NO NEW TRIAL FOR MODESTO POT VENDORS

A federal court has denied the request for a new trial by two Modesto
men convicted on federal drug charges for operating a medical
marijuana dispensary.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco has
affirmed the convictions and sentences of Ricardo Montes, 29, and Luke
Scarmazzo, 29, the U.S. attorney's office for California's Eastern
District said Tuesday in a news release.

Scarmazzo and Montes had appealed because they claimed the trial judge
made a mistake by not granting them a new trial after a juror read and
discussed during deliberations a summary of a newspaper article on the
marijuana policies of presidential hopefuls.

The Court of Appeals agreed with the District Court in Fresno in
finding that the jurors' consideration of such information could not
have affected their verdict.

A federal jury in Fresno found the two men guilty in May 2008 of
manufacturing marijuana and distributing the drug, as well as
operating a continuing criminal enterprise.

In November 2008, U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger sentenced
Scarmazzo to 21 years and 10 months in prison and Montes to the
20-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.

The evidence at trial showed that from 2004 until September 2006, the
two men openly ran the California Healthcare Collective, a marijuana
dispensary they cofounded in Modesto.

During those two years they made $9.2 million in sales, with up to 14
employees who cultivated, packaged and distributed marijuana,
according to the news release.

Medical marijuana is legal in California, but federal laws outlaw its
possession and distribution, even if the activities are allowed under
state law.