Washington pot grower defends his home and plants with a handgun, gets sentenced to prison

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Anupam Kamal/Flickr.


Washington state medical marijuana grower Justin Loken, who after being ambushed and robbed inside his home last summer by a gang of social pariahs, whipped out a pistol and put a bullet in a couple of his assailents.
But apparently in Washington, defending your legal marijuana grow operation against hookers, pimps and robbers with a firearm will earn you a substantial federal prison sentence.


Although, the incident appears to be a clear-cut case of self-defense, the callous hand of pseudo-justice clobbered Loken on the head earlier this week, when a judge found his trigger finger deserving of a two-and-a-half year stint in a federal penitentiary.
The whole underhanded debacle began sometime last year when Loken decided to employ the regular services of a local prostitute named Annastasia Maria Pierson, who he knew only by the woman’s spread-legged alias, “Kayla.” Over the course of several sexual encounters, Loken made the mistake of showing Kayla his marijuana grow operation, which is ultimately what set him up for the furious shakedown that was soon to come.
On August 13, Kayla showed up at Loken’s residence after making arrangements to purchase six pounds of marijuana. However, shortly after her arrival, just as Loken opened a beer, two men blasted through the front door and proceeded to take his cannabis, cash and posessions by force. The two thieving culprits, Melvin Slaughter and Ferdinand Clay, strong-armed Loken into opening the safe before hogtying him on the bedroom floor and walking away with $300 cash, a quarter pound of weed, and a cornucopia of weapons.
Yet, somehow, before the sleazy thieves managed to load the loot into the back of their getaway vehicle, Loken broke free and met his assailants outside with a shower of bullets from a pistol that he had hidden under his mattress. Loken succeeded in shooting Clay twice, hitting him once in the face and again the neck, severely wounding but not killing the man, as well as firing a round into a woman who had been hired to drive getaway.
Of course when guns are fired the cops are going to get called. But when police arrived they were more concerned with the 100+ marijuana plants in Loken’s home, which he told them was part of a medical marijuana business. Unfortunately, prosecutors did not buy Loken’s story, charging him with several felonies, including shooting a firearm during a drug trafficking crime and manufacturing marijuana – all of which he pleaded guilty to.
In the next few weeks, Loken is expected to report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving out his sentence. Slaughter was handed a 14-year prison term for his role in the robbery; Pierson received two-and-a-half years of federal time, and Clay is schedule to be sentenced in June.
Mike Adams writes for stoners and smut enthusiasts in High Times, Playboy’s The Smoking Jacket and Hustler Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @adamssoup and on Facebook/mikeadams73.

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