Attorney: Crime labs ‘falsified’ marijuana reports

Attorney: Crime labs ‘falsified’ marijuana reports

A Southfield lawyer alleges the Michigan State Police crime labs have “falsified lab reports on marijuana statewide” and he’s asking a judge to dismisses charges lodged against a client.

 

Michael Komorn, who also represents defendants in Livingston County, said his office’s discovery stems from Ottawa County resident Maxwell Lorincz, who was initially charged with a misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The Ottawa County prosecutor’s office increased the charge to a felony when Lorincz declined to plead guilty, Komorn said.

 

“The extensive emails and documents we received through the Freedom of Information Act show the prosecution are relying on the lab to report these substances so that they can escalate these crimes from misdemeanors to felonies,” the defense attorney said.

Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman with the state police, said the crime lab’s role is to “determine whether marijuana or THC are present in a sample.

 

” The department’s policy changed to include the statement “origin unknown,” she noted, “when it is not possible to determine if THC originates from a (marijuana) plant or synthetic means.”

 

“This change makes it clear that the source of the THC should not be assumed from the lab results,” Brown said in an email response to an inquiry for comment. “The ultimate decision on what to charge an individual with is determined by the prosecutor.”

A message to Karen Miedema, an assistant prosecutor with Ottawa County, was not immediately returned Wednesday.

 

As a result, Komorn is asking a judge to dismiss the case against Lorincz and to hold the parties, including the prosecutor, in contempt of court. The hearing was scheduled for next week in Ottawa County Circuit Court in Grand Haven; however, it was put on hold until December following a conference between prosecutors, the defense and the judge.

 

Komorn’s client was first charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, but the charge was increased to a felony alleging he had synthetic THC.

 

The charge resulted when an officer reporting seeing a small amount of hash oil in Lorincz’s Spring Lake home when he responded to his 911 call for medical assistance for his wife in September 2014.

 

Komorn says the state police’s policy change began in 2013 when Ken Stecker of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan and state attorney general’s office “instructed the lab” it could report marijuana edibles and oils as Schedule 1 synthetic THC, which is a felony.

 

“This was counter to both law and science as plant-based edibles and oils are categorized as marijuana under Michigan law and their possession punished as a misdemeanor,” Komorn said.

 

Komorn’s office used FOIA to obtain numerous emails regarding the issue. Among those emails was one from Kyle Hoskins, a state police crime lab supervisor who said examiners needed to see plant material because they would have no idea how it was produced unless they watched its production.

 

He sought Stecker’s opinion, who reportedly responded: “That is my opinion, THC is a Schedule 1 drug regardless of where it comes from. I hope that helps. Ken.”

 

Marijuana is a Schedule 2 drug under state law.

 

Among the emails Komorn received were some from state police crime lab workers raising concern about the way they were told to report THC cases.

 

In one email, a forensic scientist notes that to “place the actual compound THC in Schedule 1 (drugs), the criteria of ‘synthetic equivalent’ should be met.”

 

“Since we really can’t do this, there are many of us who feel that these new evidentiary materials containing THC without any botanical morphology characteristics … should be identified as resinous extracts of marijuana,” the forensic scientist wrote.

 

The writer goes on to note that misdemeanors can jump to a felony charge and the topic is being brought up “because there seemed to be some concern about uniformity in making these calls. Further, it is highly doubtful that any of these (medical marijuana) products we are seeing have THC that was synthesized.”

 

Komorn’s office said the “statewide lab scandal” comes on the heels of a report that statewide marijuana arrests are on the rise.

 

Between 2008 — when Michigan passed the Medical Marijuana Act — and 2014, arrests for marijuana possession or use increased 17 percent statewide while arrests for all crimes dropped by 15 percent, according to statistics.

 

Charmie Gholson, founder of Michigan Moms United, said Komorn’s case clearly shows that Michigan’s top prosecutors and law enforcers “conspired to commit crimes against Michigan families.”

