| Photo: ASA San Diego |
| The jury is deliberating in the second trial of San Diego medical marijuana provider Jovan Jackson. |
A Superior Court jury has heard the evidence in the trial of Jovan Jackson, accused of illegally selling marijuana at a now-defunct medical cannabis dispensary in Kearny Mesa, California, and is expected to begin its first full day of deliberations Tuesday.
Jackson, 32, faces charges of possession and sale of marijuana at Answerdam Collective Care on Convoy Court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to more than six years in prison, reports Dana Littlefield at Sign On San Diego.
Jackson owned Answerdam, described as a “marijuana store,” according to Deputy Attorney Chris Lindberg. The prosecutor claimed that Jackson misused California’s medical marijuana law, which he said was intended to help the sick and suffering, to “line his own pockets.”
| Photo: San Diego D.A.’s Office |
| Prosecutor Chris Lindberg: “He was making a lot of money” |
”The defendant was selling drugs and making money through Answerdam,” Lindberg claimed. “He was making a lot of money.”
Lindberg told the jury the evidence shows Jackson incorporated the business in Nevada, hired and scheduled the workers and collected the money.
Defense attorney Lance Rogers argued that Jackson did nothing wrong under the law and that prosecutors had no direct evidence tying him to an undercover drug buy at Answerdam on July 16, 2009, or a search of the property on September 9, 2009.
Rogers said that District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and the multiagency narcotics task force are “out to get” Jackson, a medical marijuana patient.
“Where are the bank records?” Rogers asked in his closing argument. “Show me exactly where this money went.”
Jackson was already acquitted last year of very similar charges related to two undercover drug buys at Answerdam in June and July of 2008.