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Chavez Offered Plea Bargain
Pubdate: Wed, 5 August 1998
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: http://www.latimes.com/
Author: Lisa Richardson, Times Staff Writer
CHAVEZ OFFERED PLEA BARGAIN
O.C. Medicinal Marijuana Club Director Says He Will Reject the Deal
Though he faces 15 years in prison on 10 counts of selling and distributing
drugs, the director of an Orange County medicinal marijuana club said
Tuesday he would rather go to jail than admit wrongdoing as part of a
proffered deal that could keep him from serving time.
Marvin Chavez, 42, said Tuesday, the first day of his trial, that Superior
Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald had given him 24 hours to mull an
unexpected offer from the prosecution: Chavez would probably receive some
time in County Jail but would receive credit for time already served, along
with five years' probation. Because he was in jail for 90 days awaiting
trial, Chavez might not serve time at all.
The deal also would have allowed him to use marijuana personally but not to
distribute it to others, Chavez said.
But Chavez, an ardent defender and proponent of Proposition 215, said he
balks at either pleading guilty or agreeing to stop distributing "the
medicine."
"I'm thinking that I cannot take the deal," Chavez said. "I've always been
inspired by Gandhi and Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela--look at
Mandela! He spent 27 years in prison for what he believed in, and it paid
off.
"I'm not trying to save the world, but I'm an American," said Chavez,
director of the Patient, Doctor, Nurse Support Group. "I'm willing to stand
for my civil rights."
Proposition 215, which passed in November 1996, permits people with doctors'
recommendations to use marijuana legally to treat illness. It also calls on
the federal and other state governments to implement a plan for the
affordable distribution of marijuana to patients. The initiative, however,
has caused much confusion about whether federal or state drugs laws have
more weight.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Carl Armbrust confirmed that Chavez had been offered a
deal but would not discuss any details.
Should he agree to bargain, Chavez would fare far better than another
cannabis club member recently sentenced in an Orange County court.
David Lee Herrick, 48, was convicted in May on two counts of felony
marijuana sale and sentenced to four years in prison. Herrick, who has been
in jail since March 1997, was arrested after police found several plastic
bags of marijuana identified as cannabis club property and marked "Not For
Sale" in his possession.
One of Chavez's attorneys, Robert L. Kennedy, later in the day groaned on
learning of his client's inclination. Only last week, Kennedy was
anticipating an appeal of Chavez's potential conviction. The deal offered
Tuesday would provide an alternative to lengthy legal wrangling.
Also, with a new district attorney and county sheriff coming into office in
January, Chavez would do more for the movement by working with them than by
going to prison, Kennedy said.
Outgoing Sheriff Brad Gates campaigned heavily against Proposition 215, but
Sheriff-elect Mike Carona has said he believes doctors should have the power
to prescribe marijuana to seriously ill people.
"We will stand by [Chavez], but I would rather see him laying the groundwork
for an enlightened allocation of resources for those patients who are
seriously ill," Kennedy said.
Obviously exasperated, Kennedy added: "It's too bad he can't call Herrick up
and ask what his feelings are and what he'd do if he'd had the same offer."
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