Post by RS Davis on Apr 14, 2004 13:40:45 GMT -5
[shadow=red,left,300]FEAR Journal editor Judy Osburn sentenced today to 1 year probation and 6 months' home detention![/shadow]
Long-time FEAR activist Judy Osburn and her husband, Lynn Osburn, were sentenced today in federal court in Los Angeles. Judy got 1 year probation with 6 months' home confinement. The judge originally granted Judy bail pending appeal but she waived that so that she could serve her time and get her mother's house exonerated. (It was posted to secure her bail.) Lynn Osburn got 12 months and 1 day, with bail pending appeal, followed by 2 years of probation. Lynn will get credit for the 5 months he served pending trial.
The Osburns pleaded guilty to maintaining an establishment in which they cultivated medical marijuana for the Los Angeles Cannabis Resources Center. The LACRC distributed medical marijuana to seriously ill and dying cancer and AIDS patients in Hollywood, California. Three officers of the LACRC who pleaded guilty earlier were sentenced to no jail time.
There is a very important Constitutional issue in the Osburns' case -- whether the federal government has the power to override state law which legalized the production of medical marijuana for patients with doctors' recommendations. Judy and Lynn were able to preserve the right to appeal in their plea bargains, and that issue will be one of the issues appealed. To read more about Judy's case, see the Osburns' website.
Judy Osburn has been active in FEAR since December 1992. Judy, along with Ellen Komp, invented the "auction action" -- in which they protested outside a forfeiture auction and passed out literature about the lack of due process involved in asset forfeiture proceedings. Judy served as editor of the FEAR Chronicles newsletter in the mid-1990's, and as editor of the FEAR Foundation Journal, which debuted last fall. She also spent two years co-authoring the FEAR Asset Forfeiture Defense Manual with me. It was always a pleasure working with her. Besides being a very excellent writer, she has a thorough understanding of law and legal procedure which she is able to easily translate into laymen's terms.
The outcome today was a very very good result under the federal sentencing scheme. We all owe a lot of thanks to Judge Matz, who has shown himself to be a very compassionate and just man. He very carefully weighed the legal arguments we presented on the constitutional issues raised, and although he ruled against the Osburns on the pretrial motions, his actions at sentencing give the Osburns the best of both worlds. They can appeal the constitutional issues from outside a prison setting. Other federal defendants who thought they were legally implementing California's medical marijuana law are not so fortunate. We also owe thanks to Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who somehow managed to craft a plea bargain that allowed the Osburns to plead guilty to a non-mandatory minimum offense and still retain the right to appeal -- not so long after Attorney General Ashcroft announced publicly that there would be no plea bargaining in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Today's outcome was a wonderful blessing for FEAR as well as the Osburns and all their friends. If FEAR can get donations sufficient to finance it, Judy's six months' of home detention would be a good time for her to work on the second issue of the FEAR Foundation Journal. With all of the forfeiture reform occurring -- without sufficient publicity -- in the courts, the FEAR Foundation Journal is a very much needed publication. We would like to see it in every Federal Public Defender office in the country. When lawyers have at their hands exciting new legal precedents, they use them. What one lawyer accomplishes in one court can be magnified 50 times or more in different states and federal districts. All the reforms of CAFRA have not effected the changes that have not been implemented, such as the right to court appointed counsel in some forfeiture cases. We have to get the word out, and that will cost money. This Journal is the most effective way to accomplish that goal. We only need a few thousand dollars in seed money to get it off the ground. If you would like to donate, or if you know of any foundation grants which might be available to finance this project, please call or email us.
Brenda Grantland
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights Foundation
265 Miller Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-389-8551
brenda1@fear.org
Long-time FEAR activist Judy Osburn and her husband, Lynn Osburn, were sentenced today in federal court in Los Angeles. Judy got 1 year probation with 6 months' home confinement. The judge originally granted Judy bail pending appeal but she waived that so that she could serve her time and get her mother's house exonerated. (It was posted to secure her bail.) Lynn Osburn got 12 months and 1 day, with bail pending appeal, followed by 2 years of probation. Lynn will get credit for the 5 months he served pending trial.
The Osburns pleaded guilty to maintaining an establishment in which they cultivated medical marijuana for the Los Angeles Cannabis Resources Center. The LACRC distributed medical marijuana to seriously ill and dying cancer and AIDS patients in Hollywood, California. Three officers of the LACRC who pleaded guilty earlier were sentenced to no jail time.
There is a very important Constitutional issue in the Osburns' case -- whether the federal government has the power to override state law which legalized the production of medical marijuana for patients with doctors' recommendations. Judy and Lynn were able to preserve the right to appeal in their plea bargains, and that issue will be one of the issues appealed. To read more about Judy's case, see the Osburns' website.
Judy Osburn has been active in FEAR since December 1992. Judy, along with Ellen Komp, invented the "auction action" -- in which they protested outside a forfeiture auction and passed out literature about the lack of due process involved in asset forfeiture proceedings. Judy served as editor of the FEAR Chronicles newsletter in the mid-1990's, and as editor of the FEAR Foundation Journal, which debuted last fall. She also spent two years co-authoring the FEAR Asset Forfeiture Defense Manual with me. It was always a pleasure working with her. Besides being a very excellent writer, she has a thorough understanding of law and legal procedure which she is able to easily translate into laymen's terms.
The outcome today was a very very good result under the federal sentencing scheme. We all owe a lot of thanks to Judge Matz, who has shown himself to be a very compassionate and just man. He very carefully weighed the legal arguments we presented on the constitutional issues raised, and although he ruled against the Osburns on the pretrial motions, his actions at sentencing give the Osburns the best of both worlds. They can appeal the constitutional issues from outside a prison setting. Other federal defendants who thought they were legally implementing California's medical marijuana law are not so fortunate. We also owe thanks to Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who somehow managed to craft a plea bargain that allowed the Osburns to plead guilty to a non-mandatory minimum offense and still retain the right to appeal -- not so long after Attorney General Ashcroft announced publicly that there would be no plea bargaining in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Today's outcome was a wonderful blessing for FEAR as well as the Osburns and all their friends. If FEAR can get donations sufficient to finance it, Judy's six months' of home detention would be a good time for her to work on the second issue of the FEAR Foundation Journal. With all of the forfeiture reform occurring -- without sufficient publicity -- in the courts, the FEAR Foundation Journal is a very much needed publication. We would like to see it in every Federal Public Defender office in the country. When lawyers have at their hands exciting new legal precedents, they use them. What one lawyer accomplishes in one court can be magnified 50 times or more in different states and federal districts. All the reforms of CAFRA have not effected the changes that have not been implemented, such as the right to court appointed counsel in some forfeiture cases. We have to get the word out, and that will cost money. This Journal is the most effective way to accomplish that goal. We only need a few thousand dollars in seed money to get it off the ground. If you would like to donate, or if you know of any foundation grants which might be available to finance this project, please call or email us.
Brenda Grantland
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights Foundation
265 Miller Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-389-8551
brenda1@fear.org
I should have read this earlier! 