Pubdate: Wed, 5 August 1998
Source: Press-Telegram (CA)
Contact:  
Website: http://www.ptconnect.com/ 
Author: Joe Segura, Staff Writer

DRUG ACTIVIST TO REJECT OFFER

Plea bargain: Terms in medical pot case not acceptable to Chavez.

SANTA ANA - Medical marijuana activist Marvin Chavez said he'll likely
reject a plea bargain offer today in a Santa Ana Superior Court.

The offer was a 5-year felony probation in exchange for eight felony
marijuana sale charges, said Long Beach attorney Robert Kennedy, one of two
attorneys on the case.

"It's the best offer he's going to get," Kennedy said, after a brief
appearance in Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald's chambers.  "And it will be a
tragic error if he turns it down."

Chavez said a final decision on the offer will be made today when he meets
again with his attorneys.

"I cannot accept the deal, as it now stands," he said.  "I'm standing up for
my rights and those of others."

Kennedy said he expects to provide an aggressive defense, if the deal is
rejected in Fitzgerald's courtroom today.

Chavez is the co-founder of the Orange County Patient-Doctor-Nurse Support
Group that he says is designed to be a clearinghouse for the seriously ill
who use marijuana medicinally.  The organization -- established after the
passage of Prop. 215 legalized the medicinal use of marijuana in the state
- -- has about 200 members, people who reportedly have presented a doctor's
recommendation for marijuana use, he says.

Chavez was arrested in April after allegedly selling marijuana to an
undercover officer posing as a care-giver for a terminally ill uncle.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Tuesday.

However, the judge called Kennedy and co-counsel Jon Alexander of Orange
County and Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust, head of the Narcotics
Enforcement Team, into chambers to review a possible plea-bargain deal.

The judge called the attorneys into chamber after reading several stories by
the Press-Telegram, which were being distributed outside the court building
by Chavez supporters.

Armbrust was upset by the demonstration, saying the supporters were
attempting to influence potential jurors walking into the court building.

"I don't think they have a right to influence a jury," he added.

Kennedy credited the press -- both in Orange County and Long Beach - with
bringing the issue of Prop. 215, known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996,
to the public's attention.  And the stories and editorials also have caught
the attention of the authorities, the attorney said.

"The only reason they're making this offer is that they're taking a beating
in the press," Kennedy said.

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Checked-by: Melodi Cornett