ekim on March 05, 2004
www.cannabisnews.com/news...8.shtml#19
SACRAMENTO Oct 8, 2002: In the first federal trial of a defendant involved with a medical cannabis dispensary, Bryan Epis was sentenced to a mandatory minimum of ten years in prison.

Epis was arrested in June 1997 while growing 458 small indoor plants at his home in Chico for himself and other Prop.215 patients. At his trial, Epis testified that he and three or four other patients were sharing the crop for personal medical use, with the excess to be allocated to a patient dispensary.

His testimony was corroborated by a former partner, David Kasakove, who said that Epis thought he was acting legally and wanted to help other patients. However, U.S. attorney Samuel Wong portrayed Epis as a profiteer, based on rough notes in which he projected prices and revenues from marijuana sales.

Under federal rules of evidence, testimony about medical use of marijuana and Prop. 215 was rigorously excluded by Judge Frank Damrell. Nonetheless, witnesses and attorneys managed to slip in testimony about "dispensaries," "patients," etc., until by the end of the trial it was clear that Epis was growing for medical purposes.

The jury was firmly instructed to disregard the medical circumstances and duly proceeded to convict him not only for cultivating over 100 plants, but also conspiring to cultivate over 1,000 plants, a charge which carries a ten-year mandatory minimum.

Epis was ineligible for a "safety valve" exemption from the mandatory minimum because his home was within 1,000 feet of a school.

Epis, 35, has a wife, an eight-year-old daughter, and a successful internet business. He has no prior criminal convictions.

Judge Damrell refused to release Epis on bail pending appeal. His attorney, Tony Serra, argues that Epis was denied due process of law since the law was unclear at the time of his arrest, and he had reason to believe that he was acting legally. At the time of Epis arrest, Dennis Perons cannabis club had been given the legal go-ahead by Judge David Garcia to operate in San Francisco, and it was widely assumed that clubs were legal under Prop. 215.

Epis case has become a national cause clbre for the medical marijuana movement, which has rallied to his support. In Washington, DC, two dozen drug reform activists protested his sentencing at the White House, four of whom were arrested for chaining themselves to the gates.
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Bryan Epis Protest Pictures & Articles
Ashley Epis, 8, of Chico Calif., who is pictured on a series of billboards advocating medical marijuana, poses before one of the signs on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003, in Oakland, Calif. Epis' father, Bryan Epis, is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for conspiracy to grow marijuana. The Third-grader said she agreed to be on the billboard. 'I want everybody to know that my dad is not a criminal,' she said.
freedomtoexhale.com/protestpics.htm
www.freedomtoexhale.com/ashley.jpg
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Statewide Billboard Campaign Proclaimed: "Medical Marijuana:
Compassion Not Federal Prison"
www.medicalmj.org/news020303.htm
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First Federal Medical Marijuana Conviction
cannabisnews.com/news/thread13398.shtml
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Americans for Safe Access
safeaccessnow.org
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Conviction in Federal Pot Trial
cannabisnews.com/news/thread13389.shtml
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Marijuana Grower Convicted in Jury Verdict
cannabisnews.com/news/thread13383.shtml
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Coalition for Medical Marijuana
Stop The Federal Assault On Patients, Clinics & Providers!
Let Federal Juries Hear All The Facts Before They Decide A Medical Marijuana Case
www.medicalmj.org
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OCBC
www.rxcbc.org
Oakland Pot Club Director Gets 3-Month Prison Term
cannabisnews.com/news/thread15602.shtml
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Ed Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articles
freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htm
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Will Foster 93 Years For Cannabis
makeashorterlink.com/?O35755DD6
November Coalition
www.november.org
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Free James Geddes/90 years for 5 plants
www.hr95.org/Geddes,J.html
Release Petition
www.hr95.org/geddes.petition.htm
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'Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible'
makeashorterlink.com/?K2AC11FE6
United States' Answer To Drug War Proves Harmful
makeashorterlink.com/?N261231B6
U.S. prison population largest in world
makeashorterlink.com/?X690121B6
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YEAR/MARIJUANA ARRESTS
2002 697,082 * 2001 723,627 * 2000 734,498
1999 704,812 * 1998 682,885 * 1997 695,200
1996 641,642 * 1995 588,963 * 1994 499,122