Happy 420 Y'all...Let's All Get Stoned

It was three years ago today that my marijuana possession case was dismissed from court because the judge ruled the warrant was faulty and because the DA tainted the entire jury pool. How sweetly ironic that my case was dismissed on this most holy day for cannabis consumers. Ahh poetic justice!

It was two years ago today that I spent 420 with my close friend and mentor Marc Emery in Vancouver BC celebrating 420 Vancouver Style. Was even on the CBC National News throwing massive joints out to the crowd.

This 420 I am in an even more celebratory mood because we passed the medical marijuana bill out of the house judiciary committee a little less than two weeks ago. That was a monumental feat.

So much love and many tasty, sticky green buds to all the tokers in Alabama and across the globe.

Tallapoosa County, AL Surrenders Unconditionally to Loretta Nall on 4/20

And I must say that they look real good waving the white flag! I fought the law and....I WON! Who says you can't fight City Hall?

Dear Readers, Friends, Supporters and yes ESPECIALLY to my Enemies, Detractors and Former Legal Tormentors....

I am exquisitely pleased to announce that on April 17, 2007 my attorney informed me that the DA's office in Tallapoosa County UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDERED to ME and charges against me were dismissed today in the case that has dragged on for five years. Guess what that means friends and neighbors? Hidday Ho, just guess what that means!

And, in the ultimate irony for the prosecution, it was finalized today on 4/20 , which is international pot smoker day. I have been sitting on this news for three very long days....three days that seemed longer than the five year game of chicken I just engaged with Tallapoosa County and the State of Alabama. I wasn't specifically holding back until today. I was told I could not go public until everything was said and done and all the paperwork was in order. It just so happens that it all came together today which really kinda makes me question my Atheism. I mean....what exquisite poetic justice and irony that it's all over on 4/20. What are the chances?

I am in near paralytic shock at this news. Supposedly, this new development came about because of the D.A's deliberate poisoning of the jury pool. I was in the process of filing a formal complaint with the Alabama Bar over the DA's actions. I emailed my attorney on Tuesday and asked him if he had heard any word yet on when we would be able to get transcripts of the voir dire jury proceedings, because I needed a copy to use in the complaint. He told me he was on his way to the courthouse to file the motion to continue based on the jury pool being tainted and that he would ask the judge when we could have those.

About 20 minutes later, as I am sitting in the yard watching my new chickens, a red car drives slowly by my home. I heard it stop, back up and suddenly it was pulling in my driveway. To my complete surprise it was my attorney.

I said, "Hey man what's up?" I had no idea what to expect and, quite frankly, I was prepared for bad news cause that's what I usually get with anything related to this case.

He got out of the car, looked at me for a second in a funny sort of way and said, "It's over."

"What? What do you mean it's over? What's over?"

"Your case. The DA is withdrawing the charges. You don't have to come back to court. It's over."

"But, what, how?"

He said when he went in to talk to the judge about the motion the judge told him that he had noticed when the DA, E. Paul Jones, asked those questions of the jury, couldn't believe that he had done it and agreed that the jury pool had been completely poisoned. The judge took my case under advisory and ruled in our favor on the motion to suppress the warrant and all evidence related to my case. The DA did not file an objection, and the judge ordered the case dismissed.

"You're not pulling my leg are you...seriously, it's over?"

"No prank. I wouldn't do that to you. It is really over."

I almost passed out when I heard it. I was, for the very first time in my life, and still am today, rendered nearly speechless. I am dumbstruck. Nay, Thunderstruck! I may need treatment for shock. Somebody bring me some blankets and prop up my feet quick!

I can't actually get my head around the totality of it. For five years this case has been my life. It was my springboard into the Alabama political arena, my reason for running for Governor, my reason for writing letters to editors, my reason for starting a political party dedicated solely to the legalization of marijuana, my reason for organizing grassroots action to work on marijuana laws in the state of Alabama. It was responsible for the awakening of my passion for the work I do.

It was also my greatest fears almost realized...Prison...just one step away...one slip up and my kids may not get off the bus at four o'clock because DHR kidnapped them. Since November of 2002 every time the school bus was more than five minutes late I nearly had a panic attack. I cannot put a number on the times I called the school to ask where the bus was.

It was five years of looking up the driveway before turning in to see if the police were ransacking my home again. Five years of worrying if they would kick the door in at 3 a.m. and point guns at my kids, shoot my dog, plant evidence. Five years of wondering if they would target the house while I was away on business. Five years of adreniline charged fear as a reaction to helicopters flying in close proximity to my property...a needless fear because I have never and am not currently growing marijuana....but the fearful reaction to helicopters remains.

And now, round one is finally over.

I never thought this day would come. And I didn't envision it coming like this.
To be totally honest, this ending is anti-climatic in many ways. I wanted to get these bastards before a judge and hear the judge say, "CASE DISMISSED!" I wanted a judicial official with some sense to really look at what was done by the 'authorities' in this case and deliver a powerful condemnation of the actions of the police and the DA's office. I wanted to see someone in a bigger position of power than the DA shove a big ol' foot so far up his ass that he could taste the boot leather. I'll still get to see that but the DA will be sitting at the defendant's table and not me the next time we meet up in a courtroom. HALLELUJAH!!! Can I get an AMEN brothers and sisters?

The way it has ended leaves me with many questions.