 

“There’s a strategy,” she said. “Someone at the top has sent these soldiers to people’s homes. … This proves the top law enforcement has conspired to target families.”

 

Lorincz Daubert Exhibits

 

 

 Contact Livingston Daily justice reporter Lisa Roose-Church at 517-552-2846 or lrchurch@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaRooseChurch.

 

November 4, 2015

Crime labs ‘bend science’ to strip medical marijuana rights, lawsuit says

Crime labs ‘bend science’ to strip medical marijuana rights, lawsuit says

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – State police crime labs intentionally misrepresent marijuana oil and edibles as having unknown origins, a tactic that can turn a misdemeanor possession charge into a felony and remove protections for Michigan’s medical marijuana users, a federal lawsuit claims.

medical marijuana lawyer

Maxwell Lorincz of Spring Lake and three others from the east side of Michigan are seeking class-action status in a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Detroit against state police Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue and Inspector Scott Marier, interim director of the Forensic Science Division.

 

They allege the state police Forensic Division, in concert with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Association of Michigan, or PAAM, established a policy to report marijuana-based edibles and oils as, at least potentially, having an unknown origin if no visible plant material is present.

 

The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, could then be declared a synthetic substance.

 

“At least one reason for the policy change was to better establish probable cause to arrest medical marijuana patients, obtain forfeiture of their assets, charge them with crimes they did not commit, and to allow felony charges against others for what is at most a misdemeanor,” Farmington Hills attorney Michael Komorn said in the lawsuit.

State police would not comment with legal action pending, spokeswoman Shanon Banner said.

‘No conspiracy,’ prosecutor says of medical marijuana patient’s charge

 

GRAND HAVEN, MI — The Ottawa County prosecutor says he is not out to overcharge Michigan Medical Marijuana Act cardholders who run afoul of state law. Prosecutor Ron Frantz offered the comments as he responded to criticism about a felony charge against a Spring Lake man who holds a medical marijuana card. Max Lorincz is charged with possession of…

 

The lawsuit also names Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and his forensic sciences lab commander as defendants for also allegedly designating oils and edibles as Schedule 1 THC, without any qualification as to its origin.

 

Undersheriff Michael McCabe, who reviewed the lawsuit that has yet to be served, said the sheriff’s laboratory has received high marks and was recently re-accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board.

“Our testing procedures are above and beyond reproach,” he told The Grand Rapids Press and MLive.

 

“As far as we’re concerned, the lawsuit, in regards to Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, it’s garbage.”

 

He said his agency has not talked to state police or the prosecutors’ association – or the Oakland County prosecutor – about its procedures.

 

“We report the test results,” he said. “Charging decisions are made by the prosecutor’s office independently.”

 

Lorincz, a medical-marijuana patient, is joined in the lawsuit by Oakland County residents Brandon Shoebe, a licensed medical marijuana caregiver, and Cantrell Carruthers, a licensed caregiver and patient, and Livingston County resident Jason Poe, a licensed patient.

 

The lawsuit focuses primarily on Lorincz’s case. He was arrested last year after police found residue of oil extracted from marijuana while responding to a medical call at his northern Ottawa County home. Lorincz presented his medical-marijuana documentation, but the sample was sent to a crime lab in Grand Rapids for testing.

Max Lorincz is charged with a two-year felony.

 

Lorincz was charged with possession of marijuana. He insisted he had immunity. He says prosecutors threatened to charge him with a felony of possession of synthetic THC, and did just that when he refused to plead to the misdemeanor.

A Forensic Division scientist testified he could not tell if the THC sample came from a plant or was synthetic.

 

Prosecutors argued that the charge was appropriate because crime lab workers determined the origin of the THC sample was unknown because no plant material was present.

 

Ottawa County Circuit Judge Ed Post dismissed the case.

