70yr Old Woman Convicted by Jury

[MIway]

This just happened in Oakland County, Michigan...



http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2011/06/07/news/doc4dee53ce04a52682943601.txt?viewmode=fullstory


An assistant prosecutor told jurors this morning to follow the law and not use sympathy when weighing the fate of a 70-year-old woman facing a drug charge.

Should this 70-year-old woman be sent to prison? What should be done with the medical marijuana law as well as the marijuana and drug laws in general? Comment below.

In the end, the jury heeded that advice and decided to convict Barbara Agro as charged. She faces sentencing July 13 on one count of delivery/manufacture of marijuana, a 4-year felony.

Click here to read more about this case.

The former Lake Orion police dispatcher worked as a receptionist at a medical marijuana dispensary in Ferndale called Clinical Relief. When the facility was raided on Aug. 25, 2010, Agro told deputies that she had marijuana plants growing at her house. Deputies found 19 marijuana plants and other items during a search of her Lake Orion home.

“You must hold the defendant accountable for her actions,” said Assistant Prosecutor Beth Hand during her closing argument.

Defense attorney Jerome Sabbota said Agro used the substance for medical reasons.

“In this case here, we have a person who was growing medicine for herself,” Sabbota said.

Sabbota referenced old laws, such as those surrounding prohibition and a law that once made it a crime to harbor a runaway slave. In his opening statement yesterday, he told jurors that laws sometimes need to be changed.

Hand pointed out that Sabbota did not contest any elements of the charged crime.

Hand said marijuana, in the state of Michigan, is still illegal. She said Agro is not charged with using marijuana, but with growing it.

“This is not a medical marijuana case,” she said.

Hand referenced Agro’s age and told jurors that all different types of people break the law.

“The law is that sympathy and prejudice have no place in the courtroom,” she said.

Agro is a registered medical marijuana patient and caregiver. Oakland Circuit Judge Wendy Potts previously granted a motion from prosecutors seeking to preclude Agro from referencing the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act during the trial.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

This kind of thing is so fucked up beyond on reason. At that age just prison it's self can very easily be a death sentence. Shit prison can be a death sentence for anyone if they piss of the wrong crazy person, or guard.

“The law is that sympathy and prejudice have no place in the courtroom,” she said.

THIS IS A BLATANT LIE! WE HAVE THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF JURY NULLIFICATION. The court room is THE place for sympathy and prejudice of the law. This person should be removed from their job asap. The person is clearly incompetent and more concerned about their power tripping ego, and not the constitution. Some one in that town should organize a protest and shut down the court until the case is reversed.

 

[RetroGrow]

The madness never ends.
I don't know how prosecutors and law enforcement can sleep at night.
They seem to be devoid of any common sense.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

its these fucking POS prosecutors and DAs who care more about their climb up the legal ladder than actual rational policy and PEOPLES FUCKING LIVES....i hope that bitch Beth Hand and everyother slimebag prosecutor who prosecutes MMJ gets some real bad karma coming their way....

 

[danut]

I watched a PA and judge fabricate a signed confession to present to a jury, yesterday.

A elderly woman presented the police with a written notice that she was a registered patient and caregiver and had marijuana plants in her home in compliance with the act.

The judge and PA covered up any text until it simply read that she was growing marijuana.

The judge then caused the "signed confession" to be presented to the jury.

This was done to prevent the jury from finding out the defendant was licensed by the state to have the plants.

The jury did as instructed by the judge and found her guilty of a felony.

They materially altered a document completely changing its meaning.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

i dont understand... what she did wrong...? she had too many plants? Mj is still illegal in michigan and not a MMJ case?/ im confused....

 

[CaniConnoisseur]

Insanity... if I were her id jump bail and move to mexico.

 

[danut]

i dont understand... what she did wrong...? she had too many plants? Mj is still illegal in michigan and not a MMJ case?/ im confused....

They house was left unlocked .. I should say her husband left the house unlocked.

