On Wednesday, March 14th, it was announced that two charges against Ed Rosenthal were dismissed. Federal District Court Judge Charles Breyer ruled that Rosenthal, who is an author and medical marijuana activist, was vindictively prosecuted, and dismissed charges of tax evasion and money laundering. The remaining marijuana charges against Rosenthal are virtually identical to those pursued against him in his 2003 trial. The U.S. Attorney has said in court that it would not seek additional punishment beyond the one-day sentence Rosenthal was given after being convicted at his first trial, so the prosecution will likely not proceed with the case. In a hearing on March 16th, Judge Breyer continued Rosenthal's trial, which had been set to start this week, and scheduled a status conference for April 13th at 11:00am and urged the prosecution to think long and hard about whether they should proceed with the charges.

Joe Elford, Chief Counsel for Americans for Safe Access, and author of the successful vindictive prosecution motion, said, "... Taxpayer dollars should not be wasted on a vendetta carried out by a prosecutor against a defendant." Rosenthal was recently re-indicted after his 2003 conviction was overturned in April 2006 by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. After finding out that medical marijuana evidence had been excluded from the 2003 trial, a majority of the jurors that convicted Rosenthal recanted their verdict. Rosenthal was sentenced to just one day in jail. The government was relying on the new charges of tax evasion and money laundering to justify the second prosecution of Rosenthal. The court has now confirmed that this continued prosecution is suspect.

Previous Indybay Coverage of Ed's Cases | U.S. District Court Ruling on Vindictive Prosecution | Vindictive prosecution motion | Government's opposition | Rosenthal's reply | For more information on Ed Rosenthal's case | Green Aid | Quick Trading