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

SAN FRANCISCO(AP) - 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."