She was at work when he left the door unlocked. He was in a rush. He just got word that his sons business was being raided.

Since he left the house unlocked, it meant that she had committed a felony.

This was the elderly couples first grow. Still pretty much seedlings. They were both patients. There were a total of nineteen plants. Two of which were dead.

There was no overage problem at all.

 

[dagnabit]

i dont understand... what she did wrong...? she had too many plants? Mj is still illegal in michigan and not a MMJ case?/ im confused....

ditto...
ive seen the cops raid a licensed grow and only take what was over the limit...
they actually left 12 plants behind.
how is this not a medical case?
i would love to find the transcript of the proceedings...
maybe it was the 11k they found?
or the plants were not in a closed locked facility?

not justifying mind you just trying to figure out the reasoning...

 

[danut]

ditto...
ive seen the cops raid a licensed grow and only take what was over the limit...
they actually left 12 plants behind.
how is this not a medical case?
i would love to find the transcript of the proceedings...
maybe it was the 11k they found?
or the plants were not in a closed locked facility?

not justifying mind you just trying to figure out the reasoning...

Most of the $11k has been returned. They had pulled some cash out of the bank to purchase a car. When they got to the lot, they found out they could get a better deal if they waited for a week.

So they took the cash home.

The unlocked door was the only problem.

 

[MIway]

Most of the $11k has been returned. They had pulled some cash out of the bank to purchase a car. When they got to the lot, they found out they could get a better deal if they waited for a week.

So they took the cash home.

The unlocked door was the only problem.

This is just crazy.

It had been expressed that the OC sheriff & da weren't 'friendly' towards MMj, but this is just... not really sure... malicious.

I'm sorry to hear about this danut... seems like you might know em. Wish em the best from us bro... hoping, somehow, things improve for them.

 

[danut]

This is just crazy.

It had been expressed that the OC sheriff & da weren't 'friendly' towards MMj, but this is just... not really sure... malicious.

I'm sorry to hear about this danut... seems like you might know em. Wish em the best from us bro... hoping, somehow, things improve for them.

Like I said .. I was there watching.

I only met these people after the raid of their sons dispensary.

I've been there protesting and attempting to gather support for them from the very beginning.

 

[MIway]

And this also happened yesterday... these folks were in their 60's...



http://www.examiner.com/substance-a...ana-raid-yields-7000-plants-lenawee-county-mi



Rome Township in Lenawee County, MI was the scene of a marijuana raid on Monday where authorities recovered some 7,000 plants, and related growing paraphernalia brought about by an anonymous tip.

The township is located about 65 miles southeast of Detroit, reported clickondetroit.com.

The seized plants are estimated to be worth $7 million making it one of the largest busts in Michigan State Police history.

"Police say plants ranged from seedlings to mature ones ready for harvest, and several more fields were being prepared for growing. Investigators went to the property following a tip that was given to a detective with the Lenawee County sheriff's department," reported clickondetroit.com.

Two people were arrested, a husband and his wife, both being in their 60's.

With violent crimes taking place over the last couple of years seemingly getting worse, more brutal, and brazen, you would think that the resources used in busting this grandpa and grandma operation, however sophisticated, could be better spent on protecting citizens in Michigan, and the metro Detroit area in particular.

There have been so many shootings, stabbings, and robberies in the Detroit area lately, you might think Iraq is a safer place to be at this point.

Obviously, the people who were arrested for this marijuana growing operation were breaking the law. However, there are many of us who believe, and the numbers are not low, who would like to see pot legalized outright.

With all the money saved from not arresting, and jailing the 800,000 + folks who are busted each year in the U.S. for pot possession, it could be used to put more police on the streets, and making Michigan, and other states safer places to live. Not safer from these pot growers, but from punks who have no respect for life, and the hard-working people trying to make ends meet in an economy that sucks royally.

