Chris Bartkowicz Rally

[RMCG]

http://blogs.westword.com/latestwor...thouse_for_grower_facing_60_years_in_jail.php

Sensible Colorado release:

Life in Prison for Growing Medical Marijuana?

Not in Colorado!

Dear MMJ Supporters,

Colorado caregiver Christopher Bartkowicz is facing life in federal prison for growing medicine for sick Colorado patients. We need your help in bringing attention to this government supported atrocity. Join us on Wednesday, September 22 at 8am as we rally at the Federal Courthouse in Denver. Then make your way inside to show support as Bartkowicz's attorney makes the most important arguments of the case-- whether all charges should be dismissed because Bartkowicz was following Colorado law. Concurrently, the US Attorney will argue Bartkowicz should be prohibited from even mentioning the words "medical marijuana" at his jury trial scheduled for November 1st, 2010.

This is a crucial day for medical marijuana in Colorado, and we need your support to tell the feds we will not stand by as they attempt to destroy Colorado's medical marijuana community!

WHAT: Protest to support Chris Bartkowicz and Colorado Medical Marijuana Patients

WHEN: Wednesday, September 22nd, 8:00-8:30am

NOTE from CTI: Chris' hearing starts at 9am, so be in line to get through security into the courhouse by 8:30am.

WHERE: Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse (west entrance), 901 19th Street, Denver, Colorado 80294.

COURTOOM: 7th floor -- The Honorable Judge Philip Brimmer

WHY: No one should be sent to jail for growing legal medical marijuana.

WHAT TO BRING: Signs, water bottles, noise making devices

BE RESPECTFUL and DRESS TO IMPRESS! Please be very respectful in the courtroom. No signs or noisemaking devices or even T-shirts with slogans on them inside. We don't want to harm Chris' case, but we do want to be there to show support.

 

[pikes peak 69]

I will be there with friends. Look for the big guy with white cane, that's me.
Don't agree with what he did (bragging on TV) but this could be a precedent setting case for Fed courts.

pp69

 

[J-fly]

8am is super early. I want to go, but that is the butt crack of dawn. Stoners dont wake up till noon

 

[Snafu]

wish i could attend but with kids in school and living so far south 8 am is just no good.

but i must agree with PP69 this could set some precedence for us or it could really hurt our cause. i am hoping for the later!

 

[Texas Kid]

If I remember the story correctly, he was way over his limits anyways and didn't have the paperwork to support what he was doin at all and then went on TV to boast about how much money he was makin.....maybe I am wrong but thats really the test case we need right now.

I win here isn't a win for the movement, IMO, almost a setback for the rest of us.

Tex

 

[RMCG]

TK nailed it. BUT, then you have this one that Feds aren't pursuing...



And regardless, 60 yrs (life) is fuct up.

 

[COb]

If they allow a "medical defense" regardless of the number of rec's he had or didn't have, it will be a win for all of us.

 

[Texas Kid]

Robin is in the middle of federal forfieture prodeedings right now and will probably loose everything he owns to the feds, homes, cars, businesses, all of it.

That is how the feds decide who to prosecute, if you have alot of assets and alot of money for them to take, then your gettin the book thrown at you..if ya don't, they usualyy refuse to persue the case.

Tex

 

[RMCG]

I was pretty sure they said they were not pursuing fed charges as the mish is 'useless' to anyone else and is not 'owned'.

 

[Texas Kid]

His house in Bellvue, I though they siezed that, plus 30-40k in cash and 280lbs of meds...thats a pretty heavy hit.

Tex

 

[RMCG]

"Separately, Jones faces forfeiture proceedings by the federal government for the pot, growing equipment and some $23,000 in cash found in the August, 2009 raids.

Jones does not face federal drug charges, and the forfeiture proceedings are on hold pending the resolution of the criminal case in state court."

23k and my equipment to not serve 60 yrs? I'd be handing it over with a smile.

 

[Texas Kid]

23k and my equipment to not serve 60 yrs? I'd be handing it over with a smile.

I would do a little dance as well....lol

Tex

 

[sedate]

Bartkowicz was in violation of EVERY SINGLE PART of Amendment 20

I just can't feel bad for Bartkowicz.

