MMJ Court Case

Great news. Bruce won!!
By CHARLIE BERMANT
Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer
March 24, 2009 - 11:00 AM

A medical marijuana patient being prosecuted in Kitsap County Superior
Court for drug trafficking was found not guilty on Tuesday morning, after
a jury ruled that his use of the drug was within the law.

The jury deliberated for approximately two hours before finding Bruce
Olson, 54, not guilty.

The prosecution acknowledged the verdict, while maintaining that the case
had nothing to do with the treatment itself. Instead, it had to do whether
defendant Bruce Wayne Olson was selling the homegrown drug for profit.

"Each county is struggling to understand what is an appropriate amount of
marijuana for medical use," said Defense Attorney Thomas Balerud. "The
prosecutors should look to the will of the public to determine this. In
this case, the jury spoke its mind and determined that no lawyers should
be able to overrule a doctor's judgement."

Prosecutor Alexis Foster said this was not a precedent-setting case and
would not affect how such violations are prosecuted in the future.

"This was never about medical marijuana," she said. "We believed it was an
illegal manufacturing case, and that the defendant was breaking the law.
We will continue to prosecute anything we believe to be a distribution
site."

Balerud positioned the case as a test of medical marijuana use, boiled
down to the testimony of two witnesses: Steven Kenney for the prosecution,
a former drug user who witnessed Olson's drug dealing, and Dr. Thomas
Orvald, a cardiac surgeon who has approved medical marijuana patients in
several states.

Balerud attempted to balance the witnesses, asking jurors whether they
found a doctor to have more or less credibility than a former addict who
could not supply specific details. Foster disagreed with this
characterization, saying that Kenney was experienced in the world he was
describing and was able to recognize and testify about illegal activity.

Foster later told the jury that Kenney's testimony was weak "because he
was nervous."

Good to see MMJ win a case in Kitsap County. A lot of the thanks has to go to Dr. Orvald (THCP Clinic)for his testemony.

Yes, its great that they won, and that THC and Dr. Orvald are standing up in court and disproving the bad rap they have been getting. As for the county, it appears they are still going to go after medical grows and cause legal people unnecessary legal expenses. If found not guilty, the people should make the county pay their legal costs of defense due to frivilous and discriminatory prosecution. :thumbsup:

Yeah it still not going to stop over here till we get rid of the sheriff and prosecuting attorney. Don't know how Bruce had to spend to have Dr. Orvald come and testify. Hopefully he cab sue the shit out of the county.