 

Prosecutor Ronald Frantz wrote then: “The court’s decision turned on definitions and statutory language that we believed supported the charge as written. The District Court judge found our interpretation to be correct, Circuit Judge Post disagreed and ruled otherwise. … We believe the increasing prevalence of extremely high potency marijuana-based and synthetic-based drugs is reason to update and clarify our statutes.”

 

Maxwell, who lost custody of his young son for a time, did not see his troubles end.

“Maxwell and the approximately 200,000 other participants in the (medical marijuana program) face the prospect of being wrongly detained, searched, and prosecuted as a result of the Forensic Division’s official reporting policy regarding marijuana,” Komorn wrote.

 

“Indeed, the rights of numerous other Michigan citizens are endangered by this policy of reporting false felonies.”

 

He said the state police crime lab’s own results of the substance in Maxwell’s case showed it to be plant-based.

 

Komorn said that state police documents obtained under Freedom of Information Act requests showed “a concerted action by Forensic Division, PAAM, and law enforcement to ignore the law and bend the science so as to report all marijuana oils and solids that do not contain visible plant matter as potentially Schedule 1 synthetic THC … .

“In fact, the Forensic Division actually changed its lab manual to require this result from its scientists. This change was made in an attempt to strip medical marijuana patients of their rights and immunities, charge or threaten to charge citizens with greater crimes than they might have committed, obtain plea deals, and increase proceeds from drug forfeiture.”

 

He said that a crime lab scientist wrote “that ‘it is highly doubtful that any of these (medical marijuana) products we are seeing have THC that was synthesized.”

Komorn said it makes no sense that anyone would try to synthesize THC given the ease of obtaining it from marijuana.

 

He said that Bradley Choate, a supervisor at the Lansing lab, objected to THC being labeled as potentially synthetic if plant material wasn’t found. Choate wrote in an email that such a designation “would lead a prosecutor to the synthetic portion of the law. …

“This could lead to the wrong charge of possession of synthetic THC and the ultimate wrongful conviction of an individual.

 

“For the laboratory to contribute to this possible miscarriage of justice would be a huge black eye for the division and the department.”

 

John Agar covers crime and other issues for MLiveE-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterJAgar

 

6/24/16

If you or someone you know is facing charges as a result of Medical Marijuana recommended to you as a medical marijuana patient under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, contact Komorn Law and ensure your rights are protected.  Michael Komorn is recognized as a leading expert on the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. He is the President of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group which advocates for the rights of medical marijuana patients and their caregivers.

 

Contact us for a free no-obligation case evaluation at 800-656-3557.

Federal class action lawsuit filed against MSP crime labs over marijuana reporting policy

Federal class action lawsuit filed against MSP crime labs over marijuana reporting policy

DETROIT — Attorneys filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Michigan State Police crime labs this week, claiming its current marijuana reporting policy violates due process and Fourth Amendment rights and demanding it be thrown out for good.

 

This suit would have statewide impact, directly affecting the some 180,000 registered medical marijuana patients and anyone caught with marijuana in Michigan.  Attorneys Michael Komorn and Tim Daniels filed the suit Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit Division.

 

They write the crime labs intentionally misreport marijuana as synthetic, as we saw in the Max Lorincz case in Ottawa County.  A judge threw out his felony drug charge 16 months into the case; meanwhile, Lorincz’s 6-year-old son spent 18 months in foster care.

 

Lorincz is one of the four plaintiffs in the complaint.

 

But it goes further, writing that the 2013 marijuana policy in the labs was “made in an attempt to strip medical marijuana patients of their rights and immunities, charge or threaten to charge citizens with greater crimes than they might have committed, obtain plea deals and increase proceeds from drug forfeiture.”

 

“The fact that it continues to go on,” said Komorn, “it’s an outrage; it’s not science. The Michigan Medical Marijuana [Program] was supposed to be a shield, not a sword.”

 

Last fall, the MSP Forensic Science Division Director Captain Gregoire Michaud, whoquietly retired this May, made a presentation for the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar.  Michaud had said out of the crime labs’ $60 million budget, 40 percent was spent on testing marijuana.   He said this caseload volume impeded their work on investigating other cases, specifically testing rape kits statewide.

