FRESNO, CA -- Yesterday's sentencing hearing for medical marijuana defendant Joseph William Fortt should have been a breeze.
Joe Fortt While Running His Bakersfield Dispensary
After all, everything had been arranged for a smooth, easy, predictable resolution.
The former Bakersfield dispensary owner had accepted a plea deal that would give him a sentence of time-served along with deportation to Canada, the country of his citizenship.
The judge had declared that he would follow the plea agreement's sentence recommendation, and Fortt's attorney had made arrangements for his client to be handed over to the authority of Immigration and Naturalization Services directly after sentencing.
All the factors seemed right on track to land Fortt in Canada at the beginning of spring, a free man after nearly two years of incarceration.
Somewhere along the way, however, there was a bump in the road.
Actually, there have been a few of them.
Earlier this month, Fortt had a medical emergency that landed him in the intensive care unit of Fresno's University Medical Center. He had developed pneumonia, an extremely dangerous diagnosis given that Fortt's immune system is compromised by advanced AIDS.
For nearly three weeks, Fortt has lain shackled to a hospital bed and under the watch of his own private guard. As such, he was unable to attend his long-awaited sentencing hearing yesterday.
Friends and relatives flocked to the federal courtroom in Fresno to see what would happen during the proceedings. They appeared just as concerned over Fortt's legal fate as they were about the fate of his health.
In no uncertain terms, defense attorney Daniel Harralson blamed the conditions at Fresno County Jail for his client's extended hospitalization. Addressing the court yesterday, Harralson said, "It's very cold there, and that's why, I think, Mr. Fortt ended up contracting pneumonia."
Harralson then requested permission from the judge for the proceedings to occur with Fortt in absentia. Providing that the proper paperwork can be arranged, Fortt may ultimately be sentenced on his charges while remaining chained to a hospital bed across town from the courthouse.
Once he is sentenced, Fortt will go into the hands of the INS, which will arrange his transfer to Canada.
At least, that's how it will go unless intervening circumstances put his deportation on hold.
Joe Fortt & Lisa Howard, During Happier Times
Most recently, intervening circumstances have come in the form of Fortt's estranged wife Lisa Howard, who this week decided to file both civil and criminal charges against her husband.
Outside the courtroom at yesterday's hearing, Howard outlined her legal efforts to keep Fortt in the United States as well as in prison. "Joe thinks he's just going to go off to Canada and that's it? I don't think so!" she said defiantly, her own attorney by her side.
While the consequences of her actions are yet to be seen, Howard remains resolute in her determination to derail her husband's deportation.
With Fortt's legal situation seemingly in crisis, the case of his co-defendant appears to have recently gained substantial momentum.
In court yesterday, Dau Venh Lieng changed his plea to guilty on federal charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana.
Assisted by a Cantonese interpreter, Lieng waived his trial rights and officially admitted to his role in growing 990 marijuana plants on Fortt's Kern County property.
According to the U.S. Attorney's indictment, however, Lieng ceased cultivation and returned to his Sacramento home directly following the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2005 ruling in Raich v. Gonzales. Under that decision, the Court affirmed the authority of the federal government to prosecute matters that are legal under state law, such as medical marijuana.
Although California voters enacted laws for medicinal use in 1996, the federal government considers marijuana to be uniformly illegal and classifies it as a controlled substance that has no medical benefits. Sensitive to the risks of maintaining an operation that violated federal law, Fortt saw the Raich decision as a stop sign and voluntarily shut down his Bakersfield dispensary the day after the ruling was announced.
"He closed his doors when the Supreme Court decision came down," Harralson said of Fortt during an interview. "He's a thoughtful man and an intelligent man, and, yes, he's a law-abiding man."
In addition to closing up shop, Fortt also advised his associates to alter their activities in light of the shifting legal realities.
Many did not heed Fortt's warning. Their cases are currently taking their course in federal court.
But others, like Lieng, did take the advice to heart, and adjusted their actions accordingly. Their cases are also winding through federal court, and the defendants' post-Raich efforts at compliance have earned them no exemptions in the view of the prosecution.
"After Raich, it's like you were damned if you do and damned if you don't," Fortt penned from his jail cell only months after his July 2005 arrest.
In light of these cases, courtroom observers are left to wonder which motivation is at the heart of medical marijuana prosecutions -- the intended fight for justice, or merely the government's penchant for punishment?
Joseph Fortt is scheduled for an 'in absentia' sentencing hearing on March 5th, 2007, at 9am in front of Judge Anthony Ishii at 2500 Tulare Street in Fresno, CA. Dau Venh Lieng is scheduled to appear in front of the same judge on May 14th, 2007, at 9am, at which time he will be sentenced for conspiracy to cultivate and distribute marijuana.
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