Quote:
Originally Posted by cllindner  Axis,
Unfortunately, these cases are going to put the dispensaries in the criminal courts, where it is far more difficult (because of 5th and 6th Amendment concerns regarding representation and due process) to have one lawyer represent more than a single defendant. My working assumption is that a clinic will get hit and 2 or 3 people will be arrested. "The boss" should retain EXTREMELY competent counsel, and the other two may be eligible to receive court appointed attorneys or deputy public defenders. Some are very good. Some are not. The insurance is having the experienced retained attorney effectively as lead counsel. He/she will write all the appropriate motions and cocounsel will join on behalf of their defendants.
The crunch may well come in front of a jury, however, and it is for that reason that I strongly prefer experienced criminal lawyers who regularly try cases with 12 in the box. Medical Marijuana lawyers do not spend a lot of time in front of juries, and juries are crunch time in my specialty. It is why the prosecution has no fear whatsoever of the medical marijuana bar. I have been doing my best to change that perception, but then, I don't consider myself a "medical marijuana lawyer", and they don't regard me as one. I confess that I did offer to have my client plead to a less-than-an-ounce charge this morning. We are dealing with 10 pounds and about $10K. In about a month, the DDA might take the deal since anything is better than having the defendant found to be immune from prosecution. On the other hand, I want the 10 lbs. and $10K back....
I hope this ramble answers your question. It is difficult to explain collegiality between defense counsel and yet requiring that each defendant have a separate attorney. By the way, if lawyers start saying they will represent multiple defendants in a criminal proceeding under these circumstances, the prospective client(s) should run away, far far away. It is a sign that the lawyer is more interested in the fee rather than in the potential conflicts raised by representing multiple parties. Protecting the client must always come first.
Best,
Chuck |
Too bad as a community we cannot stand back and let them shut down illegally run coops! Too bad we must react the same as each one gets raided instead of looking at each one and publically thanking officers for doing their job on the ones that weren't run properly. I think our force behind those running by the letter of the law would be greater if we (as a community) were more choosey as to which coops deserve the defense and which ones deserve punishment. As a community if we stood behind the legally run coops our crediblity as a community will rise. Public in general are not stupid, they see the kids coming out of the pot shops shaking their bags kicking their hills, at the car load of their friends who are hooting and hollering that they scored! I was in a waiting room recently when a kid confided (rather loudly lol) to another in the room that he and his friends put the 175dollars together to "buy the rec" those were his words! When my PCP recommended I get my MMJ rec. I started making phone calls and did not stop until I found a Dr. that wanted my medical records (not my story and a scar lol) and was priced within reason to a normal office consult!
I supposed the above rambles can be summed up to this, if we don't start policing ourselves the raids will continue to uncover true illegal activity and we will never gain crediblity with the GP(general public) if we police ourselves then the raids will soon start looking like they should horrible attacks on a community trying to help each other under a prop that was passed in CA