[waytek98]

I just got this from Lanny at MAPP.... Thought I should post it around a bit.


Hello Everyone,

I have not written much here about my case in which I have been falsely charged with battery by the organizer of an anti-drug group meeting I attended last October. In a nutshell, when the organizer found out I was a medical marijuana advocate, I, and three medical marijuana patients who came with me, were told that we could not attend a meeting in a publicly owned building that was advertised as open to the general public and for which I had received a personal invitation to attend.

My trial is coming up soon and I have not been able to obtain competent representation and will most likely be defending myself. I need to make some important decisions in the next few days and I need some help from either a lawyer or a para-legal. If there is anyone out there who can provide me with some advice, I would appreciate it very much.

I have printed below information I sent out as an email on Oct. 3 on what happened to me and our intrepid group that fateful day on October 2. After that I have printed my travails with the court system and my attempt to obtain legal representation.

The lawyers I have talked to have quoted me figures ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 to represent me and they do not want to do the work that is necessary to ensure a not guilty verdict.
I have never asked for help for myself before, but now I am and I hope that someone out there can provide me with some legal advice as I really need it. If you can help me in some way, please send me an email or call me at 760-799-2055.

Lanny

WHAT HAPPENED

Last August, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin printed an article about a new group formed to fight medical marijuana dispensaries. Made up mainly of current and former law enforcement folks, they have wrapped themselves in the mantle of protecting our children from drugs to mask their main goal of developing public opposition to medical marijuana. Their opposition to Proposition 215 was made perfectly clear by their chief organizer Brenda Chabot who authored a vitriolic column in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin attacking medical marijuana as a “decoy for drug legalization.”

These people are seeking federal grants (i.e. your tax dollars) to pay themselves and their expenses to destroy the medical marijuana movement. I have always believed in “know your enemy,” so I decided to go the meeting and find out just who these people were and what they were all about. Although it was not necessary, they did request that people coming to the meeting RSVP so they would have some idea how many folks would be there. I did send them an email RSVP and was sent an email back stating that they hoped “you can make the event.”

When I got to the meeting at the James Bulte Senior Center in Rancho Cucamonga, I went to the room where the meeting was to be held. In front was a table where they asked that you sign an attendance sheet. While signing the sheet, I was accosted by Paul Chabot, the organizer of the event, whom I think was aware that some supporters of medical marijuana might attend. He asked what was in the small box I was carrying. I said there was information about medical marijuana in the box. Standing by was an aide to former San Bernardino Supervisor and now Assessor Bill Postmus who recognized me from watching videos of our TV show on You Tube and informed everyone there of that fact.

At that point, Mr.Chabot informed me that I was not an invited guest and I would have to leave. I informed him that indeed I was an invited guest having received an email response invite to my RSVP. I asked him why he was afraid to have me attend the meeting and he said he just didn’t want people like me in there. I told him I had received an invite and I had driven all the way from Palm Springs because I wanted to know what this group was all about.

At that point I walked around the table and past Mr. Chabot who was standing in front of the door. As I walked inside and looked around to see what kind of crowd there was, I asked if there was reporter there as I felt Mr. Chabot’s paranoid fear of me might be of interest. I had been led to believe that a reporter from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin was going to cover this meeting due to that paper’s coverage of this organization in recent editions of the paper. There were not very many people there – I counted 26, seven of whom where medical marijuana advocates who had come to see what this group was all about as well.

Mr. Chabot followed me in and informed me and everyone else in the room, that I was not invited and that I would have to leave. I repeated that I had received an invitation and then announced to them that I was director of a medical marijuana patient support group and that they did not want me there for that reason. One woman turned to me and said in a genuinely surprised tone of voice “medical marijuana?” I said yes and handed her a pamphlet out of the box. I then handed out some pamphlets and took my seat in the back row.

At this point a very visibly agitated Mr. Chabot informed me that if I did not leave, he would call the police. At this point a lady from the Senior Center came up to me and said I would have to leave. I asked her why and she said I was disrupting the meeting. I said I was invited and I intend to stay and listen. She asked me if that was all I was going to do and I said yes, I wanted to learn about these people She said “okay, then you can stay if you’re not going to disrupt the meeting.” I said I had no intention of doing anything of the kind and she started to walk away, but Mr. Chabot went up to her and said he didn’t want me there so she then asked me to leave. I said no, I am invited guest, I drove all the way from Palm Springs and I am here to learn what these people are up to. She wald away.

