JURORS IN MARIJUANA CASE CRY FOUL OVER WITHHELD EVIDENCE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)- A marijuana advocate and the jury that convicted
him are making an unexpected show of solidarity: Jurors claim they
were misled and the defendant says it isn't them he blames.

Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," was allowed Tuesday
to remain free on $500,000 bail until his June 4 sentencing on federal
drug violations.

Jurors said they felt cheated because they weren't allowed to here
that Rosenthal supplied Oakland's medical marijuana program, an
outgrowth of a 1996 medical marijuana initiative that conflicts with
federal law.

" I feel like I made the biggest mistake in my life," juror Marney
Craig said. "We convicted a man who in not a criminal."

Other jurors reached Monday agreed and said they planned to write
Rosenthal and apologize.

Rosenthal's defense repeatedly tried to call witnesses to testify that
he was growing marijuana for medical use. The judge denied those
request and was backed up twice by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Legal experts said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had federal
precedent on his side.

"A bank robber is not allowed a defense that he was stealing money for
his starving children, even if he was," said Rory Little, a Hastings
College of the Law professor.