Source: http://equalrights4all.us/www.chrisconrad.com/docs/expert.witness/wright.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 19:46:07+00:00

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Patients may transport cannabis. The defense may be raised at any point without prejudice. The "default guidelines" set forth in Health & Safety Code § 11362.77(a) were intended “to be the threshold, not the ceiling,” and a defendant who exceeds those guidelines is still entitled to a compassionate use instruction.
FN1 All further undesignated statutory references are to this code.
jury that the CUA provided a defense to that charge. The Court of Appeal, concluding the refusal was prejudicial error, reversed. We granted review to resolve the issue.
Defendant contends that the MMP applies in this case and provides an alternative ground to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal. We agree that the MMP applies retroactively to cases pending at the time of its enactment and, therefore, to the present case. We conclude, moreover, that, because defendant presented sufficient evidence to entitle him to an instruction on the CUA as an affirmative defense to the transportation charge, it was error for the trial court to have refused this instruction. Nonetheless, contrary to the Court of Appeal, for the reasons set forth below, we conclude further that the instructional error was harmless.
driving away in his black Toyota pickup truck. The driver’s side window was rolled down. As he approached the truck, Armando noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from within the truck and observed a backpack on the seat next to defendant. Armando told defendant about the tip and asked him if there was marijuana in his truck. Defendant said no. Armando had defendant step outside the truck. Defendant got out of the truck holding the backpack. Armando again asked defendant whether there was any marijuana in the truck and defendant again said no.
Sergeant Cuadras conducted a patdown search of defendant that yielded a small baggie of marijuana in defendant’s pants pocket. Armando searched defendant’s backpack and found six small baggies of marijuana, two large bags of marijuana and an electronic scale. The small baggies ranged in weight from 4.8 grams to 9.7 grams while the large bags of marijuana each weighted 30.6 grams, or slightly more than an ounce. A search of defendant’s truck yielded a large bag of marijuana concealed in a storage compartment behind the passenger seat. The bag weighed 469.4 grams, or slightly more than a pound. No devices for smoking marijuana were found in the truck or on defendant’s person. Defendant was charged by information with possessing marijuana for sale (§ 11359), transporting marijuana (§ 11360, subd. (a)), and driving on a suspended or revoked license (Veh. Code, § 14601.1, subd. (a).)2 Defendant’s trial commenced on May 1, 2002. Both Officer Armando and Sergeant Cuadras testified that in their opinion defendant possessed the marijuana to sell, not for his personal use. They based their opinions on the quantity of 2 Defendant pled guilty to the Vehicle Code charge before trial.
experienced as a result of his stomach problems. Defendant told Dr. Eidelman that he preferred eating marijuana to smoking it.
Dr. Eidelman saw defendant again on November 30, 2001, following defendant’s arrest. He and Dr. Eidelman discussed the fact that defendant preferred to eat marijuana, a practice that required a larger amount of marijuana than smoking it to achieve the same effect. Defendant told Dr. Eidelman that, when he ate marijuana, a pound of it usually lasted him two to three months. At defendant’s request, Dr. Eidelman wrote a letter on his behalf approving defendant’s use of a pound of marijuana every two to three months. At the hearing, Eidelman testified that a pound every two or three months was consistent with the manner in which defendant stated that he ingested marijuana.
Defendant also testified at the evidentiary hearing. Defendant described injuries to his leg, collarbone and shoulder and a stomach ailment that caused him severe chronic pain. His shoulder injury prevented him from sleeping through the night and had forced him to give up his employment as a carpenter. Defendant also testified that his stomach ailment caused him to suffer nausea and chronic diarrhea and had also affected his appetite.
At the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing, the trial court ruled that the CUA did not apply “in a transportation case where we have one pound, three ounces of marijuana.” The trial court also rejected defendant’s request for a CUA instruction with regard to the possession for sale count. However, the court allowed the defense to present evidence of medical use as proof that defendant possessed the marijuana for personal medical use and not to sell.
records, a physical examination of defendant and conversations with defendant regarding his preference to eat marijuana.
Defendant testified that the marijuana he possessed was for his own personal medical use and not to sell. He testified that he had been smoking marijuana since 1991 to alleviate the chronic pain he experienced as a result of his various injuries. He explained that, while he smoked about an eighth of an ounce of marijuana a day, he preferred to eat it, and that the pound of marijuana found in his vehicle was for cooking. He also testified that the pound of marijuana would yield eight ounces for cooking.
Defendant testified further that, on the morning of his arrest, he had purchased the marijuana found by the police packaged in the manner in which they found it. He explained that he had not purchased the marijuana in a single large bag because it had different potencies and was used for different purposes, like cooking as opposed to smoking. Defendant testified that after purchasing the marijuana, he went to get the oil in his truck changed and his truck washed and was on his way home when the police stopped and arrested him. Defendant did not explain why he had a scale in his possession when he was arrested.
Before closing arguments, the defense renewed its request to give a compassionate use defense jury instruction. The trial court again declined to give the instruction.
The jury was instructed, among other things, that to convict defendant of possession for sale of marijuana it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that he possessed the marijuana with the specific intent to sell the drug. The jury was further instructed that, if it was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he possessed the marijuana to sell, it could nonetheless convict him of the lesser included offense of simple possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.
The jury convicted defendant of both possessing marijuana for sale and transporting marijuana.
