MI COURT OF APPEALS – Over 1000 Cannabis Plants Just a Misdemeanor

MI COURT OF APPEALS – Over 1000 Cannabis Plants Just a Misdemeanor

Court rules, Illegal marijuana grow of any size only a misdemeanor in Michigan.

Past defendants may have grounds to fight their prior convictions.

Since the act’s passage in 2018, the outdated 1978 law has led to the charging and conviction of over 3,500 individuals, as per analysis shared by Michigan Supreme Court spokesperson John Nevin with MLive. A total of 1,072 people have been convicted under this law.

Those defendants may have grounds to fight their prior convictions.

From MLIVE

 

Attorney Michael Komorn of the Komorn law firm specializes in cannabis defense and currently has several clients charged under felony marijuana possession laws.

In light of the Court of Appeals ruling, he plans to file motions requesting those charges be reduced to misdemeanors. Komorn said most prosecutors and police have already placed a low priority on marijuana enforcement, except for “certain pockets” of the state. “They’ll raid like the old days, come in with guns and masks and go through that whole process,” he said, “but their dilemma is, how do we charge somebody. 

What, do you get charged with a misdemeanor? “I have a number of cases where they’ve seized property and not charged anybody. And you can only reap the benefits of forfeiture if you get a felony conviction.”

KOMORN LAW
Michigan’s Top Cannabis Legal Defense

If you are facing any charges related to marijuana.
Call us only if you want to fight them…that’s what we do

(248) 357-2550

TIP: We get calls all the time with people who regret hiring a lawyer to represent them for cannabis related charges that didn’t know squat about the laws.  One shouldn’t have to tell them about the law before they convince you to plea.  Hire right the first time because you may not get a second chance to fix it! Ask the attorney questions.

The appellate court reviewed a case that arose from an August 2020 raid in Tuscola County. This raid was conducted by the state police-led Thumb Narcotics Unit, which operates across Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac, and Lapeer counties.

Tuscola County prosecutors have charged Kejbou with two crimes related to the 1978 drug law. This law stipulates that individuals found in possession of less than 20 marijuana plants may face a maximum sentence of four years in prison, while those possessing over 200 plants could face up to 15 years of imprisonment.

Based on the aforementioned felony charges, the Tuscola County Prosecutor’s Office further filed charges against Kejbou for the offense of possession of a firearm in connection with the commission of a felony.

The unanimous ruling by the three-judge Court of Appeals panel concludes that the case should be prosecuted under the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (MRTMA).

Violations for exceeding allowed amounts range from civil infractions to misdemeanors. 

As the act states,“subject to imprisonment unless the violation was habitual, willful, and for a commercial purpose or the violation involved violence,”

The panel determined that felony punishments were not applicable.

Jan 2024 – Update on Cannabis Scheduling

Officially, cannabis still remains federally prohibited under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I substance. This classification is reserved for substances that are considered to lack any currently accepted medical use and have a high potential for abuse.

However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommended in August that cannabis be moved from Schedule I to Schedule III.

It’s an election year open the panderverse portal.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Equipped with a quorum of Commissioners for the first time since 2018, the bipartisan United States Sentencing Commission voted today to promulgate amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines. “The Sentencing Commission is back in business,” said Chair Carlton W. Reeves. “Today, we are listening to Congress and the public by increasing first steps toward second chances, taking targeted action on gun trafficking and fentanyl, and expanding alternatives to incarceration. The policies issued today are common-sense ideas that will increase public safety while strengthening our communities.” Watch the public meeting.

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by Wes Smith, president, MPA Board of Directors
Publisher View Newspaper Group

When there was a change in leadership in Michigan’s legislature earlier this year, hope rose again in the hearts of citizens who want a more transparent state government.

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“When you got something to hide… You got something to hide” DW

Copy, Paste, Legislate beta

Do you know if a bill introduced in your statehouse — it might govern who can fix your shattered iPhone screen or whether you can still sue a pedophile priest years later — was actually written by your elected lawmakers? Use this new tool to find out.

Spoiler alert The answer may well be no.

Thousands of pieces of “model legislation” are drafted each year by business organizations and special interest groups and distributed to state lawmakers for introduction.

