| Photo: www.medicalmarijuanablog.com |
An arrogant Hawaii judge said the court wouldn’t recognize the medical marijuana card of a man who was ordered to perform 500 hours of community service as part of five years’ probation in a pot case.
Kaleo Roberson, 35, was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine as part of his sentence imposed July 29, reports The Maui News.
Second Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto followed a plea agreement in sentencing Roberson, who had pleaded no contest to two counts each of “first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug” (when did medical marijuana become a “detrimental drug”?) and possessing “drug paraphernalia.”
Officers got a search warrant to search professional surfer Roberson’s home after marijuana plants were seen on the property by police in a helicopter during a marijuana eradication mission, according to court records.
| Deborah Booker/The Honolulu Advertiser |
| In happier days: Kaleo Roberson, a professional surfer from Maui, plays foosball in 2002. |
When the warrant was executed on May 12, 2009, vice officers claimed they found plastic bags containing 490 grams of marijuana in a kitchen cabinet, $1,030 in cash and 12.7 grams of marijuana in the master bedroom closet.
In another unit of the residence occupied by Graem Kronewitter, 35, police claimed they found four pounds of marijuana under a couch, as well as a digital scale, empty plastic bags and a “burnt marijuana cigarette.”
Roberson admitted that 35 of 100 marijuana plants found on the property belonged to him, according to the police.
The plants had been moved so they could not be seen from the air, and Roberson admitted to hiding the plants under brush, according to officers.
| Mana Photo |
| Kaleo Roberson’s still got it: the longtime surfer rides a wave in 2010 |
Defense attorney Ben Lowenthal, who I don’t plan to ever use as a lawyer, said Roberson recognized that “in doing what he did, he has jeopardized his family and hurt the community.”
“The agreement gives him an opportunity to show the community he can do some good,” said attorney Lowenthal, who could use some awareness training about the concept of medical marijuana.
As part of the sentence, obnoxiously self-righteous Judge Raffetto ordered Roberson not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs.
“I am not going to recognize your medical marijuana card, so if you test positive for that, you will be in violation,” the judge, who may well be a practicing adherent of the ancient sect of Assholeism, told Roberson.
The judge said the only way Roberson’s medical marijuana card would be valid is if he obtains a statement under oath from a physician stating a specific diagnosis that requires treatment with marijuana and saying there was no alternative to marijuana to treat the condition.
Interesting that Judge Raffetto feels he can re-write Hawaii’s medical marijuana law that way.
“You need to change your life because if you violate your probation, I will send you to prison,” said Judge Raffetto to Roberson, sounding a lot like that buzz-kill uncle whose ass always hurts.
“You can count on it,” the judge said, clearly relishing the feeling of imposing his will on another human being.
“You’re not above the law. You have to follow the law just like everybody else,” the judge said, seemingly unaware of the cruel irony of his statement, since he was himself ignoring Hawaii’s medical marijuana law.
Kronewitter, the resident of the other unit at Roberson’s residence — you remember, the guy with four pounds of pot under the couch — is awaiting sentencing August 19 after pleading no contest to a reduced charge of first-degree promotion of a “detrimental drug” (there’s that again) and possessing “drug paraphernalia.”