Reasonable Doubts – The First Thread of the Sweater
More than fifty people showed up to support Joe Grumbine at the first day of his preliminary hearing.
If you only need prove a reasonable doubt, the charade that took place today at the Long Beach Superior Courthouse offered up plenty of doubts
Expert witnesses offered up by Ryan Dibble will soon be demoted to ex-experts, as cross-examination by Christopher Glew and Allison Margolin began to pull at the first thread of the sweater during preliminary hearings for The People Vs. Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine.
As Dribble backed the wrong horse from day one going after The Human Solution‘s Joe Grumbine, he’s also weakened his case by confusing marijuana with cannabis in a case that can only result in the truth shining bright while dimming the light on Cooley and his War on Patients.
In the fifteen years both witnesses spent time putting in the work to become ‘marijuana experts,’ they could have spent that time truly becoming experts in the plant because the people voted to legalize the plant exactly fifteen years ago. Undercover detectives Bestefano and Toohey admitted they had only ‘a few hours of training’ when it came to cannabis.
Their lack of expertise became neon-sign-glaringly-evident when they both replied identically after being asked how they knew the cannabis was in fact ‘marijuana’: ‘it went to the lab and came back marijauana.’ When asked about delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the ‘expert’ undercover police officer of Scott Bestefano replied “yeah, it was marijuana and it had THC in it,” which found chuckles among the fifty-plus supporters on hand to be fifty witnesses to injustice.
The defense could rest there, but they shouldn’t. Not when two undercover officers claim to be experts can come back for more!
William Britt will be called later and should be a good lecture for Dibble, much like his ‘experts’ clearly can’t comprehend cannabis therapeutics.
Grumbine and Byron were operating not-for-profit medical marijuana collectives strictly by the book, but that book was the pre-2008 Attorney General Guidelines that they were in the process of complying with as they continued to provide cannabis therapeutics, as well as offered free grow classes, yoga, meditations, riaki, as well as free clothes, food, and books, to name a few.
If the spirit and integrity of Prop 215 and SB 420 had a model collective, Unit D, or ‘Unity’ as it sounded when they answered the phone, exemplifying the utmost compassion that cities hope their collectives operate as.
And as irony would have it, the very courtroom this charade is taking place in is only a stone’s throw away from the very City Council chambers that just finished (finally) a soon-to-be-reworked ordinance that finally allows for ‘legal’ medical cannabis to be dispensed by collectives in the city, and only if it is grown in the city. While the regulations are almost too restrictive too operate, only time will tell just how unAmerican our elected officials have been on this issue.
Supporters gather after the first morning, regrouping after a lull in momentum caused by multiple room moves. (Photo credit: MedicalMarijuana411.com)
After 2 failed attempts to suppress evidence with 2 different judges, 7 hours of waiting, 5 room changes ranging on various floors with 4 people in wheelchairs and 2 on oxygen, medical marijuana patient and collective board of director Joe Grumbine, along with his partner, finally had their preliminary day in court.
What was to begin promptly at 8:30 in the morning didn’t actually begin hearing such lies by Long Beach detectives like free growing classes, yoga, etc, “aren’t benefits,” although illuminating truths like “I didn’t read the paperwork,” although not surprising, was indeed so hearing them admit to it.
Either detective Scott Bestefano is admitting cannabis is a benefit or he’s suggesting education and exercise aren’t beneficial. Either way he’s making his case look less than expertise-like.
They were supposed to have a slam dunk: go after medical cannabis collectives because they are selling cannabis. Easy, right?
Oh, then attempt to suppress some evidence, deny media access and drag the defense and their supporters through the ups and downs, literally, by changing venues multiple times. I could almost count the times on two hands in fact.
Attempts to slow the right to a speedy trial down a tad will only galvanize support for Joe, as this David and Goliath story unfolds in the heart of a city that just put the medical cannabis community on the defense during an ordinance drafting experiment almost gone right.
Although it is not illegal to sell cannabis (one can be compensated with today’s most comment form of compensation), and someone needs it but is unable to grow it, those unable to cultivate are able to compensate the efforts of others and this is the point of contention with the failed Attorney General runner-up Steve “we’ve got no more room for prisoners, but medical patients who own collectives should go to jail” Cooley.
The problem is that he doesn’t see Joe as a patient, and he sees all sales as illegal, so he’s spending money his tax payers didn’t have in the first place to go after two people who were doing something the taxpayers said was OK to do fifteen years ago, the same amount of time Long Beach’s soon to be called ex-experts have been brainwashing themselves to say the words “marijuana is bad, and I’m an expert.”
Although I doubt very many of them have legitimate experiences with the plant, unless of course maybe a friend or family member has a condition that includes symptoms that could be treating with cannabis.
Not to mention that our very FDA holds the patent on cannabidiol as a preventative nutrient, which means it’s now a vitamin and you should take your daily dose.
Have their experts explain that.
We’ll see what shinanigans take place tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel, unless the state says otherwise.