I mean the guy is a smug little clown.

Those smug little grins, bragging about $400,000/yr, his 'Golden Ticket'?

The guy was already a felon - he had possession and possession w/ intents going back to the 90's.

So he calls the 9News and invites them over for a looksie?

Massively, collossally, galactically stupid. I mean dumber than any crime I've ever even heard of. This makes the guy that leaves his wallet on the counter during a bank-robbery look like Stephen Hawking.

If I remember the story correctly, he was way over his limits anyways and didn't have the paperwork to support what he was doin at all and then went on TV to boast about how much money he was makin.....maybe I am wrong but thats really the test case we need right now.

That's exactly right TK.

Here is the orginal criminal complaint:



Read that and feel bad for him. Just try it. I can't do it.

At the time of Bartkowicz's arrest he had 224 plants and only 12 permits. He claimed he had a few more in the mail. So he was only over by 300%.

Twelve permits is only 1 and 1/2 lbs. anyway - he had "boxes" full of dried pot.

Bartkowicz was in flagrant violation every single part of Amendment 20.

Every. Single. Part.

His plant count, his finished product, his disposal method (you can sell it for 'cost' under amendment 20 - not for $40,000/month), and his statements - during his arrest and on TV - that it was all for personal profit, not medical/patient use - all of this was in violation of Amendment 20.

Even if he could claim solace under state law - a medical defense - he was violating that as flagrantly as he was federal law - he's seriously guilty of criminal cultivation under any rational analysis - whether it be Colorado or US law.

He thought that he - as a caregiver - could just arbitrarily grow more, smile in a court room and claim it was medical while making $40,000 a month.

Remember the Ogden memo that he thought protected him?

It specifically states "clear and unambiguous compliance with state and local law" -



Bartkowicz was not in compliance with any part of Amendment 20.

Bartkowicz is a smug little clown whose strange penchant for publicity and want for attention is going to cost him the rest of his life.

Lastly, for a guy who was making money like that, there really isn't any excuse for not having good legal advice - you know - before you sign and initial the consent-to-search document from the DEA agents that are knocking at your door.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

I can't feel bad for Bartkowicz anymore than I can the idiot who drives drunk and kills himself.

Tragic? Sure. But absolutely self-inflicted.

 

[Seamaiden]

Sedate, I know an awful lot of truly stupid people, and frankly, I feel sorry for them. I do distinguish between stupid and ignorant. Which would you be pegging this guy as? I call him both, and don't feel he should be paying with so much of his life just for being either. Self-infliction, oh man. See, I'm a mother to two 20-something-yo's, so perhaps you can understand my position.

8am is super early. I want to go, but that is the butt crack of dawn. Stoners dont wake up till noon

Maybe young stoners. This old stoner us up by 6:30am most days, some days earlier. It's rare that I sleep in til 8am nowadays. Used to be able to sleep til 2pm! But that was when I used to be able to stay UP til 2am.

 

[sky high]

LOL, seamaiden. Was thinking the same thing.

Medical patients = up early dealing with pain and other ailments that won't let em sleep more than 6 hours, tops.

Stoners= up late with the gaming remote in hand. Physically able to rise early, just too fuckin' lazy to do so.

"Dude, where's my car(d)?"

 

[Bud Spleefman]

Sedate, I know an awful lot of truly stupid people, and frankly, I feel sorry for them. I do distinguish between stupid and ignorant. Which would you be pegging this guy as? I call him both, and don't feel he should be paying with so much of his life just for being either. Self-infliction, oh man. See, I'm a mother to two 20-something-yo's, so perhaps you can understand my position.

Maybe young stoners. This old stoner us up by 6:30am most days, some days earlier. It's rare that I sleep in til 8am nowadays. Used to be able to sleep til 2pm! But that was when I used to be able to stay UP til 2am.

Nice post!

Who sleeps till 8:00? My kid has to be dressed and at the bustop by 7:45. I'm lucky if I can stay in bed till 7:00.

But, on a serious note, it really pisses me off when I see this attitude that "He's a drug dealer, but I did some paperwork, so I AM NOT........"

