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InvisibleSimplepowa
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'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense
    #17069257 - 10/20/12 07:31 PM (11 years, 5 months ago)

Written by MCT News Service  // October 19, 2012  //

PHILADELPHIA — A flamboyant, longtime advocate of marijuana legalization was acquitted Thursday of drug-related charges, even after admitting that he had a pound in his car when a New Jersey state trooper stopped him two years ago in Mount Holly.

Ed Forchion, known widely as “NJ Weedman,” told a Burlington County jury that he holds a license to use medical marijuana in California and needs the drug to alleviate pain associated with bone cancer.

He is believed to be the first to use such a defense in a criminal case in New Jersey.

“I’m not a weirdo anymore; I’m a hero,” a jubilant Forchion said after the jury found him not guilty of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute. “Other patients should use the Weedman defense.”

The prosecutor’s office had no comment on the verdict.

Forchion was being retried after a jury in May deadlocked on the drug-distribution charge. That jury convicted Forchion of a lesser charge of possession, but he says he plans to appeal while he is out on bail.

In January 2010 — three months before Forchion’s arrest — a law was signed in New Jersey allowing marijuana to be sold to patients who have certain serious illnesses, including cancer and multiple sclerosis. The law restricts the drug to state residents who are issued special identification cards after their doctors certify they have such ailments. Only licensed dispensaries may sell the drug.

After several false starts in launching the program, the state this week began mailing out ID cards. No dispensary has yet opened for business.

Forchion, 48, a Rastafarian and a longtime Pemberton resident who had moved to California, was visiting family when he was stopped for a traffic violation. He said in an interview that he thought the New Jersey law would protect him because it recognized medical marijuana.

Prosecutors, however, say that the state has a criminal law that prohibits marijuana possession with intent to distribute and that it applies to all situations outside the medical-marijuana law.

“It’s straightforward,” Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano said during this week’s three-day trial.

Forchion defended himself, with the assistance of public defender Don Ackerman. Forchion tried to argue that the criminal-marijuana law conflicted with the medical-marijuana law and was unjust.

When he began to tell jurors they had the power to nullify the criminal law by acquitting him, Superior Court Judge Charles Delehey stopped him. The judge said jurors could rule only on the facts of the case, not the law, and warned Forchion he could be held in contempt if he continued.

Luciano asked jurors to honor their oath and not use their verdict to demonstrate their “opinion on the war on drugs.”

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated roughly two hours before returning its verdict. When jurors left the courtroom and entered the lobby, six Forchion supporters applauded loudly and thanked them.

Jurors, mostly young or middle-aged, smiled and nodded. But they kept walking, saying they would have no comment.



———

©2012 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

http://www.channel6newsonline.com/2012/10/weedman-acquitted-after-using-medical-marijuana-argument-as-his-defense/


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OfflineHumility
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Re: 'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense [Re: Simplepowa]
    #17069551 - 10/20/12 08:23 PM (11 years, 5 months ago)

Complete acquittal 0-12.


Jury nullification.  Ed Forchion was "caught" with a full lb of HQ meds in NJ that he drove over from CA.

The Jury said NOT GUILTY 12-0.



There is hope, lots of hope.


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InvisibleCelestial Traveler
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Re: 'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense [Re: Humility]
    #17069796 - 10/20/12 09:03 PM (11 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Humility said:
Complete acquittal 0-12.


Jury nullification.  Ed Forchion was "caught" with a full lb of HQ meds in NJ that he drove over from CA.

The Jury said NOT GUILTY 12-0.



There is hope, lots of hope.




Haha fuck yeah.  The key here being that the jury knows about jury nullification.  That is a HUGE long shot, unfortunately.


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OfflineAbsent Minded
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Re: 'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense [Re: Humility]
    #17071923 - 10/21/12 10:04 AM (11 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Humility said:
Complete acquittal 0-12.


Jury nullification.  Ed Forchion was "caught" with a full lb of HQ meds in NJ that he drove over from CA.

The Jury said NOT GUILTY 12-0.



There is hope, lots of hope.



yep.
Truthfully I'm surprised he got off... most people here are so uptight about bud it's unbelievable...
I remember reading about this guy when he first got popped (due to not completely stopping at a stop sign - come on dude, pound of bud in the car, you're not in Cali, DRIVE PROPERLY) and figured he'd be fucked pretty badly. this is good news.:bigjoint:


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Re: 'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense [Re: Absent Minded]
    #17072617 - 10/21/12 12:40 PM (11 years, 5 months ago)

He pulled up to a red light and a cop pulled up alongside him.  He thought he saw the light change and let off the brake, noticed it didn't and slammed on it.  Car rocked back and forth over the line, cop stopped him.


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Re: 'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense [Re: Absent Minded]
    #17072707 - 10/21/12 01:01 PM (11 years, 5 months ago)

HAHAHAHA you're kidding. I read what I posted. Leave it to Jersey cops, especially down south. Jesus fuckin christ.:rolleyes:


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Re: 'NJ Weedman' Acquitted After Using Medical Marijuana Argument as His Defense [Re: Simplepowa]
    #17072771 - 10/21/12 01:15 PM (11 years, 5 months ago)

Quote:

Simplepowa said:
Forchion, 48, a Rastafarian




They can't touch him because he's got the power of the universe on his side :jah:

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