Montana Man Faces Possible Life in Prison for 3 Grams of Marijuana

via http://www.thcfinder.com/

Category: News | Posted on Thu, March, 31st 2011 by THCFinder(The Missoulian) [I]n a Missoula County courtroom… an eight-woman, four-man jury found Matthew Otto, 27, guilty of a single charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs – in this case, 3 grams (well under an ounce) of marijuana. Otto faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $50,000 fine.
 
Well under an ounce?  How about close to a tenth of an ounce?  Regardless, Montana law defines sales or distribution (giving) any amount of marijuana as a felony and allows for a one year to life prison sentence and $50,000 fine.  Otto is lucky he wasn’t within 1,000 feet of a school or an additional three years minimum would be added.

Otto stood accused of sharing a bowl of his medical marijuana with two friends in a car traveling down Reserve Street, where the trio passed a Missoula County Sheriff’s detective on his way home from work last November.
 
How many times do I have to tell you people to not smoke pot in your freakin’ car?!?  Even if parked but especially if moving!

Both [Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew] Paul and [Public Defender Chris] Daly questioned potential jurors closely as to their experiences with and attitudes toward marijuana – medical and otherwise. Roughly half the 24 people from whom the eventual jury was chosen raised their hands in response to a question as to whether they’d smoked marijuana. While none had medical marijuana cards, five had family members with “green” cards.

 Yes, because over half of US adults aged 50 or younger have tried marijuana.  If that’s going to be a disqualification for jury duty, you’re going to find it increasingly hard to seat juries (as happened in Montana last year).

Samantha and Jordan Lambert, who was driving the car, originally told Missoula County Sheriff’s Detective Jon Gunter that they’d gotten the marijuana from Otto, according to court papers. Wednesday, they testified they didn’t remember who lit the bowl or where the marijuana in it came from.

Daly repeatedly pointed out that neither of the Lamberts was charged with possessing or distributing marijuana, even though the bowl was shared among the trio.

“The detective told me if I was honest with him about taking a hit off the pipe, I would not be in trouble,” Jordan Lambert testified.

[Missoula County Sheriff's Detective Jon] Gunter testified that as a narcotics investigator, he felt it was more important to home in on the source of the drug.

So this terribly dangerous 3g of medical marijuana that Otto distributed to Jordan Lambert wasn’t so dangerous that we needed to charge the pot-smoking non-medical-marijuana-patient driving the car; it was “more important to home in on the” legit medical marijuana patient who was “the source of the drug”?  Otto didn’t hold a gun to Lambert’s head and force him to take hits while driving by an off-duty sheriff.  Lambert made a choice to endanger other drivers on the road but the police feel the real danger is the patient medicating in the back seat?

read more: http://www.thcfinder.com/marijuana-blog/news/2011/03/montana-man-faces-possible-life-in-prison-for-3-grams-of-pot#ixzz1PyFgdGWL