Earthquake in the courtroom! -- Lynch Trial Update
On Tuesday, Owen Beck attempted to testify, unsuccessfully. Raiding California told the tale of Owen Beck, a teenager that lost his leg to bone cancer, and found relief from excruciating phantom pain only from marijuana.
The government continued the examination of DEA agent Rachel Burkdol, going straight through 65 pieces of evidence from the raid, describing, in detail, photographs of display cases, offices, computers, and products, as well as copies of computer files, financial records, bank statements, and notebooks, all of which were seized during the raid. This took the entire morning, and went into the afternoon, after lunch.
Before lunch, an earthquake hit the courtroom, interrupting the proceedings. When the council attempted to continue, a voice on the loudspeaker with emergency information about the earthquake repeatedly interrupted, so the court broke for lunch.
After lunch, the defense wanted to interrupt the prosecution's all-day examination of Burkdol to bring in Owen Beck. The defense didn't want Beck and his family to have to wait through another day of the trial because no one had anticipated how long the prosecution would drag on with their presentation of evidence seized from the raid.
Judge Wu had warned the defense that Beck's testimony would need to be relevant, and would need proper foundation. The defense attempted to bring him in as a character witness, a witness who could testify as to Lynch's moral and law-abiding nature.
The nineteen-year-old Beck entered the crowded courtroom on crutches. He showed not even a hint of intimidation despite a powerful silence from a room full of observers. He was sworn in, and began to answer questions from Cohen, one of the defense attorneys. When Cohen asked how Beck knew Lynch, Beck began to answer in a confident, direct voice, that he was diagnosed with bone cancer, and obtained a prescription from his Stanford oncologist for marijuana, at which point the government immediately objected. Wu sustained the objection, and quickly sent the jury out of the room. The council deliberated on whether or not Beck's testimony was legitimate. Wu explained that Beck had no foundational basis to testify about Lynch's law-abiding nature, since he only knew him in the context of the lawsuit itself, being a patient who patronized the dispensary. Even though Beck did form a close relationship with Lynch over the two years he knew Charlie, corresponding by e-mail at least every three weeks, Wu found this to be insufficient foundation. According to Wu, the testimony apparently would have violated a rule, 404, by attempting to confuse the jury. That Beck could testify as to how Lynch was a law-abiding citizen with regard to state laws made no difference to Wu; he saw this as a red herring since federal laws were in question here. Wu had not elaborated to what a character witness could testify. If the defense wanted a character witness to explain how Lynch was a law-abiding citizen, there was never any clarification that this meant only federal law. Regardless, Beck was dismissed from the courtroom, and the jury was instructed to disregard anything he said at all.
The prosecution continued on with Burkdol, jumping to footage from security cameras inside the store, and more evidence turned up from the raid.
The trial continues today.
Supporters are encouraged to attend the trial.
U.S. District Court
Courtroom 10
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Feel free to join the Facebook group for supporters following the progress of the trial.
Richard Steeb | July 30, 2008, 10:45am | #
How do you describe a proceeding where the law alleged to have been violated is a damned lie [i.e. CSA Schedule-I Cannabis], and the "whole truth" is suppressed as irrelevant?
Railroad job?
Kangaroo Court??
Atrocity???
Red Green | July 31, 2008, 9:33am | #
Rule 404? If the jury does'nt already know about medicinal marijuana, they are "confused".What a farse!
CK | July 31, 2008, 3:13pm | #
Seth, where can we learn more about this turd you call "Judge Wu?"
(E.g., who appointed this rat-fucker to bench? Bio information on his legal training/background, etc.?)
What's that Bob Dylan line about being "so ashamed/to live in a land/where justice is a game?"
Even a game should have reasonable rules and fair play...
Dopey Taylor | August 2, 2008, 1:34am | #
Police arrested women gathered to discuss suffrage as prostitutes. It took jury nullification to set the atrocity right.
There's more of us than there is of them. CNN poll this week, 65% think marijuana should be legal.
Stand up and scream people!