But apparently these growers of a substance that is supposed to be legal for medical reasons by those holding the proper credentials, and sanctioning, are more important law-breakers than the criminal who stabbed a 17 year old to death the other day, or the delivery driver at Comerica Park shot in an attempted robbery recently, the pregnant girl found murdered a short time ago, or finding the thugs who broke into a house, and stabbed a mentally challenged man 33 times in the back, neck and abdomen in Detroit a few days ago.

The biggest problem to this marijuana madness, however, is the federal goverment by keeping it a Schedule I substance totally illegal on any level which is in direct conflict with the 16 states so far that have legalized marijuana for medical reasons, and also decriminalized it in others.

Frankly, keeping pot illegal keeps a whole lot of people employed in the criminal justice system, as do other drugs.

Drug abuse, and addiction are public health issues, but the emphasis historically has been on law enforcement, not treatment, prevention, and education.



Continue reading on Examiner.com Marijuana raid yields 7000 plants in Lenawee County, MI - Detroit substance abuse | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/substance-a...s-7000-plants-lenawee-county-mi#ixzz1Oj79DQSL

 

[Rednick]

Agro is a registered medical marijuana patient and caregiver. Oakland Circuit Judge Wendy Potts previously granted a motion from prosecutors seeking to preclude Agro from referencing the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act during the trial.

1) Time for a new lawyer.
2) Appeal.
3) Get petition circulated requiring assistant DA to drop voice one-half octave....Ear piercing, to listen to, it was.

 

[Hydrosun]

Who's proud to be an American? Wish I had that feeling back. Maybe if we lock up everyone's grandmother moral will improve.

 

[fabvariousk]

Can't do the time don't do the crime!

just kiddin' that is fizucked!

 

[paladin420]

Never ever talk to the cops... Period fuckin dot..

 

[MIway]

I was shocked. Capo turned me onto this article, which has an interview with this particular lady... kinda crazy... seems like they are using the parents as an example, with people like their son as the target audience...


http://metrotimes.com/mmj/letter-of-the-law-1.1141399

Published: May 4, 2011

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Oakland County continues to be one of the toughest battlefronts around medical marijuana in the state. There seem to be more high-profile cases around the issue there because County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper and County Sheriff Mike Bouchard have decided to take on medical marijuana in a very high-profile manner. But maybe they're just taking cues from the head guy. Last week, during a Michigan Town Hall Meeting in Troy, sponsored by the Oakland Press and cablecast on CMNtv, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson appeared via video saying, "That medical marijuana law is the worst piece of legislation I've ever seen."

That doesn't sound like someone who wants to make things any easier on medical marijuana patients than he has to — which brings us to the case of Barb Agro.

Agro is a 70-year-old medical marijuana patient and caregiver with debilitating arthritis and diabetes. She worked as a 911 operator for the city of Lake Orion for 38 years. She also faces charges and possible jail time for growing marijuana — but the words medical marijuana, medicine, patient and caregiver cannot be used in her defense. Why? Here are Agro's own words from an article she wrote for the Midwest Cultivator, an Ann Arbor-based medical marijuana publication:

In June of 2010, after receiving our recommendations from a physician, we began to grow 20 medical marijuana plants in the basement of our home. It is important to note that neither my husband nor I actually smoked marijuana; rather we chose to consume it as medibles, as we both found it had longer pain-relieving results.

On Aug. 25, 2010, our home, along with multiple others, including both of my sons' homes, also medical marijuana patients, was raided by masked gun-wielding officers from Oakland County Michigan's Narcotic Enforcement Task Force. In this raid our home was torn into pieces. Mattresses ripped apart, clothing, cabinets emptied, plants ripped from their pots and dirt thrown across rooms and even into our bed. Approximately $11,270 dollars was taken from our home, money that had been saved and withdrawn to purchase a vehicle. My two sons' homes were raided at the same time ...

A neighbor of my son was brave enough to leave the scene and drive to my home where he informed my husband of the raid. In his frenzied haste, my husband grabbed his car keys, leaving his wallet and our home unlocked and unsecured. After arriving to my son's residence and checking on his daughter-in-law and grandchildren to ensure they were protected he returned back home to find his house raided by the same narcotic enforcement detail.