These copycat bills influence policymaking across the nation, state by state, often with little scrutiny.

This news application was developed by the Center for Public Integrity, part of a year-long collaboration with USA TODAY and the Arizona Republic to bring the practice into the light.

Check it out here

https://model-legislation.apps.publicintegrity.org/

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Smell of Marijuana is Not Enough to Search Your Vehicle or is it?

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The Smell of Marijuana and the Court of Appeals

Body camera footage is an invaluable resource for courts facing suppression motions, but it rarely serves as a stand-alone source of information about a warrantless search or seizure.

Here, the trial court was hamstrung in analyzing the validity of a warrantless search of defendant, Jeffery Scott Armstrong, and the subsequent seizure of a gun because the trial court was given no evidence other than body camera footage.

Despite that disadvantage, the trial court dutifully made findings of fact and ordered the suppression of the gun.

Because we conclude that the trial court’s findings of fact were not clearly erroneous and its conclusions of law were sound, we shall affirm the trial court’s suppression order.

Background

On October 8, 2020, law-enforcement officers conducting a home-compliance check in the city of Detroit came upon a Jeep Cherokee parked on the street.

They spoke to a woman who was in the driver’s seat and to Armstrong, who was sitting in the front passenger’s seat. What piqued the interest of the law-enforcement officers at first was the scent of marijuana emanating from the Jeep.

Body camera footage shows the officers approaching the vehicle, speaking with both people in the vehicle, instructing Armstrong to get out of the vehicle, and ultimately finding a gun under the front passenger’s seat.

As a result, Armstrong was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, MCL 750.227, being a felon in possession of a firearm (felon in possession), MCL 750.224f, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (felony firearm), MCL 750.227b.

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In response, Armstrong moved to suppress the gun as the fruit of a search that violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In the trial court, both parties several times declined an invitation to hold an evidentiary hearing, stipulating instead to the use of body camera
footage as the evidentiary basis upon which the trial court should resolve Armstrong’s suppression motion.

Additionally, although no police reports concerning the search and seizure were filed in the trial court, the parties included quotes from the police reports in their briefs, so the trial court considered those excerpts from the police reports.

Relying upon that limited record, the trial court described the factual background of the suppression motion in the following terms:

On October 8, 2020, Corporal Eaton and Officers Genaw, Saad, Scott, and
Krzyak were driving down Seneca street in the city of Detroit to conduct a home compliance check.

Corporal Eaton observed a black Jeep Cherokee parked on Seneca street, with a woman in the driver’s seat and Armstrong in the front passenger seat.

According to Corporal Eaton, she smelled the scent of burnt marijuana as she drove past the black Jeep Cherokee. She parked her vehicle then walked behind the black Jeep Cherokee, exited, and approached the car.

The prosecution’s brief in support alleges that when Corporal Eaton asked Armstrong about the scent of marijuana, she observed a black handgun lying on the floorboard of the vehicle directly in front of Armstrong.

Prosecution also makes note that Corporal Eaton noticed Armstrong’s hand shaking when he was being questioned.

With the parties’ consent to rely on the body camera footage as evidence of the initial interaction between Corporal Eaton, the driver of the vehicle, and Armstrong,

the dialogue is detailed below:

Conclusion

In sum, based on the limited factual record to which the parties stipulated in the trial court, no finding of fact made by the trial court is clearly erroneous.

Therefore, we shall uphold the trial court’s finding of fact that “the firearm was not visible until Armstrong had already been removed
from the vehicle.”

Because the gun was not in plain view before defendant was unconstitutionally seized, the prosecution has provided no exception to the warrant requirement that justifies seizure of the gun.

Accordingly, the trial court properly granted defendant’s motion to suppress the gun, thereby making dismissal of the charges against defendant appropriate.

Read it all here

COA People vs Jeffery Armstrong-Smell of Weed-20221122_c360693_48_360693.opn

Or is it?

It is headed to the Michigan Supreme Court for Oral Arguments

MSC-People vs Jeffrey Armstrong 11-2023 165233_58_01 (PDF Order)

courts.michigan.gov/c/courts/coa/case/360693 (MSC Page)

 

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