Jury acquits medical marijuana patient of felony charges

[Garion_55]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/pot-news/jury-acquits-medical-marijuana-patient-felony-charges


Steven Ficano wept as the clerk read the verdict: not guilty on both counts.

He embraced his lawyers, who had tears in their eyes. A few members of the jury cried, too.

For almost three years Ficano has faced two felony counts, one of which could have sent him to prison for up to 10 years.

With red eyes, the 65-year-old Las Vegas man and his wife hugged and thanked each of the 12 Clark County jurors as they left the courtroom at the conclusion of his four-day trial.

The jurors took about an hour to acquit Ficano on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to sell.

Prosecutors had argued that Ficano kept far more than he was legally allowed at his northwest valley residence and that he planned to sell the pot.

But Ficano’s lawyers, Dustin Marcello and Mike Miceli, brought in three of Ficano’s neighbors — a firefighter, a former police sergeant and a school district employee — who all said they did not believe he would sell the drug.

The defense noted that much has changed since charges were filed in October, 2012.

“We’re not used to treating it as a medicine,” Marcello said. “Well, those days are over.”

[DiverDave]

1. More and More

This will be one of many.

Man, when I got sentenced to 30 days in the county jail, 5 years probation AND had to write a 2 page, single spaced essay
on the pot usage at Central Oregon Community College.

And to be able to just walk in and buy over a counter, legally, was a mind blower.

[chillfactor]

2. thank goodness....

what a stressful life he and his wife must have had over those three years on such a trumped-up charge....good job jury!

[WDIM]

3. Jury Nullification!

I dont know how a person could sleep at night prosecuting a person for possessing an herb.

[christx30]

8. The money the prosecutor gets makes a comfy pillow. n/t

[Garion_55]

4. think of the costs involved to the state

the cops time for the original bust. all the time it took to gather the evidence and inventory it and transport it and store it.

the time it took for the prosecutors to create a case. bring it to a judge. the costs to have a trial. cost of having a judge there. court clerks.


must have been in the hundreds of thousands just for this one single case. and even if the prosecutor won, the costs of imprisoning this guy for 10 years.

what a waste.

[CanonRay]

5. Let's hope the idiot DA learned his/her lesson.

[bluestateguy]

6. Good!

Now give him back his guns, money and pot.

[jtuck004]

7. K&R! n/t

[Paka]

9. Good news indeed.

Something that grows freely all over the world and has been used both medically and recreationally since time began. How do I know it grows everywhere? I have traveled in close to 150 countries over my lifetime and have encountered it universally. Time to end the idiocy that began in the US in 1937.

[Dustlawyer]

10. I took a continuing legal education seminar, one hour in a Mexican restaurant, with

our outgoing County DA, the new DA, and a bunch of criminal defense attorneys (not my area of law) on the subject of defense theories for the accused in marihuana possession cases. One of the attorneys brought up a bust of an elderly man growing a few plants. The outgoing DA said they do not prosecute people for small amounts who are taking it for illness/disease. The cops are still arresting them for it by and large, though not always. I was pleasantly surprised, I mean this is Texas!
This is this DA's and the new DA's internal policy, not law. Glad to see they recognize the need. I suffer from Small Fiber Sensory Neuropathy, a disease that pot helps with immeasurably, but I cannot use it because the insurance company still requires my doctor to randomly drug test me hoping to get off the hook from paying for my treatment. I still believe Texas will be one of the last states to approve it. What a shame!