Komorn reiterated this suit is working to dismiss this policy in the labs and rearrange the state police’s priorities.

 

“That’s one of the things that I’m hoping comes out of this, is that we turn the focus away from and onto the more, that we would all agree, serious crimes that we need full-on police investigation attention,” said Komorn.

 

The MSP Public Affairs Manager Shanon Banner told FOX 17 Wednesday they will not comment on a pending case, defaulting to their Nov. 2015 statement.

 

Later this year, the state police labs are up for their renewal of their international accreditation with the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board. It is likely the MSP’s crime labs’ marijuana misreporting allegations will be challenged during this process.

 

Read the lawsuit in full here.

 

 

 

 

 

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POSTED 6:01 PM, JUNE 22, 2016, BY DANA CHICKLAS

 

 

TOPICS: FEDERAL CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST MICHIGAN STATE POLICE CRIME LABSMAX LORINCZMEDICAL MARIJUANAMICHAEL KOMORN

Judge dismisses felony charges against Michigan man in medical pot case

Judge dismisses felony charges against Michigan man in medical pot case

A Michigan man has been living a nightmare. He lost custody of his son after a felony marijuana bust, even though he has a valid medical marijuana card.

 

Max Lorincz is fighting to clear his name after he was accused of possessing synthetic marijuana. His bizarre case has revealed how politics might influence pot prosecutions in Michigan.

 

Lorincz claims he suffers from a debilitating back injury. He says when he traded prescription drugs for this edible candy containing marijuana his symptoms got better.

But it was a small amount of hash oil that landed Lorincz in the weeds.

 

Police found it when paramedics came to his house on an unrelated medical emergency. Prosecutors charged Lorincz with a felony after the state crime lab determined his hash oil came from an “origin unknown,” implying it is synthetic.

 

Michigan’s medical marijuana law says only leaves and flowers are legal, and concentrates are a crime.

 

“I’ve had to go back to the narcotic pain medications, and it’s just terrible,” said Lorincz.

 

Lorincz tells Crime Watch Daily Grand Rapids affiliate WXMI as his case wound its way through the system, he was forced to go back on powerful painkillers.

 

 

“The doctors are telling me one thing, the judge is saying another, and when I followed my doctor’s recommendations, that’s when my health started to get better,” Lorincz said. “Going back and following what the judge is saying, my health’s just been deteriorating ever since.”

 

Max Lorincz says what was worse was losing custody of his 6-year-old boy. In court a social worker testified against Lorincz, saying his use of marijuana, even if it is legal, may make him an unfit parent.

 

“This is a political decision,” said Lorincz’s lawyer Michael Komorn.

Komorn claims prosecutors influence the state lab to misreport results so they can get more convictions.

 

“What is unique about this case is they are relying on the lab to report these substances so they can escalate these crimes from misdemeanors to felonies,” said Komorn.

A former lab director says Komorn’s claims are true.

 

“So it was in my experience, it was just a nonstop political game that really got frustrating and it wore down the morale of our staff, and quite honestly it wore me down,” said John Collins, a former lab director.

 

Collins quit his job as director of the state lab after he says he was pressured to produce results that favored the prosecution.

 

“Our laboratories are not in the prosecution business, they’re not in the conviction business, they’re in the science business,” said Collins.

 

The Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Association is denying those claims from Lorincz and his attorney.

 

As for Max Lorincz, he’s now off the hook. A judge dismissed the felony charge, saying there was no evidence to prove the hash oil was synthetic.

 

Lorincz and his wife are reunited with their son.

 

“It’s like a hundred pounds has been lifted off my chest,” said Lorincz. “It’s like our entire life was put on hold the entire time he was gone.

 

“We’ll try and have as many positive memories as we can to make up the gap but there’s definitely nothing that makes up for the time that we lost, that’s for sure,” said Lorincz.