Everything seems to settle down and the meeting began. The first speaker was Brenda Chabot, the author of the medical marijuana hit piece in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. She explained about the organization. After about ten minutes she was getting ready to introduce the main speaker, Paul Chabot, when in walked a Rancho Cucamonga police officer and asked me and three others of us to step out into the hallway.

In the hallway, he asked why we were there and I told him that we wanted to find out who these people were because they were going to use federal money to attack and undermine California’s medical marijuana laws. He said that they wanted us to leave because we were not invited. I explained that I had received an email inviting me to attend. He then asked to speak to me privately and I said whatever it is he wanted to talk to me about, he could do it front of the other people.

He then informed me that Mr. Chabot was having him arrest me for assault and battery because Mr. Chabot claimed that I pushed him when I walked past him into the meeting room. He had me put my arms behind my back and then very tightly handcuffed me and marched me out of the hall and into his waiting police car.

After about an hour of sitting in the car while the police questioned some of the people and ran background checks on the four of us who were there and questioned me as well, the officer issued me a citation citing me for battery. They informed me that they were not doing this because they had seen anything but doing it because Mr. Chabot was pressing charges against me. They were very courteous the entire time and I suspect that they felt this was all a crock, but, if I understood them correctly, they had no choice but to arrest me because Mr. Chabot was adamant in filing charges .

During my 90 minutes spent in handcuffs I did have some interesting conversations with the police officers – yes, police officers. The four of us were such dangerous felons that the Rancho Cucamonga Police felt it necessary to have three police cars and four police officers there.
Finally, the handcuffs were taken off and a citation was handed to me charging me with battery. They asked then asked if I would give them some of the pamphlets I handed out at the meeting. I knew it was for some kind of evidence but I always relish giving out information on marijuana. I said sure and got out enough pamphlets for every officer there.


As a former police officer, Mr. Chabot used his knowledge to have me arrested in retaliation for my presence there and my challenge to his position on medical marijuana dispensaries. Mr. Chabot is a professional speaker who now earns his living doing this kind of thing and I imagine no one has ever challenged him on any of this. Not only do I threaten his professional integrity but also their paranoid fear of legalized marijuana threatens his and his wife’s financial integrity.
MY ATTORNEY AND COURTROOM TRAVAILS

After my first hearing on December 5, 2007 when the judge assigned me to a public defender, I meet with a public defender by the name of Gary Whiting. He said he had talked to the DA’s office and asked, considering the difference in ages between Paul Chaobot and myself (Chabot is in the early 30s I think and I am 62), he was kind of surprised at how their offer was so extreme. I said I wouldn’t accept any offer because I never pushed Chabot. He then explained that he was covering for Ann who would be my attorney and I should contact the PD office to speak with her. For the next two weeks, I kept calling the office and leaving messages for Ann, but she never called me back.

Finally I get a call from Katie Perez. She told me that she was replacing Ann and that my pretrial scheduled for Dec. 19 was continued and I was to meet with her on Jan. 15.
I met with Ms. Perez on the 15th where she told me that due to changes in the PD office she would not be my lawyer and that I would now meet with a fourth attorney. However, she said she would speak with me and give the information to the new attorney. I reviewed the police report with her and I spoke with her for at least a half-hour, maybe more. We discussed the case and she said she would have investigators contact my witnesses. She also said that she would continue my pre-trial which was scheduled for Jan. 16.

My new attorney was Nate Pererira. I called Mr. Pererira, but he did not return any of my calls. After ten days of calling and no call returned, I complained to the receptionist about not being able to ever talk with him. She connected me with his supervisor who said she would have him contact me. That worked as he finally spoke with me on Jan. 28. I asked to meet with him, but he said he could just talk with me on the phone. I explained the incident and discussed the connection between Paul Chabot and SB County law enforcement. We discussed the case for about a half-hour and he said he would have his investigator contact my witnesses.

