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Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 5:24 pm | By: Radical Russ
A defense attorney for Leo Cisneros accused the Denver police this morning of planting drugs in a child’s pocket and of conducting sloppy investigative work, and criticized them for focusing on the victim of a crime rather than the perpetrators.
Cisneros is charged with reckless child abuse resulting in death of his 10-year-old daughter, Auralia Cisneros, and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. He faces more than 50 years in prison if he is convicted.
Auralia was shot in the face about 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 26, 2007, during a shootout between her father and three men who tried to break into the front door of their west Denver apartment.
The robbers — Trivi Trujillo, Joshua Rojas and Juvencio Hernandez — have all pleaded guilty in the case and are serving or are expected to serve between 16 and 24 years in prison.
Wait a minute. Three guys come breaking into your home, you defend yourself with your 2nd Amendment-protected firearm in a manner considered lawful under Colorado’s “Make My Day” law, your innocent daughter is killed in the crossfire, and you face twice as much time in prison as the three sociopaths because you deal small amounts of weed?
What’s the lesson here? Yeah, I know, the prohibitionists would say “don’t deal pot.” But if you do, are they telling us that a dead child is what you deserve? If you’re dealing pot, let the gun-wielding trio of robbers come right on it, take whatever they like, and do to you and your ten-year-old daughter whatever they want?
She also told the jurors the robbers admitted they didn’t know whether Cisneros had drugs to steal before they broke in.
Police have testified that Auralia had a baggie of marijuana that she was clutching in her hands, inside her pants pocket at the time of her death.
Menninger told the jury that Auralia’s mother, a Denver police officer who was one of the first on the scene, and a neighbor who helped give Auralia CPR, all testified that Auralia’s hands were across her chest when she died and were not in her pocket.
By the time the coroner got on the scene, he testified that he pulled Auralia’s hand out of her pocket and found the baggie.
The defense asserts that the Denver PD planted the marijuana on Auralia, which the prosecution denies, of course. The prosecution also contends that Cisneros’s gun was the one that fired the bullet that killed Auralia, but since Denver PD didn’t bother to trace the trajectories of the bullets from all the weapons (don’t they watch C.S.I. in Denver?), nobody can prove that one way or the other.
The robbers weren’t going after Cisneros because they knew he dealt weed; they were just robbers looking to steal whatever they could find. So Cisneros’s pot dealing is irrelevant. He could have been drinking cans of Coors Light when the bad guys broke in. But because Coors Light is legal and cannabis is not, Cisneros is looking at spending the rest of his life behind bars grieving for his lost daughter.
Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 8:27 am | By: Radical Russ
Once again, the marijuana exception to the Bill of Rights is highlighted. Just last year, the Supreme Court ruled in DC v. Hellerthat the 2nd Amendment guarantees a personal right to a firearm:
In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
But not for self-defense at an illegal marijuana grow:
(Ashland Daily Tidings) MEDFORD — A federal appeals court has ruled that simply carrying a weapon while growing marijuana is a crime in itself.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of a Medford-area man who argued that keeping a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol within reach while sleeping in a tent at a marijuana operation was not a separate crime.
Somkhit Thongsy was charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a felony after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a large marijuana farm in the remote Wolf Creek area of Southern Oregon in the spring of 2007.
The appeals court ruled Monday the evidence the pistol was part of the drug operation was overwhelming, and it was not used for hunting or kept in the tent by accident.
Keep in mind here that as far as the 9th Circuit and the federal courts are concerned, all marijuana grows are a felony. So you state-registered medical marijuana growers in California, Oregon, and Washington covered by the 9th Circuit, you are on notice: you have no federal 2nd Amendment rights anymore.
But if you want to bring semi-automatic weapons to a rally for the president, that’s OK:
Man with assault rifle at Obama health care rally in Arizona (Scott Wong/The Arizona Republic)
(AZ Central) One sight was perhaps a little unnerving to those in charge of making sure everybody remains on their best behavior.
A man, who decided not to give his name, was walking around the pro-health care reform rally at Third and Washington streets, with a pistol on his hip and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault weapon) on a strap over his shoulder.
“Because I can do it,” he said when asked why he was armed. “In Arizona, I still have some freedoms.”
Two police officers were staying very close to the man.
“What he is doing is perfectly legal,” Det. J. Oliver, of the Phoenix Police Department said. “We are here to keep the peace. If we need to intervene, we will intervene at that time.”
