Well the jury went to deliberation on this case this morning and reached there decision at 4:20. We all thought that was pretty funny including the prosecutor.
Both John and Karen were convicted of Manufacture of a controlled substance and were aquitted on intent to distribute. But the manufacture charge is still a felony. According to Michael Dorcey he's not going to push for any jail time for Karen because she is very ill, but John may have to do some time. No decision has yet been made about filling an appeal but it sounds like there probably will be one.
The manufacture charge comes as a result of our good old docs in a box writing on the authorizations how much MJ constitutes a 60 day supply, which is illegal for doctors to do because they are not legally authorized to prescribe, only to recommend. We were all hoping this was going to be a defining case for Mason County but it appears someone else will have to be persecuted before we a defining case can be done.
Both attorneys, Doug Hiatt and Ron Sergei did an excellent job of presenting the case and Dr. Gregory Carter is an excellent expert witness in this case.
I wish to thank the dozen or so people that showed up for the trial. I really wish we could have filled the courtroom but people have things to do that just don't allow them to take time off of work to be able get involved.
Probably in the end the legalizing intiative is going to be our best bet to end the persecution, but the problem is in Washington the legislature can mutilate the intiative after 2 years which is exactly what has happened with our first intiative. If they had left that intiative alone the chances are John and Karen would never have been put through this ordeal.