Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jul 1998
Source: OC Weekly (CA)
Contact:  http://www.ocweekly.com/ 
Author: Matt Coker

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: HERE WE GO AGAIN

A judge ruled on July 24 that Orange County Cannabis Co-op founder Marvin
Chavez cannot use the state's medical-marijuana initiative as a defense in
his upcoming trial for allegedly selling pot. OC Superior Court Judge Robert
Fitzgerald also granted Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust's request
that the defense be forced to prove that people who obtained weed from
Chavez were ill.  (Note to Fitzgerald: If Chavez can't use the Proposition
215 defense, what's the point?) The co-op founder contends he gave grass to
patients who then made voluntary donations to his operation.  Prosecutors
allege he was simply selling dope.  Chavez's attorney vows to appeal the
judge's rulings. David Lee Herrick, a co-op volunteer and former sheriff's
deputy who also tried unsuccessfully to base his defense against
pot-peddling charges on the medicinal-marijuana law, was sentenced on July
17 to four years in state prison.  Armbrust also prosecuted that case.

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Checked-by: Melodi Cornett