DdC | August 4, 2008, 3:44am | #
Legal criminals work in the government. The most horrendous crimes ever committed. Done be pencil neck geeks shuffling dead trees all covered in blotches of ink. DEAth Merchants only do what we let them. The anti-drug thugs, gossipers and fixers. Lie and get airwaves because we let them.
Better to bleed us slow and avoid a revolt. Toss crumbs to a few to envy the rest, divided is best. Gut the checks and balances and elect employees. Busheney master race gets away with it. Worse person in History, and half of the voters voted for it. 63% of the German's voted Hitler in. The US loved Mussolini. Thailand murders 5000 for Souder and gets friendly nation status. Colombians get modern agent orange dumped on their kids, while their government cashes billion dollar checks from Johnney Pee.
Outlaws fill a need of the people, illegally. Growers buy local and We the People seek them out. We buy Ganja, they don't sell it. No commercials, flip charts on demographics. No twins at the superbowl selling sacks of chronic. Trust after time, eliminates shopping, and it doesn't change all that much over the years. Except the prices, not usually too drastically. Bust one and another supplies. People want their Ganja.
Growers provide Ganja for people who want it. Public servants. DEAth and it's minions of worriers, threaten the people who never ask for their protection. Protecting the "public", a corporate non-entity. Doesn't exist in real terms, with molecules and atoms. Same as the reefer demons hurled on stoners. Stigmatized and ostracized, shunned and caged. No defense in court, this is not Justice. Million tax dollar team facing what one person has, "State" is another one of those non-entities.
We the People are real. We bleed. "Corporations" don't bleed. The "Public" can't bleed. A crime should have a victim. It has to be committed. No victim, no crime, no crime, no time. Cops can't be victims of what they don't experience. Asking for Ganja, just to arrest and hopefully cage a person is sic. With fake doctors, doctors doing harm. Seems like entrapment. Fake doctorcops making sure torture victims didn't die too soon.
Insurancedocs without medical knowledge, writing scripts and diagnosing treatment. Siding with the AMA and DEAth in spite of their own physician students. Politicops we voted for disregard us once they're intrenched. Sciencops thinking up bad things, lies and half truths, to keep it from ending grants and overtime and competition.
Seems like a lot of things King George did, are back again to haunt us. OiNkDeCePters Politically tried to sabotage Barney's law. Our $40 billion tax bucks paid him to be anti Democrat? Forbidding Free Speech to tell the jury why you did something. Basics, Guantanamo would even allow it. If you murder someone you can tell your side. If you grow pot the Feds shut you up, and instruct the jury to not listen.
How does that work? How many DEAth are sitting there with them, making sure we don't add any evidence or truth. Entitled to a jury of our peers, peers don't kill you. But that's why he did do it your ho nor, NO. "Fed's DEAth" says so. That's it. 404 but 404 but 404, numbers don't bleed. -- DdC 8.8
The Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie.
Attack on city-sanctioned medical marijuana provider is costing taxpayers millions. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, struggled to provide context for their client’s alleged crimes after being barred by the judge from mentioning the phrase “medicinal marijuana.”
rule, 404, attempting to confuse the jury.
Ain't that America, the home of the free...
Jury Nullification
"The law itself is on trial quite as much as the case which is to be decided"
- Judge Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1941-1946
Virtues' of Ganja
The Ganjawar Fraud
Relax Your Muscles as Much as Possible
"unreviewable and irreversible power [of the jury] to acquit in disregard of the instruction of the law given by the trial judge. The pages of history shine upon instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge"
-- D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, 1972
Bodine Jones | August 5, 2008, 10:33pm | #
Charlie Lynch is my son and my heart is saddened at the Jury's verdict. His family and friends continue to have hope that all will be well for him. Your continued support is greatly appreciated, and if you are in a position to donate to his cause, that would also be appreciated. To donate please go to www.friendsofccl.com and feel free to contact me at bodinejones@excite.com. Thanks to all.
BodineJones-Proud and Loving Mother Charles C. Lynch
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