JUDGE IMPOSES 10-YEAR SENTENCE IN MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CASE

His lawyer said an appeal may be based on the Roanoke Police Department's
use of thermal imaging technology to gain evidence for obtaining a search
warrant.

He had defended his right to grow and smoke what he called "medical
marijuana." But after 90 days in jail, Jay Lynch stood up and apologized
Monday, telling a judge he was through with the herb.

He asked Roanoke Circuit Judge Robert "Pat" Doherty to allow him out on
probation, even though a jury had recommended he spend 10 years in prison
and pay a $10,000 fine on a pot manufacturing charge. Lynch said he needed
to get out and help his aging parents run their business.

"I made a mistake," Lynch said. "I apologize to the commonwealth and you. I
won't do it again. ... I'll stay away from marijuana."

Doherty instead affirmed the jury's recommendation.

"I'm sorry for your family," Doherty said before imposing the full sentence
and fine. "I am sorry you've seen fit to hurt your family that way."

Lynch, who has said he was fighting the case against him in order to keep
his driver's license, had it suspended for six months.

The penalty brought to an end, for now, a legal odyssey in which Lynch
acted as his own lawyer, attempting to compensate for his inexperience by
publicizing his case in newspaper ads and articles, television reports,
even on national radio with the self-crowned king of all media - shock jock
Howard Stern. Stern suggested that his caller cop a plea.

Lynch's attorney, Tony Anderson, said he will appeal the conviction. One
possible issue is the Roanoke Police Department's use of thermal imaging
technology to gain evidence for obtaining a search warrant, he said. The
U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the use of such devices is
unconstitutional without a warrant already in hand.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Wes Nance said police had enough
additional evidence to warrant a search.

Lynch closed his two-day trial April 3 by telling the jury about smoking
pot at his house with a girlfriend who had brought a child with her. He was
dissatisfied that the girlfriend had brought a youngster into the scene, he
told the jury.

Jurors convicted him after deliberating less than two hours. They could
have given him as little as five or as many as 30 years for manufacturing
marijuana for others' use.

Lynch has said he was shocked by the conviction. Afterward, he hired
Anderson to represent him at his presentence hearing.

"I'll say what many of us have heard said before: One who represents
himself has a fool for a client," Anderson told the judge.

But he should not have been penalized for trying, and for selecting to try
his case in front of a jury, Anderson said.

Sentencing guidelines called for probation, but no incarceration, in the
case. Lynch's 73-year-old father needs him to help out at the family
cemetery, Anderson said.

His father, C.J. Lynch, took the witness stand to testify that his time to
retire has come.

"I'd love to, but I can't now," he said.

Sentencing guidelines, which are based on statistical analyses of average
sentences and defendants' backgrounds, don't tell the entire story in
Lynch's case, Nance said. Police raided his house in the 900 block of
Westside Boulevard Northwest, finding what Nance characterized as an
"orchard" of more than 100 plants with a street value of $180,000. One of
the plants was nearly seven feet tall, according to trial testimony.

"This is not your normal first-offense marijuana case," the prosecutor said.

Doherty agreed, saying that if the guidelines fit every situation, one
could plug defendants' crimes into computers to get their sentences, doing
away with jury recommendations and judges' affirmations, Doherty said.

"That's not how the system works in Virginia," the judge said.