Chronic City: Dispensary Operator Charlie Lynch Gets 366 Days In Federal Prison
Thursday, Jun. 11 2009 @ 12:45PM
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| Reason.tv |
| Charles Lynch |
In a courtroom crowded with spectators and supporters, Morro Bay medical marijuana dispensary owner Charles Lynch was sentenced today in federal court to one year and one day in prison.
Lynch, 47, appeared this morning in the Los Angeles federal courtroom of U.S. District Judge George Wu.
Lynch was convicted of five offenses last year for running Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, a medical marijuana store in San Luis Obispo County. (See: "Chronic City: The Sad Case of Charlie Lynch, April 23.) He sought leniency after Attorney General Eric Holder announced that federal agents will no longer target medical marijuana distributors in states where medical pot is legal. Holder didn't indicate how the Obama administration's new approach would impact pending cases like Lynch's.
The Department of Justice sought the mandatory minimum sentence of
five years, despite Judge Wu's statement at a previous hearing that he
doesn't think this case "is one which merits a mandatory minimum." A
legal brief recently filed by the Department of Justice called the legality of Lynch's
conduct under California law "irrelevant" to his sentence.
Wu found the Lynch's case merited an exception to the mandatory minimum
stenence. The judge said he felt, however, he was bound by the law to issue
at least a one-year prison term.
Before
Lynch's dispensary was raided by federal Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) agents in March 2007, the store had operated for
11 months without incident, and with the approval of the Morro Bay City
Council and the local Chamber of Commerce.
Lynch
was charged with conspiracy to possess and possession with intent to
distribute marijuana and concentrated cannabis, "manufacturing"
(growing) more than 100 plants, knowingly maintaining a drug premises,
and selling marijuana to a minor (under federal rules, someone under
age 21). None of the federal charges represent violations of state or
local law.
Lynch faced the possibility of up
to 20 years in federal prison due to the amount of marijuana involved
-- more than 100 kilograms -- and because his dispensary sold to a teen
cancer patient (with the approval of the teen's parents).
Lynch
obtained a business license from the city, held a grand opening in
2006, hired a security guard, enforced membership rules, ran
surveillance cameras, and gave guided tours of the dispensary to anyone
who asked, according to his attorney, Robert Schultz.
Lynch's
case is one of more than two dozen pending federal cases, according to
Joe Elford of the national medical marijuana advocacy group Americans
for Safe Access (ASA).
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