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People v. Masotti (Cal. Ct. App. - May 28, 2008)

By Shaun Martin

Not much from the Ninth Circuit and California Court of Appeal today. Or at least not much that I'm desperately itching to talk about. A couple of opinions by both; we'll see what the late afternoon brings (if anything) from the latter.

By contrast, here's an opinion from a couple of days ago about which I definitely had a reaction. And as to which I'm more than willing to shed some paragraphs of virtual ink. Notwithstanding the fact that others may well have -- perhaps entirely validly -- a distinctly contrary view.

To start with: Yes, it's a crime. And we gotta enforce the laws. I agree with all that. Which says a lot.

Still. Can we think of nothing better to do with our lives than to prosecute a Vietnam War veteran who suffers pain in his knees and hip, gets a valid medical marijuana card under California law, grows his own stuff in very limited quantities permitted by the statute, but who makes a mistake and gives a tiny amount of pot to a friend (slash informant) who stops by his house one day and asks for a tiny amount of weed on the grounds that it's his birthday?

I admit that I may be overly sympathetic with the defendant in this one on the legally irrelevant ground that even after the friend/informant offered to pay for the stuff, the defendant refused to accept his money. And the fact that the friend/informant subsequently left a grand total of ten whole dollars on the table (and, later, another five American greenbacks for another "buy") hardly convinces me that this is a guy that we must take down hard lest our nation be inexorably led into the pits of hell. Nor does the fact that the defendant has a grand total of $189 in cash in his entire house lead me to believe that he's the Arellano Felix of marijuana up there in Modoc County.

Fifteen dollars worth of pot from a disabled Vietnam veteran. Ranks right up there with murder and poverty in the scale of obvious social priorities.

Full post as published by California Appellate Report on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).