ROSENTHAL FOUND GUILTY ON CULTIVATION CHARGES

Oakland author, 58, denied medicinal marijuana defense, faces 5 to 40 years
in jail

SAN FRANCISCO -- Renowned pro-marijuana author and activist Ed Rosenthal of
Oakland was convicted Friday of all three marijuana cultivation charges he
faced, capping a federal trial in which state and local medical marijuana
laws afforded him no protection.

But the jury, returning its verdict with only a few hours of deliberation
after a five-day trial, found him responsible for growing fewer plants than
the government had claimed. That affects how much prison time Rosenthal,
58, now faces.

Had jurors found he conspired to grow 1,000 or more plants, as the federal
government alleged, he would have faced 10 years to life on that count.
Because they found he conspired to grow only 100 or more plants, he faces
five to 40 years instead. They also convicted him of actually cultivating
100 or more plants -- also five to 40 years -- and of maintaining a
property for cultivation, punishable by up to 20 years.

In scheduling Rosenthal's sentencing for June 4, U.S. District Judge
Charles Breyer said he will seek ways to give Rosenthal fewer years than
the minimums set by federal sentencing guidelines. And although Assistant
U.S. Attorney George Bevan argued federal law requires Rosenthal be held in
custody while awaiting sentence, Breyer found this case has "extraordinary
circumstances" so Rosenthal can remain free on bail for now.

Rosenthal saw the judge's words as sugarcoating on a poison pill.

"He was trying to put a positive spin on his work," Rosenthal said later
Friday. "My family is upset and I'm very disappointed, but on the other
hand, I realize the jury didn't get to hear the full story. The judge
restricted so much information that they should've received that it really
became a kangaroo court."

Rosenthal -- widely known for the "Ask Ed" column he wrote for many years
in High Times magazine, as well as for books such as "The Big Book of Buds"
and "Ask Ed -- Marijuana Law: Don't Get Busted" -- grew marijuana in a West
Oakland building under the auspices of California's medical marijuana law
and Oakland's ordinances.

But federal law still bans all marijuana cultivation, possession and use
for any purpose, and because only federal law applies in federal courts,
Breyer barred Rosenthal's attorneys from making any mention or introducing
any evidence of Rosenthal's medical motive.

Medical marijuana advocates across the nation called the trial and verdict
a travesty.

"This trial had about as much in common with justice as the Soviet show
trials during Stalin's regime," said Bruce Mirken, communications director
for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "The judge's
instructions to the jury were perhaps more truthful than he realized when
he told them they couldn't consider their sense of justice. Justice clearly
had no place in Judge Breyer's courtroom, and that ordained the result."

When Breyer told jurors Thursday they could not substitute their "sense of
justice for their sense of duty," he was ordering them to remain unswayed
by their personal feelings in order to judge the facts and abide by federal
law.

The case began when Drug Enforcement Administration raided Rosenthal's
home, his grow operation, the Harm Reduction Center medical marijuana
cooperative in San Francisco and other sites last Feb. 12.

"We certainly are pleased that our hard work paid off," Special Agent
Richard Meyer, spokesman for the DEA's San Francisco office, said after
Friday's verdict. A U.S. Attorney's office spokesperson offered no comment,
noting post-trial motions and sentencing are still pending.

"We made the right decision, I just hope it's a temporary one," said jury
foreman Charles Sackett III of Sebastopol, expressing hope that the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court will
overturn the convictions.