Pubdate: Tue, 28 Aug 2007
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2007 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Monte Whaley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

ILL MAN'S MARIJUANA BROKE LAW, JURORS TOLD

Brighton - He may be frail and dying, but that does not  give 
39-year-old Jack Branson the right to grow a hefty  crop of marijuana 
in his backyard, an Adams County  prosecutor said Monday.

"He's a great guy, and you might feel sorry for him,"  prosecutor 
Trevor Moritzky told jurors. "But in the  end, you must find him guilty."

Branson faces charges of cultivation of marijuana and  possession of 
more than 8 ounces of marijuana, both  felonies. Branson's trial 
began Monday in Adams County  District Court with police testifying 
they found 14  plants - some 8 feet tall with stalks 4 to 5 inches in 
diameter - growing in the backyard of his Thornton  home.

Other marijuana plants and pot-growing paraphernalia  were discovered 
in his house, which officers searched  in October 2004.

Branson claims he is allowed to grow and use the pot  under 
Colorado's medical marijuana law. Doctors can  recommend marijuana 
for patients they believe would  benefit from it.

Branson's lawyers contend a physician verbally  recommended in 2002 
that Branson use marijuana to deal  with the effects of the HIV virus 
he has lived with for  20 years.

But when he was issued a summons by police in October  2004, Branson 
was not registered with the state as a  medical-marijuana user.

Tyrone Streno, a member of the North Metro Drug Task  Force, 
testified that Colorado's medical marijuana law  allows a patient to 
have six plants and 2 usable ounces  of marijuana.

Branson had more, and he had no written records of  being a medical 
marijuana patient, Streno said.

"He did not meet the criteria for that amount of  marijuana," Streno 
said, adding the pot was about 50  pounds.

Thornton police officers testified the plants were in  plain sight of 
passers-by and that Branson slept in a  tent in the backyard to keep 
people from stealing them.

They told jurors they found two grocery bags of  marijuana leaves, 
dried pot in his living room, pot in  his medicine cabinet and a digital scale.

A closet had ultraviolet lighting to cultivate  marijuana plants, 
said former Thornton officer Tanya  Hayes.

"He said he had a terminal disease, and he was using  pot for 
medicine," Hayes said. "He said he was in the  process of getting a 
prescription for it."

Branson's team is expected to put on its case today.

Prosecutors have said they will not seek jail time, but  Branson 
could lose his Medicaid or Social Security  benefits if convicted of a felony.
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