Ed Rosenthal with his team of defense attorneys Left to Right: Omar Figueroa, Ed Rosenthal, Shari Greenberger & Robert Amparán
INTRODUCTION
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Courtroom of Justice Charles Breyer, 19th Floor
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, California
Edward "Ed" Rosenthal was well-known long before his trial made international news. He has authored a dozen books on marijuana cultivation, many of which sold more than a million copies, and all of which earned him undisputed status as an expert in his field. His reputation was further cemented by his wildly popular "Ask Ed" column, which has run in magazines for two decades. With all this under his belt, fame was already solid for Rosenthal by the time feds came banging on the door of his Oakland home on February 12th, 2002...but Ed Rosenthal was about to get even more famous.
The high-publicity raid netted marijuana starter plants Rosenthal had been growing in order to supply local medical marijuana dispensaries, an activity for which he reports he was deputized by the City of Oakland. It also landed Rosenthal in jail for a short time, but bail secured his quick release and allowed him to stay out of custody leading up to his January 2003 trial in federal district court.
A key issue in the pre-trial hearings was whether the jury would be allowed to hear evidence that Rosenthal's plants had been grown for medical purposes. Although medical marijuana has been legal in California for over a decade, its continued prohibition under federal law ultimately prevented Rosenthal from mounting a medical defense during trial.
The jury came back with a guilty verdict for Rosenthal, but soon afterwards the case developed a unique twist -- upon learning the truth about the medical nature of the grow, the jurors were outraged and publicly recanted their verdict. Although Rosenthal was already convicted, Judge Charles Breyer took the juror revolt into account during sentencing and handed down a jail term of just one day, time served.
Rosenthal retained his status as a convicted felon until April 2006, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his conviction and remanded the case to U.S. District Court. Determined to reaffirm Rosenthal's status as a felon, the U.S. Attorney promptly filed a superseding indictment that not only brought back marijuana cultivation charges but also added tax evasion and money laundering counts.
But the government's new case hit a snag in early 2007, when the defense filed a motion claiming vindictive prosecution. A key component of this motion was a transcript of Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan, Jr., saying that the financial charges had been added to the indictment as a result of his displeasure with comments Rosenthal had made to the press. Working for the defense, attorney Joseph Elford of Americans for Safe Access successfully argued that the new charges were brought as a vindictive punishment for Rosenthal's exercise of his right to free speech. Granting the motion, Judge Breyer dismissed the tax evasion and money laundering counts. Only the marijuana charges remain, but the government has stuck to those charges doggedly and persisted in taking the case to trial.
Given that Bevan has already declared he would not seek additional penalties on the remaining charges, this is an unusual prosecution. All the U.S. Attorney stands to gain is a reaffirmed conviction for Rosenthal, but the government has pushed towards trial nonetheless, ignoring Judge Breyer's repeated warnings that the proceedings would be a waste of resources.
It's a situation that has perplexed the public, frustrated the judge, and challenged the defense. As of now, the stage is ready -- the setting and the cast of characters are the same, but the world is watching to see what will be different this time around.
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