >Peter > >---------- > >LA Times > >Saturday, November 20, 1999 | Print this story > > > >Activists Plead Guilty to Drug Charges >. Courts: Barred from using medical necessity or state initiative as >defense, two accused pot growers OK plea bargain. > > >By DAVID ROSENZWEIG, Times Staff Writer > > > > > Barred from using medical necessity as a defense, two prominent >marijuana advocates pleaded guilty to reduced drug charges Friday in Los >Angeles federal court. > The pleas by Todd McCormick and Peter McWilliams followed a judge's >ruling earlier this month that the pair could not refer to California's >medical marijuana initiative or to their own medical conditions in their >upcoming trial. > McCormick, 29, suffers from bone cancer, and McWilliams, 50, a >self-help book publisher, is a wheelchair-bound AIDS patient. > They were accused of growing more than 4,100 marijuana plants at a >rented Bel-Air mansion and trying to sell their crop to the Los Angeles >Cannabis Buyer's Club, which has dispensed the drug since California voters >passed Proposition 215 in 1996. > The federal government does not recognize the state initiative as >binding. Nor did U.S. District Court Judge George H. King in a Nov. 5 >opinion that devastated the defendants. > McWilliams' lawyer, Tom Ballanco, said Friday that King's ruling "took >away every defense we had," leaving McWilliams facing certain conviction and >at least 10 years behind bars. > "He couldn't survive a sentence like that," he said. > McCormick, whose legal bills are paid by actor Woody Harrelson, said >that pleading guilty will give him a chance to remain free on bail while his >lawyers appeal King's ruling on a medical necessity defense. > "If I would have been found guilty at trial, I would have been remanded >into custody and not allowed an appeal bond," he said. "I felt this was the >smartest way to protect my health and my well-being and my rights in an >appellate process." > After issuing his earlier ruling, King pressed both sides to negotiate >a plea agreement rather than go to trial. > In the end, the prosecution dropped marijuana manufacturing charges >carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. > McWilliams and McCormick were allowed to plead guilty instead to >conspiring to grow and distribute marijuana, punishable by a maximum five >years imprisonment. > McCormick agreed to a flat five-year prison term and McWilliams faces a >term of up to five years when they are sentenced on Feb. 28. > Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, called the >pleas a victory for the prosecution. > "This is the first time that these defendants have acknowledged they >were producing marijuana for commercial gain," he said. > Indeed, the agreements they signed make no mention of growing marijuana >for medical use. > McWilliams, owner of Prelude Press, admitted financing the marijuana >growing operation and paying McCormick more than $120,000 in one year. >According to court documents, McWilliams hoped to strike it rich as a >marijuana grower and compared himself to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. > In a letter to McWilliams memorializing their partnership, McCormick >wrote that the deal entailed "us splitting the harvest three ways, you >receiving two thirds for providing space and equipment and me receiving one >third for labor and expertise." > Both men were arrested after agents from the Drug Enforcement >Administration raided the mansion on Bel-Air's Stone Canyon Drive, >confiscating 4,116 marijuana plants. > Alan Isaacman and David Michael, McCormick's lawyers, said Friday they >cannot appeal King's ruling barring a medical necessity defense until after >the scheduled Feb. 28 sentencing. > McWilliams, meanwhile, said he hoped the judge would "consider my >situation. This has been a terrible ordeal. I've lost my health, I've lost >my business and I'm about to go into bankruptcy. I'm just exhausted." > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: