MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER FOUND GUILTY

"I Saw a Child Abuser Last Week Get Convicted of the Same Class of
Felony As My Son. ... How Is This Possible?"

Brighton - A man who hoped Colorado's medical-marijuana law would
allow him to use pot to soothe his disease-ravaged body is now a felon.

That doesn't sit well with his mother, who seethed outside of an
Adams County District courtroom after jurors Wednesday convicted her
son - 39-year-old Jack Branson - of cultivation of marijuana, a felony.

"I saw a child abuser last week get convicted of the same class of
felony as my son, and that child abuser is a danger to this
community," said Margaret Branson, who watched her son hobble down a
hallway using a cane.

"You tell me," she said, "how is this possible?"

But the nine-woman, three-man panel also cleared her son of a second
felony charge of possession of more than 8 ounces of marijuana.

The decision to acquit on one marijuana charge and convict on another
was "irrational," said Branson's attorney, Robert Corry. He asked
Adams County District Judge Thomas Ensor to overturn the guilty verdict.

Ensor refused and sentenced Branson to one year of unsupervised
probation. He faced six years in prison.

The verdict will be appealed, said Corry, adding jurors seemingly
reached a puzzling compromise.

"The charges against him were all or nothing," Corry said. "This
makes no sense."

Jurors couldn't be reached for comment.

Corry argued that Branson - who suffers from AIDS and hepatitis B -
received oral recommendations from doctors over the past several
years to use medicinal marijuana. The drug eases his nausea and
allows him to take his medications and to eat, Corry said.

However, Branson never received a written recommendation.

Police in October 2004 arrested Branson after finding 14 8-foot-tall
pot plants, a scale and several bags of dried marijuana at his Thornton home.

Prosecutor Trevor Moritzky told jurors Branson had in his possession
far more pot than allowed under the state's medical-marijuana law -
which generally stipulates one can have three flowering plants, three
replacement plants and 2 ounces of the drug.

"This was a production facility," Moritzky said. "He had far more
than he needed."

Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said he never wanted Branson
to serve any prison time. "We have no problem with anyone using
medical marijuana under the law," Quick said. "We just want to see it
applied correctly."