Mark Chrone was the investigator that called my partner Victor Michel who was one of the two witnesses. My second witness, Marty Victor, was never contacted so I called Mr. Pererira about that. After almost two weeks of calling and no return phone calls, Mr. Pererira called me and said he would have his investigator contact Mr. Victor and he would also have the pretrial, which was set for Feb. 13, continued. He also said he would request information from the DA’s office on their connection with the Inland Drug Free Community Coalition where I was arrested by Paul Chabot who served as a reserve office with the SB County Sheriff’s Office on their Narcotics division. He also stated an investigator would try and do an interview with Mark Bradley – the witness who stated he saw me push Mr. Chabot. Mr. Bradley is a probation officer with SB County and is part othe Drug Free Community Coalition and was at the table having people sign in on a sign-in sheet.

After Mr. Victor was interviewed, I called Mr. Peririra again to speak about the interviews and other issues relating to the case. The pre-trial was coming up in just two days and I was concerned that no coherent strategy for the case had been laid out. I was concerned as my witnesses – a middle aged mmj patient with tattoos on his arm (Marty) and my partner (Victor) would not have much credibility with the jury as compared to his witness (Mr. Bradley) who is a probation officer for SB County. I also felt that Mr. Chabot might get one of his friends or associates which were there to lie for him as he did Mr. Bradley.

Although there were obvious discrepancies and outright lies in the police report and in the statements by Paul Chabot, the public defender was not willing to go beyond my witnesses and I felt that my witnesses credibility would pale compared to the credibility of his witnesses and hence other mitigating evidence would need to be presented. In any case, he never returned any of my calls. I was getting very frustrated and wound up speaking with his supervisor again. The supervisor said that a Marsten hearing would be held to have the PD office removed from the case and a private attorney assigned.

At a hearing on March 5 (BTW, I was put in jail for six hours at this hearing because I was 8 minutes late getting to court, but that’s another story), the PD was removed from the case and I met that day with Mr. James Brown of West End Attorneys. He gave me their number and told me to call the next day to find out who my attorney would be. My pretrial was scheduled for March 19. I called the next day and was told that they needed to get the papers from the PD office before an attorney would be assigned. I explained that I didn’t realize it at the time the pretrial was scheduled for March 19 that I was scheduled to attend the Riverside County HIV/AIDS Symposium and asked to have the date changed. I was informed that I would have to do that myself and so I appeared in court on March 11 and had the date changed to the following week, March 26.

In the meantime, I never heard from West End Attorneys as to who my lawyer would be. After several calls, I was informed that my attorney would be Mr. David Goldstein. I asked that Mr. Goldstein call me so I could set up a time to come in and discuss the case. Mr. Goldstein did not return my call so I called again and requested to speak with him. He did not return my call. Each time I waited two days before calling again to ask to speak with him. Finally on March 24, two days before my pre-trail, I came home and there was a message on my machine from Mr. Goldstein that he would speak with me on the day of the pre-trial and I was not to call the office again.

At the pre-trial, shortly before I was called before the judge, Mr. Goldstein asked for me and took me to a small conference just outside the courtroom. He told me that he was going to set the case for trial. I said I wanted to talk about the case before it was set for trial as I did not think it was ready to go to trial. I indicated that I had not seen the report of the investigator regarding Mr. Victor, Mr. Michel and Mr. Bradley. Further I pointed out that he was not familiar with any of the factors that I described above and I needed to discuss those with him as more work needed to be done before we would be ready to go to trial.

Mr. Goldstein informed that he was my lawyer and he decides strategy for my case and his strategy was to only count on my witnesses. When I tried to bring up my witness credibility and other issues, he got up and walked out. I followed him back into the courtroom where I stood in the back dumbfounded and feeling like I was on some kind of judicial conveyor belt waiting to be ground up. I reiterated to him that I needed to talk some more and he went to the back of the courtroom and said let’s talk there. I was incredulous that he wanted to talk there in a room full of defendants while the judge was conducting court business. I only had time to explain about one of the discrepancies before he said “thank you for letting me know about that” and then he left and went up front.

