California Jury Acquits Medical Marijuana Patient With 41 Seedlings And A Pound And A Half.
– In Shasta County!

(Marijuananews note: It has been difficult to get the police and prosecutors to accept Prop 215 in much of the state. This action by a jury – jury pools are registered voters – will get the attention of the politicians.)

See
Three Years After Prop 215 Passed, Orange County Law Enforcement Is Finally Accepting It.
How Time Flies When You Are Not In Pain!
Steve Kubby At Work.

December 16, 1999
From The Redding Record Searchlight
Front page
http://www.redding.com
abreitler@redding.com
By Alex Breitler abreitler@redding.com>

In what could be a landmark medical marijuana case, a jury on Wednesday acquitted a 49-year-old Redding man charged with growing pot for sale.
See
Judge Rules That Prop 215 Protects Against Cultivation Charge;
Major Implications For Kubby and Other Cases. Possible "Sales" Charge Remains.

The verdict is the first of its kind in Shasta County - and possibly California - since Proposition 215 passed in 1996, allowing the possession, use and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes with a doctor's approval.

And while defendant Richard Levin was all smiles after the verdict, he said he's angry the case went this far.

"I'm extremely relieved that the truth came out," Levin said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the office of his lawyer, Eric Berg. "But there's a problem here. They (law enforcement) are denouncing the law."

The jury spent a little more than a day deliberating the case.

Levin was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1991. Two years later, while on a contracting job, he slipped on the icy floor of a house he was helping to build and fell three stories, requiring four back surgeries.

In fear of damaging his liver with heavy doses of prescription drugs, Levin turned to marijuana in 1994, growing the drug in his back yard. He got an oral recommendation from his doctor, Levin said.

Authorities arrested him May 6, 1998, after finding 41 seedlings in his back yard and 1 ½ pounds of packaged marijuana in Levin's bedroom.
See
Oakland City Council Votes To Allow Patients One And Half Pounds Of Medical Marijuana
Jim Clark of Redding, an alternate juror in the case, did not vote or sit in on the jury deliberations. But he witnessed the entire trial and said he agreed with the jurors' final decision.

The prosecution failed to prove that Levin intended to sell marijuana, he said.

"If they (the prosecution) would have had somebody come forward and say, yes, I bought from him," Clark, 44, said. "But all they could say was the marijuana was processed for sale."

Clark said it would be difficult for him to convict Levin given the fact that Proposition 215 doesn't place a limit on the amount of marijuana patients can grow.
See
Full Text of Proposition 215 Compassionate Use Act of 1996
"The thing that they (prosecution) didn't have was a guideline for how much you could possess," he said. "I couldn't send a guy to prison for violating a law that really wasn't a law."

The prosecutor of he case, Deputy District Attorney Laura Sheehy, deferred comment to District Attorney McGregor Scott.

Scott said he respect the jury's decision, and said his office will review the verdict to see it if should change its stance on prosecuting medicinal marijuana cases.

"I think it's safe to say that we'll review the jury's decision, we'll analyze it and try to talk to them," he said. "If appropriate, we'll amend the approach that we've taken."

Scott said Levin would have more pot than he needed once the plants matured.