POT-CLUB FOUNDER CONVICTED

COURTS: Vendor who sought to defend marijuana sales under Prop. 215 is found
guilty on eight counts.

The founder of the Orange County Cannabis Co-op was convicted Thursday on
eight counts of selling, transferring and transporting pot, in a case he
plans to appeal because he was barred from mounting a Proposition 215
medical-marijuana defense.

The jury verdict against Marvin Chavez, 42, was mixed: 95 He was convicted
on two felony counts of selling marijuana to undercover officers, but
acquitted on two other counts of selling to them. 95 Five felony charges of
providing pot to medical patients on a doctor's recommendation were reduced
to misdemeanors. 95 A charge that Chavez mailed 5 ounces of marijuana to an
upstate cancer patient resulted in a felony conviction.

Prop. 215, passed in 1996, allows for the possession, cultivation and use of
marijuana for medicinal purposes, but does not address distribution.

Prosecutors argued that the initiative does not allow for the exchange of
the drug for money or favors. Chavez contended that he accepted "donations"
and sometimes provided the marijuana for free.

"I'm trying to carry on in the spirit of Prop. 215," said Chavez, of Santa
Ana, as he left Orange County Superior Court with a dozen supporters from
the Cannabis Co-op. "I just want patients like me to be able to come out of
the closet."

Chavez says he smokes marijuana to ease chronic back problems.

Co-op volunteer David Herricks was convicted earlier by a different jury of
felonies on the same five charges for which the Chavez jury returned
misdemeanor verdicts. Herricks is serving four years in prison but his case
is being appealed. The Chavez trial included more testimony about using
marijuana as medicine than the other case did.

Chavez turned down a deal to plead guilty in return for a sentence of time
served -- 60 days -- and now faces up to seven years in prison when he is
sentenced Jan. 8.

During the trial, jurors heard extensive evidence about the club's goal of
providing marijuana to those in medical need. But the judge instructed
jurors not to consider Prop. 215.

"He was denied a defense" based on the initiative, Chavez's lawyer James M.
Silva said.

Jurors could not be reached for comment.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst