>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <00b501bf35fc$309fc130$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: NY Times on my plea >Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 13:46:25 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8003 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >One factual correction: we pled to 4,300 plants, not 6,000. > >Enjoy, > >Peter > >-------- > >New York Times > >November 21, 1999 > >Case Involving Medical Use Of Marijuana Results in Plea > >Two advocates of the medicinal use of marijuana pleaded guilty today to >growing more than 6,000 plants and selling the drug, saying their only hope >was to ask for a judge's mercy after they were precluded from raising >medical issues in their defense. > >The two men, Peter McWilliams and Todd McCormick, intended to tell jurors >about the state law passed by voters in 1996 allowing marijuana use for >medical purposes, its purported benefits and their own health. Mr. >McWilliams has AIDS, and Mr. McCormick has fused vertebrae from childhood >cancer treatments. > >But Judge George H. King of Federal District Court here barred them from >raising those issues in the courtroom after prosecutors contended that doing >so would confuse and mislead jurors. > >At the heart of the dispute was whether a ''medical necessity defense'' >saying they broke the law because their health required it could be used >when Congress had classified the drug in question as having no legitimate >use. > >''Given the judge's logic, that the medical necessity defense does not >exist, someone in Peter's situation has only two remedies to prevent him >from going to jail,'' said Tom Ballanco, a lawyer for Mr. McWilliams. > >''One is prosecutorial discretion, and the other is compassion on the part >of the judge,'' Mr. Ballanco said. ''Here, obviously, the prosecutors chose >to prosecute, so it's all up to the judge to demonstrate there is some >compassion in the federal law. I am hoping that he will.'' > >Both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to manufacture and distribute >marijuana. In doing so, they capitulated to a set of facts that they >continued to dispute outside the courtroom. Based on letters Mr. McCormick >wrote to Mr. McWilliams, prosecutors maintained the men were planning to >sell marijuana to cannabis clubs where ill people go to use the drug. > >But the defendants maintained they were growing the plants for personal use >and for a book Mr. McCormick was writing about medical marijuana. Mr. >McWilliams, a book publisher, acknowledged growing 300 of his own plants but >insisted the roughly $100,000 he gave Mr. McCormick was a book advance, not >financing for the growing operation. > >The case also highlighted a conflict in federal law. Despite Congress's >stance, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowed a >cannabis club in Oakland to resume providing marijuana to patients in >September, saying medical necessity could be used as a defense against a >court injunction obtained by the Clinton administration. > >Mr. McWilliams, who faces up to five years in prison under his plea, waived >his right to appeal on that issue. But Mr. McCormick will appeal Judge >King's ruling on the medical necessity defense. If he loses, he will face >five years in prison. > >''I felt this was the smartest way to protect my health and my well-being,'' >Mr. McCormick told reporters outside court afterward. > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: