Search Results: dumanis (42)

San Diego Americans for Safe Access
Dexter Padilla, left, shown with his wife Mariesol, saw the case against him dismissed after a mistrial on Thursday

Another devastating blow to San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ fierce fight against medical marijuana patients; Judge Laura Parsky declares a mistrial after the jury was hopelessly deadlocked
 
By Eugene Davidovich
 
On May 16, 12 jurors and two alternates were selected in the trial of San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis v. Dexter Padilla, Navy veteran, medical marijuana patient and president of Therapeutic Healing, a San Diego based non profit medical marijuana coop.

San Diego Americans for Safe Access

A press conference on behalf of Navy veteran and medical marijuana patient/provider Dexter Padilla has been set for Tuesday, May 22, at 12:30 p.m., in front of the Hall of Justice at 330 West Broadway, San Diego, California. The press conference was arranged by the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access.

A jury was selected last week and Padilla’s marijuana trafficking trial began on May 16 in Department 27 of San Diego Superior Court for the Honorable Laura Parsky.
Throughout the last week, the prosecution presented its side in the criminal trial of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis v. Padilla, a Navy veteran, medical cannabis patient and president of Therapeutic Healing Collective (THC), a San Diego-based nonprofit medical marijuana cooperative.
The prosecution’s entire case consisted of two witnesses from D.A. Dumanis’ Cross Jurisdiction Task Force. The Task Force, which is strongly supported by Dumanis, was formed to commandeer local law enforcement in an effort to help the federal government circumvent California’s medical marijuana laws.

FederalJack.com

By Eugene Davidovich
San Diego Americans for Safe Access
San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis presses on with the state trial of a medical marijuana patient in full compliance with California law — even after the feds refuse to prosecute and court records show the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s involvement in theft of attorney-client records.
Twelve jurors and two alternates were selected on Wednesday in Department 27 of San Diego Superior Court, officially starting the criminal trial of Dexter Padilla, a Navy veteran, medical marijuana patient and president of Therapeutic Healing, a San Diego-based non profit medical marijuana coop. 

NBC San Diego
Medical marijuana patient advocates protest outside Golden West Collective on Thursday as it is raided by DEA agents and San Diego Police.

​Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided three medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego at exactly 4:20 p.m. on Thursday, acting on a “landlord law” that was put into action after a crackdown announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office last October.

Landlords who rent to dispensaries were warned to evict their tenants are face prosecution and forfeiture of their property, reports Tony Shin at NBC San Diego.
Dozens of heavily armed agents with battering rams raided Golden West Collective on University Avenue in North Park on Wednesday, with the dastardly assistance of the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, acting contrary to the wishes of voters and in violation of California state law. Masked gunmen swarmed into the medical facilities, forcing ailing patients to the floor and breaking down doors and smashing windows.

Nug Magazine
Jovan Jackson operated his storefront collective for years without incident until he was raided by law enforcement in 2008

​Medical marijuana patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) on Tuesday appealed the September 2010 conviction of San Diego dispensary operator Jovan Jackson in a case that has received widespread attention.

The case against Jackson has become a symbol of the effort by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and other prosecutors across the state to criminalize storefront collectives. Due to state jurisprudence, California Attorney General Kamala Harris will now defend Jackson’s appeal rather than Dumanis, who originally tried him.
The Americans for Safe Access appeal not only contests Jackson’s conviction and the denial of his medical defense, but it also challenges the prosecution’s assertion that “sales” of medical marijuana are illegal under state law.
“Jackson and other medical providers deserve a defense under the state’s medical marijuana laws and these are issues for a jury to decide,” said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who authored the appeal brief filed on Tuesday. “The denial of Jackson’s defense was unfairly used to convict a medical marijuana provider who was in full compliance with state law.”

Photo: Pacific San Diego

​Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) on Thursday threatened to file suit against the City of San Diego if it doesn’t amend a recent ordinance that patient advocates are calling a de facto ban on local cannabis distribution facilities.

ASA argued in a letter sent to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith that the ordinance violates due process rights of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives by forcing them to shut down in 30 days, leaving virtually no options for relocation.
Unless the city can “ease the restrictions on medical marijuana collectives, so that qualified patients can obtain the medicine they need,” the letter, authored by ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, said that the organization and its patient base would be “compelled” to seek such remedies in court.
The letter suggested that the San Diego City Council amend its ordinance to allow “medical marijuana collectives to operate in most commercial and all industrial zones” and increase “the period to obtain a conditional use permit to one year.”

Photo: K.C. Alfred/Sign On San Diego
The court deprived Jovan Jackson of the medical marijuana defense that was used to gain an acquittal in his first trial

​Medical marijuana patient advocates on Wednesday will argue for a new trial in the case of dispensary owner Jovan Jackson, who was convicted on September 28 after he was tried for the second time in less than a year on the same charges of marijuana possession and sales.

After District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis failed to convict Jackson the first time, she was able to block his use of a medical marijuana defense at the second trial, virtually guaranteeing his conviction, according to patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA).

Graphic: Women’s Marijuana Movement

​The Women’s Marijuana Movement on Tuesday, October 5, will coordinate news conferences throughout California and across the nation in support of Proposition 19, the California ballot initiative to control and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, and to highlight the need for marijuana law reform nationwide.

“The Women of these United States are joining together and showing their support of Proposition 19 and the people of California to vote YES and take this historic step towards reforming our nation’s marijuana laws,” Cheyanne Weldon of Texas NORML told Toke of the Town.
“Throughout history, when women have shown their support of prohibition (or lifting of a prohibition), society as a whole has taken notice,” Weldon told us.

Photo: K.C. Alfred/Sign On San Diego
Jovan Jackson, manager of a now-defunct medical marijuana dispensary in Kearny Mesa, was accused of illegally selling cannabis.

​San Diego medical marijuana dispensary operator Jovan Jackson was convicted by a jury Tuesday on all three counts of possession and sales of cannabis with which he was charged. However, the conviction came after San Diego Superior Court Judge Howard H. Shore refused to allow Jackson a medical marijuana defense at trial.

The trial began last week, with the jury taking less than 24 hours to reach a verdict. Jackson is likely to appeal the conviction and his inability to use a medical defense.
Medical marijuana patients’ rights group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) had previously submitted a brief in Jackson’s case supporting his right to a medical defense and is considering assisting with an appeal.

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.”