Because the door to their home was unlocked when police arrived, prosecutors say that Barb Agro was not in compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, which requires that all growing facilities be inside a "locked enclosed space." Sal, her husband of 45 years, doesn't have to worry about it. He died from a heart attack at age 67 about a week after the raids.

"Our belief is that it was due to the stress from watching his wife and kids being wrongly prosecuted by an overzealous prosecutor and sheriff," wrote Agro.

Police don't seem inclined to cut her any slack. The Agros also worked at the Clinical Relief medical marijuana facility in Ferndale that was busted earlier the same day her home was raided. That was probably what led to the raids that night. Their son Nick Agro, of Lake Orion, is a co-owner of Clinical Relief. In all 16 people were charged from the day's raids including those associated with Herbal Remedies and Everybody's Cafe in Waterford Township.

"She worked the front desk [at Clinical Relief] to make sure nobody nefarious got through, to make sure they were properly credentialed," says her son Nick Agro.

Nick has his own problems. He says that police didn't find anything at his home the night of the raid and that he never personally sold anything at Clinical Relief.

"I've been charged with conspiracy to manufacture an analog substance, brownies made with chemical THC," says Nick. "They're saying that marijuana butter used to make marijuana brownies is in a category like crack cocaine. There was nothing at my house so they're trying to tie me to Clinical Relief because I'm a chef."

Agro is a partner in a Denver, Colo., catering company, although he had relocated back to Michigan before last August's raids. An analog drug, also known as a designer drug, is one that is made to get around existing drug laws yet create effects similar to illegal drugs. Agro says he expects his charges to be dropped, possibly as early as this week.

The charges against Barb stemming from the raid at her home are moving through the court faster than the charges related to Clinical Relief. Since she is forbidden any mention of medical marijuana in her defense, activists have taken the tactic of flooding court entrances with people wearing clothing such as T-shirts with medical marijuana slogans on them in order to get the message across. They tell people entering the building the same thing. They did this on April 27, at the Oakland County Municipal Court in Pontiac, for Barb's hearing. The judge then postponed the hearing until May 9. There is no indication that the presence of activists had anything to do with the postponement, but they intend to keep it up in support of Agro and others.

After Agro's hearing was postponed, activists went to another courtroom where attorney Matt Abel was defending in another medical marijuana case. The judge made the activists remove their T-shirts and move to another area in the courtroom during a break in the trial.

"We have three or four other cases in Oakland County where judges have ruled that we can't use a medical marijuana defense," says Abel. "They all need to be corrected, and they're wasting a lot of taxpayer money in the meantime."

That's where things stand right now. If you are a medical marijuana patient in Michigan right now (especially in Oakland County) take pains to stay in compliance with the law, because if you are not it may disqualify a medical marijuana defense. It seems that law enforcement is looking to charge patients and caregivers for any small deviation from the law — one too many plants, a gram over the legal amount.

Barb Agro has run into the tactic with terrifying results.

"I don't know how they're able to circumnavigate the law. ... They're scaring people out of the medical marijuana program with the way they're prosecuting these cases. People are intimidated across the state. Oakland County is the battleground. ... There's no defense these patients can put up. Anything alluding to medical marijuana is being suppressed by prosecutors," Agro says, adding that his mother isn't doing well. "I'll be honest with you. She lost her partner, my father. She's broken mentally and physically. These prosecutors don't care what they're doing."

I think they know exactly what they're doing

 

[hazy]

Shouldn't there be a charge for not being in full compliance with the mmj law charge, not just a 'cultivation' charge??

 

[danut]

Shouldn't there be a charge for not being in full compliance with the mmj law charge, not just a 'cultivation' charge??

No there isn't.

That would clearly be a good way to handle things like this.

Instead she has been convicted of a four year felony.