MARVIN CHAVEZ DOESN'T DESERVE JAIL TIME

I understand that a number of people have written letters to Judge Thomas
J. Borris of the West County Court in Westminster regarding today's
sentencing of Marvin Chavez, who was found guilty on several
marijuana-related counts last November. Here is mine:

Dear Judge Borris:

The jury found Marvin Chavez guilty on some counts. That was virtually
inevitable given the conscientiousness with which the jurors took the
instruction that Proposition 215 (Section 11362.5 of the Health and Safety
Code) was to play no part in their deliberations.

But it would be a gross miscarriage of justice if Mr. Chavez were sentenced
to prison time. You sat through the entire trial, as did I, and saw things
the jury didn't see. You know that while Marvin Chavez made some mistakes
and may have broken the law, he was engaged in a good-faith and above-board
effort to implement the will of the voters when they passed Prop. 215.
Officials should explain what he did wrong, then work with him to do things
right, not throw him in jail. "Buyers' clubs" in other parts of the state
have been closed through civil actions, not criminal charges.

I remember talking with Carl Armbrust, the deputy DA who prosecuted this
case, in the halls of various courthouses. In an informal setting, he was
free with his theory of the case: that Marvin Chavez was a sophisticated
marijuana dealer who cleverly used the Compassionate Use Act to cover his
nefarious and highly profitable dealings. He even bandied about figures --
how much drug cops said large quantities could be bought for and the like
- -- to underpin his theory that Mr. Chavez was making a lot of money.

But Mr. Armbrust didn't present that theory in court. True, he said that
under the law Mr. Chavez was nothing but a marijuana seller, but he didn't
try to document his sophistication or vast profits. That's because -- as
Mr. Armbrust knows and probably knew all along -- there was no evidence
that that's what Marvin Chavez was about.

If anything, the evidence is that Mr. Chavez is guilty mainly of an excess
of compassion and naivete when he meets people with a convincing story
about physical suffering. Mr. Chavez should have been more suspicious of
the undercover cops who entrapped him. He probably should have been more
sophisticated in the way he ran his support group. Those shortcomings made
him vulnerable to law enforcement officials more concerned with proving
that Prop. 215 was a mistake than with devising ways to implement it in a
lawful and honorable fashion.

I followed Marvin Chavez's efforts for several years and in the last year
I've gotten to know him reasonably well. I've been to his modest house and
had long talks with him and with other patients. I'm convinced there was no
criminal intent in what he has done. Yes, there's resentment about aspects
of the legal system and public officials who have refused to meet with him
or discuss ways in which he might help to meet the needs of patients who
have a legal right to have access to marijuana. But there's no criminal
intent.

Marvin Chavez tried to address some of the real problems that flowed from
the fact that Prop. 215 (like most laws) was imperfect. The measure gave
bona fide patients (and "primary caregivers," that amorphous term that
still lacks anything resembling a rigorous definition) exemption from laws
against possessing, using and cultivating marijuana. But it doesn't create
an exemption from laws against selling, distributing or transporting
marijuana.

That might call for some wiggle-room in interpreting how those laws apply
to medical patients, as more than one appeals-court judge -- concerned that
a "right" that can't be exercised is an absurdity -- has suggested. But it
definitely creates problems.

Patients can grow marijuana in their homes, but it takes six months for the
plants to mature. And some can't grow it. Where will they get it? In the
absence of action by the state to implement the law -- e.g., allowing
pharmacies to stock it with supplies from government-run plantations -- the
most common answer is the black market. Where but the black market can you
even get seeds?

Marvin Chavez, starting from a limited knowledge base, tried to create a
"white market" for medical marijuana. He contacted law enforcement
officials to seek cooperation and counsel. He received none. He made
mistakes; he may even have broken the law. But he was trying to do the
right thing -- to implement a law passed by the people, which opponents
have not tried to overturn in court because the effort would surely fail --
in the face of failure by authorities to do so.

Sentence him to community service setting up a distribution network that
meets every legal criterion, with the stipulation that no marijuana changes
hands until you or a panel of judges has reviewed it for strict legality.
Or sentence him to strict probation and keep an eye on him. But if Marvin
Chavez serves even a day in prison for trying imperfectly to do the right
thing it will be a grave injustice.