JUDGE DECLINES TO ISSUE GAG ORDER IN 'GURU OF GANJA' CASE

SAN FRANCISCO - The federal judge presiding over the marijuana
cultivation trial of Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja,"
declined Thursday to impose a gag order.

Federal prosecutors had sought to keep the defendant and his attorneys
from speaking to the media amid fears that the bombardment of
publicity the case has generated could taint the jury.

"I think there has been a concerted, organized effort to influence the
jury," prosecutor George Bevan told U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.

Rosenthal, who has written several how-to-grow marijuana books, faces
a possible life term if convicted. Rosenthal, 58, says he was growing
medical marijuana as authorized by California's Proposition 215,
approved by voters in 1996.

But the federal government doesn't recognize that state law and Breyer
has prohibited Rosenthal and his lawyers from making that defense to
the jury.

So Rosenthal has told his story to a host of media outlets, and the
government wanted him stopped. Prosecutor Bevan also objected to
protesters outside the courthouse handing out literature urging jurors
to use their "discretion" when formulating a verdict.

The judge, however, said he has repeatedly instructed the jury to
refrain from reading, listening to or watching accounts of the trial
outside the courtroom.

"I'm certainly hopeful jurors will follow the law," Breyer said. "I'm
not about to shackle people's First Amendment rights."