I received two calls to action from activists in California. They are copied below:
Who: Jose “Alacran” Gutierrez
When: Wednesday January 23rd 2:30pm
Where: Oakland Federal Courthouse, 1301 Clay Street, 3rd Floor, Courtroom 3
What: Court Support in front of Judge PJ Hamilton. The Judge may continue Jose’s court date until late March. If she denies this rescheduling request, the judge will be considering a motion to hold a hearing on Outrageous Government Behavior.
Please Note: A current ID is required to enter the building. You may not bring weapons, your medicine, or anything that might be considered illegal. Security checkpoint includes a walkthrough metal Detector and x-ray machine for handbags. Cameras may not be used inside the courtroom.
Details: On April 2nd, 2012 Oaksterdam University and multiple locations which were claimed to be affiliated, were raided by federal authorities, DEA, IRS & US Marshalls. Many observers, protesters, journalists and Oakland Police Department responded to the raid, creating a chaotic downtown scene as Federal Authorities tried to exit with the evidence. At Coffee shop blue Sky, Oakland Police Department was not onsite, nor was there caution tape up or anything barrier between protesters and the building that DEA was inside. Video footage shows the entire crowd was jostled. During this altercation between officers and protesters, Mr. Gutierrez was tackled to the ground, and beaten.
Jose is being charged with assault on a federal officer, a term that could face a maximum of 8 years. He was reporting live from the Oaksterdam raid for KPFA. He is currently represented pro bono by Tony Serra, Edie Lerman, and Omar Figueroa.
There is chance the judge will continue the motion, setting a date that Tony will be available to argue. If the judge denies this change, Omar & Edie will be seeking permission from the judge for a hearing on outrageous government behavior .The motion argues that the government caused this scenario to go down as it did, if granted, the judge will set a date to hear from observers, and law enforcement on what went down during the raid.
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WHAT: Chang, Pilotte and Co-Defendant – Motion to Dismiss Indictment
WHEN: Monday January 28th, 2013 at 2:00PM
WHERE: Dept. 5, on the 3rd Flr. of the San Diego Federal Courthouse, 940 Front St. at Broadway, San Diego, CA, 92101
January 28th, 2013, Ronnie Chang, Hal Pilotte and co-defendant, all allegedly connected to Club One Collective/ Extreme Holistic Care) will be in federal court before Judge Anello and with their attorneys, respectively Michael McCabe, Bahar Ansari Miller and Mark Bluemel. This time, to argue a motion challenging the federal government’s right to coerce, commandeer or intimidate local governments into enforcing federal instead of state law.
Michael McCabe, who will argue the motion, has been successful on medical cannabis cases in state court before. Most recently with the Dexter Padilla case when the Honorable Laura Parsky dismissed all charges in the interest of justice, leaving Dexter exonerated.
Mark Bluemel was lead counsel in San Diego v. SDNORML, which was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and forced San Diego county officials to implement the medical marijuana identification card program.
Bahar Ansari Miller has been victorious in medical cannabis cases in state court against Bonnie Dumanis and also conducted a San Diego County Public Defenders MCLE Training titled Defending Medical Marijuana Cases in California.
Ronnie, Hal and their co-defendant were victims of the 9/9/09 raids on cannabis collective in San Diego County. A widespread and brutal attack on legal cannabis patients, the raids were part of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ senseless destruction of the public safety collectives provide the community.
Ronnie, a legal medical cannabis patient, is the sole defendant in the case who remains in custody.
On September 10, 2012, the defendants were before Judge Anello and a throng of senior citizens showed up in support. Read the article here: https://www.safeaccesssd.org/search?q=pilotte
Please consider attending this important hearing on January 28th and represent the voice of patients who are dismayed over the brutality of the federal government’s war on patients.
A note from Hal and Ann Pilotte:
Dear Friends,
According to my new attorney Bahar Ansari-Miller, the friends and family who showed up to support me made a strong lasting impression on both the Prosecution and the Judge.
Although we did not win the last motions hearing with the local District Court Judge hearing our case, (Judge Anello), Judges in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals are over-turning decisions similar to the decision made by our Judge on the last motion. Should our case go that far we hold a strong chance of winning on an appeal just from that argument.
Bahar, along with the lead attorney Mike McCabe, and attorney for the landlord, Mark Bluemel, have been working on this motion for the past three months, which is the “Motion to Dismiss the Case Based on Prejudicial Prosecution”. From my understanding our attorney’s have uncovered some strong information about the prejudice of the prosecution in this case and feel they have a very strong motion.
All of Our Love,
Hal and Ann Pilotte
See you there!
Terrie Best, San Diego ASA Court Support Coordinator – [email protected]
Articles on this case:
https://www.safeaccesssd.org/search?q=pilotte
https://www.safeaccesssd.org/2012/01/club-one-collective-federal-court-update.html
https://www.safeaccesssd.org/2012/07/state-legal-medical-cannabis-patient.html
https://www.safeaccesssd.org/2010/10/san-marcos-sues-for-emergency.html
Keep current on the case by following the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/506832999339384/?r
