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Amsdills Want Marijuana Charges Dismissed


bobandtorey

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Five people charged with marijuana crimes in 2012 want their cases dismissed because they allegedly were led to believe their medical marijuana facilities were legal by government or law enforcement officials.

The argument — entrapment by estoppel — is the same defense that led to the dismissal of marijuana charges against a Port Huron Township couple, Dale and Annette Shattuck, in February.

James, Debra and Amanda Amsdill and Mark and Terra Sochacki were arrested in 2011 following an investigation by the Michigan State Police into three Blue Water Compassion Center marijuana dispensaries in Sanilac, Tuscola and St. Clair counties.

Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office charged the Amsdills with three counts, including conducting a criminal enterprise, for patient-to-patient sales of marijuana through the dispensary. The Sochackis were charged with delivery of marijuana.

The case was dismissed by Circuit Judge Cynthia Lane in 2013, but was remanded back to her court by the Court of Appeals in December 2014.

The briefs submitted last week asking Lane to dismiss the charges summarize testimony and arguments made during a 4-day hearing in late January. Lane will rule on the motions before the five defendants proceed to trial.

The briefs filed by the group’s four lawyers — Matt Newburg, Neil Rockind, Paul Tylenda, and Michael Komorn — argue the Amsdills and Sochackis trusted the government assurances they received for the Blue Water Compassion Centers.

According to the motions, the Amsdills were in regular communication with the then director of the Sanilac Drug Task Force, William Gray, prior to the raids on their facilities. The Amsdills testified Gray had checked the validity of patients’ medical marijuana cards for the Amsdills, and the Amsdills even had Gray’s card at the front desk of each compassion center in case they ran into trouble.

In Kimball Township, the Amsdills said they operated under a township ordinance that authorized the dispensary — an ordinance they helped to draft.

“Mrs. Amsdill testified that she relied on this ordinance, her reliance was reasonable given the number of people — and their level of authority, that approved it and operated the business that way,” Debra Amsdill’s motion reads.

“Her confidence in the legality of her business only grew as she and her husband became acquainted with Bill Gray, the (former) director of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force.”

At the hearing in late January, Gray allegedly denied telling the Amsdills that patient-to-patient sales were legal. The brief said Gray testified he spoke with the Amsdills as a police officer investigating suspected criminal activity.

The briefs note Gray was quoted in the Sanilac County News as stating at a public meeting that he was "one hundred percent confident that they were not selling to anyone without a medical marijuana card."

A Dec. 29, 2011 Times Herald article contains a similar quote from Gray. The article said Debra Amsdill and Gray had a "working relationship" and she turned to him with questions about the law.

In the December 2011 Times Herald article, Gray said he didn't believe the raids would produce enough evidence to mount a case against the compassion centers. "We wanted nothing to do with it," Gray said.

In a brief filed on behalf of James Amsdill, Rockind said the discrepancy between Gray's actions prior to the raid and his testimony months after undermines his credibility.

"There is no credibility 'contest' here, however much the State will attempt to create one," the brief reads. "When comparing the statements of Gray and the defendants, there would be a better 'contest' in a swimming race between Michael Phelps and Michael Moore."

A response to the briefs from the Attorney General’s office said the Amsdills and Sochackis changing and conflicting statements at an evidentiary hearing in late January "strains credulity."

Prosecutors maintain Gray never confirmed the legality of the dispensaries, and that the Amsdills had been warned about the questionable legality of selling marijuana to anyone with a card.

“In fact, the documents show that Director Bill Gray warned (Blue Water Compassion Center) and others that owning dispensaries that sold marijuana could create legal problems,” the state’s response reads.

“The Kimball Township ordinance never authorized patient to patient sale and (Supervisor) Don Petro never told defendants in Tuscola County that patient to patient sales were legal.”

Prosecutors said the Amsdills and Sochackis continued to operate the compassion centers even after the raid, perhaps “one of the most telling examples of how defendants did not reasonably rely, in good faith on claimed law enforcement statements.”

Lawyers for the Sochackis and Amanda Amsdill also filed motions for dismissal based on general entrapment. The motions argue the Sochackis and Amanda Amsdill were entrapped by an undercover agent who bought marijuana with fake medical marijuana documents.

The five defendants also argue charges should be dismissed because they are protected as medical marijuana patients under sections four and eight of the medical marijuana law. The sections generally allow for the dismissal of a case, or the use of a medical marijuana defense, if defendants can prove they had legitimate medical marijuana certification.