1. Why did the DA deliberately taint the jury pool? I have two theories. The first is that he did it in an attempt to see if my lawyer would catch it. If he didn't catch it then my case would have been heard by a jury who first heard my name in connection with a drug trafficking case....which would have been very bad for me, but good for the prosecution. My second theory is that the DA did it so that he could leave himself something of a graceful exit from this case. Well, I'm sure he hoped it would be graceful...but I'll see to it that it is anything but.

Some people have told me to please not go after the DA because he bowed out and eventually gave me what I wanted. That he cut me some slack and I should return the favor. I think NOT!

If this DA knew all along that my case was bogus (and he had to know) then he should have dropped the charges three years ago when he assumed that office. But, instead he chose to drag the case on three more years, making me show up in court multiple times in every single session, refusing to cooperate with my attorneys' by giving enough advance notice so my attorneys' could be in court and many other infractions. The most serious one though, is that he knew this case was bullshit or he would never have conceded here at the end. He knew the charges were completely fabricated, he knew the police lied on the witness stand under oath in my first trial and yet he tried over and over again to get me to plead GUILTY to something I am not guilty of.

The DA's office and in particluar, Damon Lewis, BROKE the LAW by signing a warrant that used a Letter to the Editor as grounds for said warrant. Then they lied about it, couldn't produce it in court (it was exhibit A) and claimed the letter was stolen from their file by one of my defense attorney's. That is a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS violation of my right to free speech. That is ILLEGAL. They LIED in court UNDER OATH about the use of the letter. That's ILLEGAL! The DA asked me to LIE by asking me to take a plea deal. That's ILLEGAL!

It reeks of prosecutorial misconduct. It is no different than what D.A. Nifong did in the Duke rape case. The 'Justice system' isn't about justice and the bloodthirsty prosecutors in modern day America are so focused on getting another conviction notch in their belts that they CONVICT INNOCENT PEOPLE every day of the week. A prosecutor's job is to SEEK JUSTICE. Where is the fucking justice in saddling an innocent person with a criminal record? Where is the justice in scaring innocent people so badly with threats of kidnapping their children, stealing their home and property, seizing their bank accounts and imprisoning them that they take a plea deal even when they have done nothing wrong?

So, lay off them you say.... I'll be goddamned if I am going to soften my assault because the DA "cut me some slack". I promise you that he he did not do so out of the goodness of his heart or because it was the right thing to do. The DA only did so because he knew he would never beat me once this case made it before a jury. He knew he had no case and olny backed down when he saw that I was not afraid of his bluff. This case should NEVER have happened and I intend to see that it never happens again. So, while the persecution of me by the state is over my persecution of the state is just about to get underway. They have at least five years of sitting in court as DEFENDANTS, unless of course they meet my demands before five years are over. And, I know that some may see this vindictiveness as ugly, but if I don't put them through the ringer over what they have done then they will undoubtedly do it again, and more than likely it will be to someone who has no resources to fight back and win. I can't have that. I am duty bound to fuck these people slap up in the court of law.

So, here is the beginnings of my list of demands.

I want a federal investigation into the Tallapoosa County DA's office, the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force, the Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Office, the Alexander City Police Department and into Judge Kim Taylor's office. I want to know how many people are in jail on bullshit charges like mine. I know that I cannot be the only one. I want the Alabama Bar Association to investigate the complaints I am in the process of filing against the DA and Deputy DA of Tallapoosa County. I'd like both E. Paul Jones and Damon Lewis's license to practice law hanging on my wall. I want them arrested, prosecuted and jailed. I have to "make an example out of them" and "send a strong message" that there will be "zero tolerance" for this kind of prosecutorial misconduct.

I want Beth Shaw charged for conspiring with the school resource officer, Eric McCain, to have me jailed, for inviting DHR workers and police officers to interrogate my children without counsel and other unbiased adults present REPEATEDLY, for filing a malicious complaint with DHR that I was starving my children, for going outside the school and telling personal friends that I was starving my children, for having a box of food with "Bell's Special Snack" written on it under her desk that she only allowed Bell to eat from, for turning notes I sent to the school about my children over to police, for making school a hostile environment for my children and for allowing my five-year-old baby to be humiliated in front of her peers. I want Beth Shaw's license to teach hanging on my wall next to the DA's law licenses. I want her house, cars and retirement account. I want her fired and barred from ever working with children ever again. That bitch needs to suffer.

I want Eric McCain charged for using a letter to the editor as a way to question my daughter at school without counsel or another unbiased adult present, for conspiring with Beth Shaw to have me jailed on bogus charges, for humiliating my 5-year-old baby in front of her class, for LYING on the witness stand UNDER OATH. For fabricating this whole damn case because my letter to the editor was not in line with his views on marijuana. I want Eric McCain's badge to hang on my wall next to Beth Shaw's teaching certificate and the DA's' law licenses. If he has one of those nifty cop hats, then I want that, too. I want him barred from ever working as a police officer and from working with children ever again. And, I want him sterilized, because it is never a good idea to allow vermin to breed.

I'd like them all jailed. I want pictures.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to change the name Tallapoosa County to THE FREE REPUBLIC OF NALLISTAN!

I pick up the dismissal order today at 2 p.m. However, it's 420 ALL DAY LONG....SO LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!!!

HAPPY 420

Happy 420 to all of my readers on the web. I have a major news announcement that should come by the end of the day. Stay tuned.