When I was brought up before the judge, I objected to setting the trial date as I said I had just met this attorney, I have had no opportunity to speak with him in any meaningful way and consequently I felt we were not ready to go to trial. The judge informed me that he was not going to have his courtroom used for discussions between me and my lawyer, that he had a busy schedule and he was going to schedule it for trial whether I liked it or not. I stated that I didn’t even know what this pretrial hearing was all about because my lawyer never explained it to me because I never had any chance to meet with him and we wouldn’t be doing all this in front of the judge if I could have met with him before this hearing. After hearing that, the judge also informed me that I have a court appointed lawyer and that they are busy and have lots of clients and that if I didn&quo;t like it, I could go out and hire an attorney. I objected and the judge said that if I continue to object the green outfit I had on (I was wearing my nurse scrubs) would be replaced with an orange outfit, i.e. jail clothing. The judge then scheduled a trial date over my objections that I wasn’t ready to go to trial.

I was stunned and went to the back of the court room to wait for Mr. Goldstein. Mr. Goldstein went up to the bailiff and another deputy and secretary and they were laughing as Mr. Goldstein was obviously being humorous about getting stuck with me and then the bailiff loudly intoned “that’s the luck of the draw.”

Mr. Goldstein then left the courtroom and I followed him to speak about when I could meet with him to discuss the case. Without speaking to me he proceeded into the courtroom next door and I followed him in there and waited. He saw me and after a few minutes, he motioned to me to go outside the court. I said I need to schedule a time we can talk about the case. He said we can talk about the case right now and I said, “here, in the lobby?” He said yes and then I said “ok” and I began to walk over to a bench where we could sit down and talk and he said, “no, we will talk right here,” which was right beside the door leading into the courtroom.

As I began to speak he yelled at me “if you wave you hand at me one more time, I am going to slug you.” I was speechless – I do gesture with my hands when I speak – it is my way of speaking (watch any of my TV shows on YouTube), but in no way was it threatening. He then told me he would see me the day of the trial and not to contact him before then. He then walked back into the courtroom.

I immediately rushed back into the courtroom where the judge had set my trial and approached the bench. When the judge nodded at me I stated “Mr. Goldstein threatened to slug me.” The judge laughed and the bailiff said that “if you don’t get out of the courtroom, I’m going to slug you.” Needless to say I left.

Obviously this lawyer will not properly represent me. I do not know what to do at this point. I am leaning towards representing myself, but I recognize the old canard about a person who represents himself has a fool for a client, but I don’t know what else to do.

[Illspawn]

Contact the State Attorney General's Office and the California Bar.
Your attorney is evidently unfamiliar with the term "Terroristic Threat" as he said "I am going to slug you". File charges with the AG's office & Bar Association (Since filing in SB county seems out of the question) Have the State Bar bring him up on Ethics charges since he threatened to strike you in a threatening voice. File Verbal Battery charges against him through the AG's office. File to have the judge recursed or removed from your case since he also threatened "if you don’t get out of the courtroom, I’m going to slug you.”. All courtrooms in SB county are Video Taped. If Judge Joe threatenedto "Slug You" there will be a record.. If they can't produce a tape of that day, then you know they are hiding something. Once the AG gets involved they tend to "fall into line" with the CUA (Prop 215).

[squatter420]

Has Lanny been able to secure the services of an attorney for this matter? Does anyone have an update?

[waytek98]

Lanny has an excellent lawyer now who is passionate about his defense.
Hooray!

[SubUrban Cowboy]

Originally Posted by waytek98

Lanny has an excellent lawyer now who is passionate about his defense.
Hooray!

Thats good, because it does sound like everyone else up to this point has been against him. I really hope his trial goes well.

[Pops]

Damn good Lanny we are rootin for ya Dude

[Lani]

This is insane, how belittleing, how long are we going to let this go on. It's such a big and complicated battle our friends are just getting stepped on in the courts public defenders whats the fucking point if their just "too busy" to do their job.

[Thraxz]

Whats gets me about all of this, Is that not once does this gentlemen touch or harass or accost anyone at any time and yet he is the one having to spend all this money and effort in proving his innocence.. Theres my "You are guilty until proven innocent" theory again!!
When this is over, If he wins can he file a suit against this other person for his suffering and defamation of character??
The ignorance that people still have about cannabis hemp is mind boggling to me!!
I dropped out of school have no degrees and I know enough about the environment, photosynthesis, and life to realize that the war on Hemp is all about personal gain and greed..People really believe that "the one with the most at the End wins"!LOL!!! How SAD!!