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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
The Criminal Defense Attorney of Michigan’s Award Committee has selected Michael J. Komorn as the recipient of their Right to Counsel Award. This award recognizes the amazing contributions of a group or individual in the form of legal representation or other extraordinary service.
Komorn was recognized at CDAM’s Annual Dinner and Awards Banquet, Friday, March 11, 2016, at the Troy, Marriott.
Said CDAM President Patricia A. Maceroni, “CDAM is delighted to recognize Michael Komorn for his extraordinary work in uncovering testing irregularities at the Michigan State Police Forensic Crime Lab while representing his client, Max Lorincz, pro bono.”
While defending Lorincz, Komorn obtained emails through the Freedom of Information Act uncovering recent changes in Crime Lab policies. These policies allowed for the reporting of marijuana abstract residue as “origin unknown.
Said Komorn during a recent interview with Michigan Radio, “The lab specifically changed their policy to report these things in a way that they could arrest patients or caregivers, instead of honoring the protections of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.”wn” allowing prosecutors to charge someone with having synthetic THC, a felony, rather than marijuana, a two year misdemeanor.
Said Komorn during a recent interview with Michigan Radio, “The lab specifically changed their policy to report these things in a way that they could arrest patients or caregivers, instead of honoring the protections of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.”
In January 2016, Komorn was successful in getting Max Lorincz’ two year felony charge dismissed.
In July of 2014, the St. Clair County Drug Task Force (DTF) raided the home and business of Annette and Dale Shattuck, a couple who owned a medical marijuana dispensary in Kimball, Michigan.
The Shattucks were at their dispensary, DNA Wellness Center, when DTF agents arrested them, the Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, their four young children were playing at home under the supervision of their grandmother.
“DTF busted in the door that morning, a no-knock, battering ram entry,” reads a briefing filed by the Shattuck’s attorney “During the dynamic entry, armed DTF officers wearing ski masks separated the children from their grandmother at gunpoint, shouting at her to get the dog under control or they would shoot it. The deputies kept the children lined up on the couch at gunpoint, refusing even to remove their masks to help calm the kids, including two three-year-old toddlers.”
[Note: The Shattuck’s Attorney is Michael Komorn. – A well known and highly experienced lawyer for Michigan medical marijuana cases].
A sheriff for the task force told the Washington Post that these claims were a “misrepresentation,” saying there was “no way in hell” officers would point their weapons at children. He did, however, acknowledge that it’s standard practice for officers to draw their weapons in such raids.
Perhaps no story illustrates the confusion surrounding medical marijuana’s legal status better than that of the Shattucks—a couple who went extra lengths to ensure their compliance with state laws.
The Shattucks obtained the necessary permits and licenses from their local planning commission. The landlord of the building where the dispensary was housed gave his permission in the lease. Bill Orr, the chairman of the commission, thanked the Shattucks for “following the ordinance and taking the necessary steps to open the business within Kimball Township in the manner required,” according to court documents.
Annette, a registered caregiver with the state, personally called the DTF and requested an inspection of DNA Wellness to insure that the business complied with state law. But instead of conducting an inspection, the task force decided to send confidential informants into the dispensary to make purchases, which they then used as probable cause for a raid.
Annette and Bill were charged with felony possession with intent to distribute and possession with intent to manufacture marijuana.
The Shattucks’ plight is one of many that show how confusing, patchy medical marijuana laws harm businesses and upend lives. Businesses and caregivers in MMJ-legal states are subject to conflicting signals from different government entities. Even though the federal government does not allow federal funds to be used against cannabis companies operating legally under state laws, the state laws themselves are murky and open to interpretation.
Michigan’s legislature needs to enact clearer laws regulating the cannabis industry—the current law does not address the legality of dispensaries and does not allow for marijuana to be sold from them. The ambiguous rules are not just a problem for those in the marijuana industry:
“The Michigan Supreme Court has spent countless hours adjudicating a total of eight cases involving medical marijuana since the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act was passed in 2008,” reports Downtown magazine.
Supreme Court justices and local governments have pressed the state’s legislature to do something to clarify the laws. But attempts to do so have been stagnant: A trio of medical marijuana bills that have been approved by the House are now languishing in a Senate committee. One of them would establish a licensing system for retailers, growers and distributors.
Meanwhile, 53 percent of voters say they would approve a ballot initiative to completely legalize and tax marijuana, according to a recent poll.
While voters want the plant to be legal and regulated, lawmakers seem not to be prioritizing the issue, putting patients, caregivers and business owners at the mercy of an arbitrary system.
A judge recently threw out the charges against the Shattucks, ruling that the government can’t prosecute you for a “crime” that another arm of the government approved. But unfortunately for the family, the consequences still linger.
Their 10-year-old daughter has been in counseling for more than a year to deal with the trauma as a result of the raid. The DTF has not returned all of their property, and the property that has been returned is damaged. The couple continues to struggle with the burden of legal fees and finding work—though charges have been dropped.
In the absence of federal progress on marijuana policy, states with any sort of legal cannabis, have a duty to responsibly regulate the industry. Whether they have passed useless CBD legislation or have voter referendums, too many states are sitting idly by as local jurisdictions and individuals try to navigate the haphazard laws, sometimes—as in the case of the Shattuck family—with ruinous results.
