Pubdate: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Copyright: 1998 The Orange County Register Author: John McDonald POT-CLUB FOUNDER CONVICTED COURTS: Vendor who sought to defend marijuana sales under Prop. 215 is found guilty on eight counts. The founder of the Orange County Cannabis Co-op was convicted Thursday on eight counts of selling, transferring and transporting pot, in a case he plans to appeal because he was barred from mounting a Proposition 215 medical-marijuana defense. The jury verdict against Marvin Chavez, 42, was mixed: 95 He was convicted on two felony counts of selling marijuana to undercover officers, but acquitted on two other counts of selling to them. 95 Five felony charges of providing pot to medical patients on a doctor's recommendation were reduced to misdemeanors. 95 A charge that Chavez mailed 5 ounces of marijuana to an upstate cancer patient resulted in a felony conviction. Prop. 215, passed in 1996, allows for the possession, cultivation and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but does not address distribution. Prosecutors argued that the initiative does not allow for the exchange of the drug for money or favors. Chavez contended that he accepted "donations" and sometimes provided the marijuana for free. "I'm trying to carry on in the spirit of Prop. 215," said Chavez, of Santa Ana, as he left Orange County Superior Court with a dozen supporters from the Cannabis Co-op. "I just want patients like me to be able to come out of the closet." Chavez says he smokes marijuana to ease chronic back problems. Co-op volunteer David Herricks was convicted earlier by a different jury of felonies on the same five charges for which the Chavez jury returned misdemeanor verdicts. Herricks is serving four years in prison but his case is being appealed. The Chavez trial included more testimony about using marijuana as medicine than the other case did. Chavez turned down a deal to plead guilty in return for a sentence of time served -- 60 days -- and now faces up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 8. During the trial, jurors heard extensive evidence about the club's goal of providing marijuana to those in medical need. But the judge instructed jurors not to consider Prop. 215. "He was denied a defense" based on the initiative, Chavez's lawyer James M. Silva said. Jurors could not be reached for comment. - --- Checked-by: Rolf Ernst