Pubdate: Wed, 20 Sep 2000
Source: Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 2000 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  400 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19101
Website: http://www.phillynews.com/inq/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Aamer Madhani, Inquirer staff writer
Cited: Legalize Marijuana Party: http://www.tlmp.org

MARIJUANA MAVERICK BEGINS DEFENSE AT TRIAL

Edward Forchion, accused in a 40-pound drug deal, said he was like Rosa
Parks. He refused a plea offer.

With an opening statement in which he compared himself to Rosa Parks and
discounted the merits of marijuana laws, Edward Forchion - a self-described
eccentric advocate of legalizing cannabis - began his defense yesterday
against charges that he conspired to distribute 40 pounds of marijuana.

The first day of Forchion's trial in Camden County Superior Court started
with a juror's being excused after a teary episode. She told the judge that
she could not be part of a decision in the case, according to Forchion.

Forchion, 36, of Browns Mills, told the jury that he had smoked marijuana
in the morning as well as at lunch. After the proceedings, he showed
reporters a marijuana cigarette that he had in the front pocket of his
jacket.

Forchion, acting as his own counsel with lawyer Jaime Kaigh of Cherry Hill
advising, wore a khaki summer suit and T-shirt with a marijuana theme that
bore the message, "I love my country; I fear my government." He told the
jury that when Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in
Alabama in 1955, she disobeyed the law because it was the right thing to do
- and that he, too, was a pioneer for what was right.

He turned down a last-minute plea offer from John Wynne, a Camden County
assistant prosecutor, even though his wife, a cousin and Kaigh urged that
he accept it.

Under Wynne's offer, Forchion would have been eligible for parole after 33
months. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in state prison.

In his opening statement, Forchion asked the jury to invoke its power to
nullify the law under which he was charged - even though two Superior Court
judges had affirmed the prosecution's request that he not be allowed to
advertise the concept.

As Forchion was finishing his statement, he said he was surprised that
Wynne had not objected to his bringing up the nullification power.

Judge Stephen W. Thompson interjected, "So am I."

Wynne declined to comment.

Forchion is accused of hooking up his younger brother, Russell, with a
marijuana supplier in Arizona in October 1997. The supplier was to sell
Russell Forchion about 40 pounds of marijuana for $20,000, authorities
said.

The shipment was delivered to the Bellmawr Industrial Park via Federal
Express.

Shortly after picking up the marijuana, Russell Forchion was arrested as he
drove away from the laboratories, authorities said. His brother, who was
driving behind him, was also arrested.

Russell Forchion pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in 1998 and agreed to
testify against his brother.

Russell Forchion testified reluctantly yesterday, changing his earlier
statements to police and earlier testimony that he had bought his brother a
plane ticket to Arizona to broker the deal, and that his brother had
arranged the hook-up.

"All I said is that he went to Arizona, and [another man] made the
arrangements," Russell Forchion said.

Edward Forchion said that he had flown to Arizona to visit his girlfriend,
who was pregnant with his child at the time.

When the package did not arrive on the day it was supposed to, Edward
Forchion said, he advised his brother not to pick it up because police had
likely caught on to the plan.

Forchion, who has been out on bail since his arrest, is running for
Burlington County freeholder and for the First District seat in the U.S.
House on the Legalize Marijuana Party ( www.tlmp.org ) ticket.