Juror Regrets Oakland Pot Verdict
Posted by CN Staff on February 06, 2003 at 08:32:54 PT
By Gary Klien
Source: Marin Independent Journal
If Marney Craig gets any more air time, she may become the biggest local media celebrity since the guy on "The Bachelorette."
At Craig's home in Novato, the phone has been ringing off the hook with interview requests since she emerged as one of several repentant jurors in the federal trial of Oakland marijuana grower Ed Rosenthal. The jury convicted Rosenthal, 58, of drug cultivation charges, but it was not until after the verdict that jurors learned Rosenthal was growing medical marijuana under the auspices of the city of Oakland.
Since the verdict, Craig's face and words have been all over the local and national media. Tomorrow, she said, she will be doing a CNN interview with Connie Chung, and later she plans to participate in a segment with Stone Phillips.
Craig said she is not hungry for limelight and has no book deals in the works. She said she merely wants to call attention to an injustice that could result in a prison term of up to 85 years when he is sentenced June 4.
"After the fiasco of the trial and the terrible mistake we made, I feel committed to speaking out and doing everything I can to help," said Craig, 58, a self-employed property manager. "Ed Rosenthal should not have been convicted."
After a two-week trial, the 12-member jury concluded Friday that Rosenthal was growing more than 100 plants, conspired to cultivate marijuana and maintained an Oakland warehouse for a growing operation. The jury was unanimous.
But because it was a federal trial and federal law does not recognize state laws on marijuana use, the judge did not allow the jury to hear that Rosenthal was growing the marijuana for medical use under the state initiative approved in 1996. As a result, federal prosecutors were able to portray Rosenthal a major drug manufacturer, and there was little defense attorneys could do to counter the depiction.
Craig said she and the other jurors firmly followed the judge's instructions not to talk or read about the case while it was in progress, so they had no idea Rosenthal was growing pot for medical use. Nor did they know he was acting as an agent of Oakland's medical marijuana program.
When Craig found out on Friday afternoon, "she just had this expression on her face almost of shock, like she couldn't believe she did what she did," said her brother, Richard Albert.
"Friday afternoon, the first words she told me were, 'I feel terrible,'" said Albert, 54, of Novato. "And Saturday morning, she was crying on the phone with me."
Before the Rosenthal trial, Craig's only experience as a juror was during a local drunken driving case. She said the marijuana trial has shaken her faith in the system.
"I was so devastated when I found out what I had done," she said. "We didn't know who Rosenthal was."
But the jurors' willingness to come forward has at least brought some solace to Rosenthal and his family, said his wife, Jane Klein of Oakland.
"When they were trying to apologize to us, his response was he has no blame for them, they were withheld important information," Klein said last night. "I think it's a remarkable statement about how government policies - because they're not based on truth - have corrupted something we all consider very sacred, which is the jury system. They are very courageous for speaking up."
Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)
Author: Gary Klien
Published: Thursday, February 06, 2003
Copyright: 2003 Marin Independent Journal
Contact: opinion@marinij.com
Website: http://www.marinij.com/
Related Articles & Web Sites:
Green-Aid.com
http://www.green-aid.com
Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana
http://www.cbcmarin.com/
Ed Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Articles
http://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htm
Judge Just Followed Law in Pot Trial, Experts Say
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15390.shtml
Jurors: We've Been Had - San Francisco Examiner
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15381.shtml
Jurors Tell Ed Rosenthal They're Sorry
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15379.shtml
