Our Colton drug crimes criminal defense lawyers were interested to see a recent item about the upholding of a jail sentence for a man charged with several narcotics crimes. According to the OC Weekly, the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Oct. 15 rejected Robert Victor Wayman's appeal of his conviction and sentence of 180 days in jail -- six months. Wayman was convicted in Orange County of driving under the influence and transporting marijuana, but not convicted of possession for sale and possession of concentrated cannabis. He had argued that the marijuana was for personal use under his valid California medical marijuana patient card, but the jury apparently did not entirely believe him. The Fourth District agreed, saying medical marijuana users do not have the right to transport medical marijuana with them wherever they go.
The Weekly wrote that Wayman's vehicle was stopped in Orange County in 2008. Inside it, the CHP found 37 individual bags containing 117 grams of medical marijuana. This was about half of what Wayman was permitted to possess as a California medical marijuana patient. Wayman said he kept his marijuana in the car because his mother, with whom he lived, didn't want it in the house. However, Wayman was also carrying electronic scales, metal screens and brown paper bags, and the officer suspected that the marijuana was for sale. It was later discovered that Wayman owned website URLs for marijuana delivery services. After he was convicted, he appealed on the transportation conviction, arguing that the trial judge had given bad jury instructions on that charge. The appeals court disagreed, saying users can be legally allowed to possess marijuana without being authorized to transport it to all places.
As Covina drug crimes criminal defense attorneys, we would like to point out that California medical marijuana law does authorize transportation by patients and qualified caregivers. The text of SB 420 says no such person should be subject to arrest for transportation (or possession, delivery or cultivation), unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the person is in violation of other parts of the article. In this case, we suspect that the CHP was right that Wayman was illegally reselling his legally prescribed marijuana. However, the Fourth District's ruling goes a bit further, saying "nothing in the law allows a user to store his entire marijuana supply in his car and transport it wherever he goes, just to appease his mother." The Fourth concluded that the Legislature intended to authorize only transportation that is legitimately related to medical need, but the text of the law does not specify any special purpose for legal transportation. We suspect the courts will see this issue again.
Howard Law, P.C. defends Californians who are charged with drug crimes, regardless of whether they are connected to medical marijuana. Marijuana gets a lot of attention in newspapers right now, thanks to Proposition 19, but California courts are still handing down harsh sentences to all kinds of nonviolent drug offenders. Because drug defendants face such severe sentences, it is essential that you speak with our Fullerton drug crimes criminal defense lawyers as soon as you realize that you are or will be charged with a crime. The sooner we get started, the better our chances are of negotiating dropped or reduced charges or mounting a vigorous and complete defense. Drug cases are major cases for law enforcement, and that can mean sloppy work or civil rights violations, which we can exploit to weaken the cases against our clients.
Howard Law, P.C. offers free, confidential case evaluations to all potential clients, so you risk nothing by speaking to us about your rights and your case. To learn more or set up a free case evaluation, send us an email or call 1-800-872-5925 today.