The Supreme Court's clarification of sections four and eight of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act led the St. Clair County Prosecutor’s office to drop charges against a Kimball Township woman, Ginnifer Hency, and a few other medical marijuana defendants in 2015.

http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2016/04/22/amsdills-want-marijuana-charges-dismissed/83376624/

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  • 5 months later...

The trial of a second defendant in the 5-year-old Blue Water Compassion Center case has been postponed while the state appeals another defendant's dismissal.

Amanda Amsdill and her parents, James and Debra Amsdill were arrested in 2011 following an investigation by the Michigan State Police into their three marijuana dispensaries in Sanilac, Tuscola and St. Clair counties.

Amanda Amsdill operated one of the family's dispensaries and is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise. She claimed she was advised by government officials that patient-to-patient sales of medical marijuana were legal. Her trial was supposed to begin Oct. 4, but St. Clair County Circuit Judge Cynthia Lane granted a motion to stay because Amanda Amsdill's case is substantially similar to her mother's, whose trial had also been postponed.

Attorney General Bill Schuette's office charged the Amsdills and their employees, Mark and Terra Sochacki, with conducting illegal patient-to-patient sales of medical marijuana. All five defendants brought motions in April to dismiss their charges under entrapment by estoppel defense of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.

Lane had dismissed the charges in 2013, but the case was remanded back to her court by the Court of Appeals in December 2014.

Lane granted James Amsdill's motion for dismissal because he was the only defendant, she wrote in her opinion, who demonstrated he was truly unaware patient-to-patient sales were illegal. However, Schuette's office appealed that decision earlier this month.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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A circuit court judge denied motions to dismiss charges against four people who are accused of distributing medical marijuana patient-to-patient. Sydney Smith

Debra Amsdill's trial was to begin this month, but it was postponed pending the result of James Amsdill's appeal. She is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to deliver marijuana and the delivery and manufacturing of marijuana.

Motions to dismiss for all of the defendants were denied pertaining to Section 8 of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. This section provides an affirmative defense to the prosecution of charges involving the medical use of marijuana. Those who use this defense must demonstrate that they are a patient or primary caregiver under MMMA. Lane wrote none of the defendants were entitled to dismiss their charges based on Section 8.

Amanda Amsdill's motion was not granted because she assisted more than five qualifying patients with their medical marijuana use.

 

http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/crime/2016/09/29/trial-postponed-medical-marijuana-case/91277532/

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Rockind said the discrepancy between Gray's actions prior to the raid and his testimony months after undermines his credibility.

 

"There is no credibility 'contest' here, however much the State will attempt to create one," the brief reads. "When comparing the statements of Gray and the defendants, there would be a better 'contest' in a swimming race between Michael Phelps and Michael Moore."

 

 

brutal.

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  • 1 year later...

Charges reinstated in medical marijuana case

 

Kimball Township – The Michigan appeals court again has reversed a decision and reinstated charges against a man who was accused of running illegal medical marijuana dispensaries in the state’s Thumb region.

The court says James Amsdill knew the legality of marijuana sales was unclear and was also aware that state police didn’t view his Blue Water Compassion Center as legal. The court says, “Prosecution is more than fair under the circumstances.”

A judge in St. Clair County twice dismissed the case, the last time on grounds of entrapment. The case was filed in 2013, long before Michigan lawmakers created a system to allow certain marijuana dispensaries to operate legally.

Licenses could be issued by spring.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/11/16/marijuana-charges-reinstated-michigan-dispensary/107736606/

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the COA has it out for them. also they record those jailhouse phone calls, and play them in court later.

their reasoning for it not being entrapment via estoppel ? because the sanilac county drug task force DIRECTOR, who said patient to patient sales was ok,  only has jurisdiction for a small area.

 

http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/opinions/final/coa/20171109_c334572_33_334572.opn.pdf

Even if defendant actually relied on Gray’s statement, defendant has not demonstrated that his “reliance was reasonable and in good faith given the identity of the government official, the point of law represented, and the substance of the official’s statements.” Id. Gray was the director of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force. As such, Gray had jurisdiction only over the dispensary in Worth Township, which is located in Sanilac County, and not the other two facilities. Defendant’s alleged reliance on Gray’s statement in operating all three dispensaries was not reasonable.

 

 

now i'm curious which location the undercover cop made purchases at.

thanks bob, you are a real drug warrior. :)

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