We're all drug dealers! It's the drug dealers that ignored the law, that beat the cops and the judges down so hard, that reached the critical mass, that made it impossible to prosecute everyone, that made the movement possible. YOU RAT TURDS THAT THINK YOU'RE NOT A DRUG DEALER MAKE ME SICK. WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? People like me who made our bones 20 or 30 years ago, taking the hit, doing the time, and now we can't play, are the reason you exist. Don't forget it!

Hopefully Bartkowitz gets off. If you don't want him to get off you're dumber than he is, because if he gets off, then surely someone as smart as you will get off if you get caught. Where's the sarcasm emoticon?

 

[sky high]

Stands, applauds....

Yup Bud, when they are done with Barkowitz they will need more victims.

And with a nice list available to them straight from the State with names and bank account #'s and checks in the boxes [ ] I poop once a day [ ] I poop twice a day [ ] I'm tough, I only shit when the DEA comes, it's gonna be like fishin'-in-a-barrel.

There's too much money at stake to let him off. If the DEA let's folks off they have no jobs...the jailers have no jobs, the PO's have no jobs....etc...etc...etc. Think THAT is gonna happen for "medical marijuana?"

horse-cart, not cart-horse. until the Schedule 1 classification is dropped the game is on, as always, IMO.

s h

 

[sky high]

Sep 22, 2010 10:57 am

US/Mountain Judge: New Medical Pot Strains Don't Void Drug Law

DENVER (AP) ― Marijuana is still illegal, even if new strains have medicinal value, a federal judge in Denver has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer rejected an attempt Wednesday by a suburban Denver pot grower facing federal drug charges to have the case dismissed because he says he was growing new types with medical value. Christopher Bartkowicz argued that he was growing strains that are wrongly considered off-limits Schedule 1 drugs.

Brimmer agreed with federal prosecutors that a judge can't decide to exempt some kinds of marijuana from the federal designation.

Brimmer was to consider further arguments Wednesday from government lawyers who want block Bartkowicz from using state pot laws in his defense.

 

[sedate]

I know an awful lot of truly stupid people, and frankly, I feel sorry for them.

I never feel bad for Republicans.

Self-infliction, oh man. See, I'm a mother to two 20-something-yo's, so perhaps you can understand my position.

First of all, Bartkowicz is almost 40 and has felony pot convictions going back to the 90's.

Secondly, I'm a twenty-something yo-yo. You wouldn't catch me dead calling the news station to have a looksie at my marijuana grow-operation anymore than I'd call the local constabularly to say the same thing.
This wasn't just dumb - it was a recklessly brazen thing to do that makes the entire movement look bad. Idiots like this are what gave substantial fire to HB1284.

This movement is still just getting started, and idiots like him give enormous firepower to all manner of conservative and LEO advocacy groups - I mean growing half-million dollars worth of pot next to a school in a comfy suburb?

Talk about scaring the shit out of the public. Guys like this - guys failing to excercise any fuck discretion at all and then smiling smugly - are making things much worse for everyone.

Hopefully Bartkowitz gets off. If you don't want him to get off you're dumber than he is, because if he gets off, then surely someone as smart as you will get off if you get caught. Where's the sarcasm emoticon?

First off - I'm under my plant count. By quite a bit actually. I don't keep product at the grow - and I certainly don't call 9News to brag.

I mean - I don't think he should do 60 years. I'm actually a little shocked at that.

He probably wouldn't have even been prosecuted at all had he been in compliance given the structure and language of the Ogden memo.

But he wasn't playing by the rules. He was some sort of maniac drug dealer who called the news station to brag about his income living next door to a school.

Furthermore - he just can't get off. There isn't any legal way for him to get off. It just won't happen. It can't happen.

Federal law just doesn't permit him any defense. It was a wholly binary event - he was growing pot or he was not - and no judge or jury will have any choice in the matter. His only hope is jury nullification - and that never happens - nevermind he's been barred from a medical defense anyway.

 

[Seamaiden]

Sedate, I can't hit you with rep again. I don't always agree with you, but I never would have pegged you as 20-something. Much closer to my age. You sound a hell of a lot smarter than my boys.

He sounds more like an idiot, based on your further descriptions, than ignorant.