In the eyes of the law, Marvin Chavez is a convicted felon. In the words of the man who busted him, now-retired Orange County Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust, Chavez is a "street drug dealer" who ran a "sophisticated drug operation" and "hid behind the law."

Chavez's crime was providing marijuana to terminally ill and disabled Orange County residents. And unlike the police and prosecutors whose efforts over the past 12 months led to his conviction last month on three marijuana-related felony charges, Chavez is anything but sophisticated. A straight-forward man by nature, the 42-year-old Santa Ana resident's chief crime was that he believed in the goodwill of the law-enforcement community and seriously misunderstood the legal complexities of Proposition 215, California's 1996 "Compassionate Use" initiative.

[continues 1562 words]