Fantastic, now let’s suppose fifty people go to see the president while packing heat. We can get 100 cops to watch them. Meanwhile, thousands of citizens legally growing medical marijuana for disabled people are not allowed to have firearms and every home invasion robber knows that and the cops are too busy keeping an eye on protesters with guns to do anything about it.
Isn’t it weird to think that the 9th Circuit Court would have had Thomas Jefferson and George Washington busted for the muskets they kept near their hemp plantations?
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I’m doing a bit of remote podcasting from here on the Central Oregon coast. Hope you enjoy today’s show. I’ve got an interview with Portland attorney and NORML Legal Committee member Leland Berger. With the Supreme Court deciding today there is an individual right to keep and bear arms, it’s fitting that we talk about how a couple of sheriffs in Oregon tried to take away that right from some law-abiding medical marijuana patients.
As you can read below, we had a winner in our Pass the Stash contest. Thanks for all the entries, and next time I won’t make the questions so tricky (worldwide box office? possession only? tricky, dude…)
Also enjoy another tune from the incredible Carolyn Wonderland. It’s her ballad of a young woman serving time for dealing pot called “Annie’s Scarlet Letter.”
Sheriff Rob Gordon revoked or denied CHL’s to Steven Schwerdt, Paul Sansone and Lee Wallick on the basis they disclosed they have used a controlled substance, medical marijuana, regularly and for prolonged period of time. Gordon believes these people are barred by federal law from possessing firearms.
Judge Steven L. Price said as a matter of law, Oregon’s CHL requirements do not include abstaining from medical marijuana nor qualifying to possess firearms under federal standards.
The commissioners agreed with Gordon’s opinion that it is necessary to obtain a binding legal opinion on the issue from the Oregon Court of Appeals.
County counsel also wants answers to questions about whether issuing permits could subject the sheriff and the county to federal prosecution or civil liability.
The attacks on medical marijuana patients for their legal state-approved use of cannabis are staggering. In addition to wanting to deny patients their 2nd Amendment right* to own a handgun, states have pushed to deny medical marijuana patients from having driver’s licenses; from working in so-called “dangerous” positions; and from working as teachers, doctors, lawyers, public employees or elected officials.
Private enterprise denies medical marijuana patients the right to work through drug testing. Government agencies evict patients from federally subsidized housing. Customs won’t let patients cross the US/Canada border. Divorce lawyers and child protective services will use a patient’s medical marijuana use as a factor in determining the custody of patients’ children.
It all comes back to the criminalization of marijuana; the understandable blurring of the lines between recreational and medical use that are always going to exist so long as marijuana is prohibited to the majority of its users. For there are much more powerful legal prescription drugs than cannabis, but nobody fears the Prozac patient owning a handgun, the Xanax patient working in a “dangerous position”, or the OxyContin patient having a driver’s license.
Washington County (Hillsboro; just west of Portland) Oregon Judge Steven L. Price ordered Sheriff Rob Gordon to return to three Oregon Medical Marijuana patients their concealed handgun licenses. Sheriff Gordon had denied one patient’s application, one patient’s renewal, and had revoked one patient’s license based on the argument that federal law prohibiting the possession of a firearm by a controlled substances user preempted state law. Judge Price ruled it did not, as did Washington County Judge Marco Hernandez before him.
I argued the same issue (with basically the same letter from the sheriff and the same argument from county counsel) before Jackson County (Medford, Southern Oregon) Presiding Judge Shively on Friday morning and am hopeful for a similar result.
I’ve long argued about the effect the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Parmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs has on our Constitutional rights, and the 2nd Amendment is no less a victim than the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 14th, and 15th.
My contention is that since most mandatory minimum sentences double when there are firearms present, even if the firearms are legally possessed, doesn’t this in essence serve to deprive cannabis consumers of our 2nd Amendment rights? People think of guns and drugs and automatically assume the person must be some cold-blooded drug dealer when many are just cannabis gardeners who can’t call the cops when scary kids with weapons break in to steal very profitable crops.
But these cases take the cake. I’ve talked with Lee about these cases, where sheriffs in Oregon’s more conservative counties will disarm medical marijuana patients who are following state laws with respect to marijuana and the handgun. The idea that the patients are really just dope dealers is a prejudice found often in law enforcement, which is the craziest idea when those patients have filled out a form with the state and registered their address for growing into an electronic database that is instantly accessible by law enforcement to verify legality. That’s far more registration than most law-abiding gun owners are subject to.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
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