At defendant’s sentencing hearing, the trial court acknowledged that “we should have had a compassionate use instruction.”4 Defendant appealed. A divided panel of the Court of Appeal reversed his conviction on both the transportation and possession for sale counts based on the trial court’s failure to give a CUA instruction.
federal criminal sanctions may be applied to individuals with respect to the cultivation and possession of marijuana notwithstanding the CUA is not implicated in this case because it involves the applicability of the CUA to state criminal charges only.
In the case before us, the Court of Appeal concluded that Trippet, and not Young, was the better reasoned decision.6 Applying Trippet’s quantity, method, timing, and distance standard, the Court of Appeal concluded that defendant had introduced sufficient evidence to support a CUA instruction and that the failure of the trial court to have granted his request for the instruction was reversible error.
While the case was pending before this court, however, the Legislature stepped in and addressed this issue directly by enacting the MMP in which it extended a CUA defense to a charge of transporting marijuana where certain conditions are met. (§ 11362.765 et seq.) Because we conclude that the MMP applies to this case and requires reversal, it is unnecessary to resolve the split of authority between Trippet and Young. In any event, enactment of the MMP has rendered moot the conflict between these decisions as to whether the CUA provides a defense to a charge of transportation of marijuana.7 We now turn to the 6 Notably, in the Court of Appeal the Attorney General also agreed that Trippet was correct, a position he reiterates here. The Attorney General simply disagrees that the application of the Trippet standard in this case requires reversal.
FN7 As both sides acknowledged at argument, however, Trippet’s test for whether the defense applies in a particular case survived the enactment of the MMP and remains a useful analytic tool to the extent it is consistent with the statute.
question of whether defendant has met the conditions set forth in the MMP to assert a CUA defense to a charge of transporting marijuana.
We begin by examining the provisions of the MMP relevant to the issue presented in this case. “Our role in construing a statute is to ascertain the intent of the Legislature so as to effectuate the purpose of the law. [Citation.] Because the statutory language is generally the most reliable indicator of that intent, we look first at the words themselves, giving them their usual and ordinary meaning.” (Alford v. Superior Court (2003) 29 Cal.4th 1033, 1040.) In construing the MMP, we are also aided by the Legislature’s extensive declaration of intent.
of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” (§ 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(A).)8 Thus, under the MMP, either the holder of an identification card holder or a “qualified patient” – someone entitled to the protections of the CUA, but who does not have an identification card – may assert the CUA as a defense to a charge of transporting marijuana. Defendant maintains that he is a “qualified patient” for purposes of the MMP and should be given the benefit of the defense it provides to a charge of transporting marijuana. To reach his claim, however, we must first determine whether the MMP applies retroactively to pending cases. We conclude that it does.
On the issue of retroactivity of the MMP, the court, after citing Trippet’s conclusion regarding the retroactivity of the CUA declared: “The same reasoning applies here. . . . [T]he Medical Marijuana Program Act sets forth the new affirmative defense allowing collective cultivation of marijuana, expands the defense to penal sections not identified by the Compassionate Use Act, and contains no saving clause. These facts lead us to the conclusion that this law must also be retroactively applied.” (People v. Urziceanu, supra, 132 Cal.App.4th at p. 786; accord, People v. Frazier, supra, 128 Cal.App.4th at p. 826 [“To the extent that the Medical Marijuana Program sets forth new affirmative defenses, expands the defense identified by the Compassionate Use Act, and contains no savings clause, that law must be retroactively applied”].) We agree with the analysis set forth in Trippet, Urziceanu and Frazier and conclude, therefore, that the MMP must be retroactively applied.
failure to instruct that defendant was primary caregiver under section 11362.5, subd. (d) was not error because “such an instruction would not have been supported by substantial evidence”].) The evidence presented by defendant at his trial was sufficient to warrant the instruction of the defense. Chronic pain is one of the conditions for which the CUA authorizes use of marijuana. (§ 11362.5, subd. (b)(1)(A).) The testimony of Dr. Eidelman, if believed, would satisfy the statutory requirement of a physician recommendation.
The next question is whether a defense set forth in the MMP was available to defendant. As noted, the MMP specifically provides that a qualified patient shall not be criminally liable for transporting marijuana “for his or her own personal medical use.” (§ 11362.765, subd. (b)(1).) In this case, defendant was charged with transporting marijuana. He presented evidence at trial that he had purchased the marijuana found in his car on the morning of his arrest for his own personal medical use and was in the process of transporting the marijuana to his home when he was arrested. This testimony was sufficient to merit instruction on the defense to a charge of transporting marijuana set forth in the MMP.
particular facts of this case, and on the retroactivity question they are not persuasive.
The Attorney General fails to cite any provision of the MMP that supports his assertion that a defendant must identify himself as a medical user of marijuana before he or she can assert a CUA defense to a charge of transporting marijuana. To the contrary, the relevant provisions of the MMP contain no such requirement.
Section 11362.7 defines a qualified patient as “a person who is entitled to the protections of [the CUA], but who does not have an identification card issued pursuant to this article.” (§ 11362.7, subd. (f).) Section 11362.765 provides that a “qualified patient . . . who transports . . . marijuana for his or her own medical use” shall not be criminally liable for transporting marijuana. (§ 11362.765, subd. (b)(1).) Neither of these provisions requires a qualified patient to identify himself or herself to police as a medicinal user of marijuana as a condition to asserting any defenses extended to such person by the MMP. Thus, the Attorney General’s argument has no basis in the statute, nor does he cite any other authority to support it. No doubt evidence that a defendant failed to identify himself or herself to police as a medicinal user of marijuana may have some bearing on whether a jury believes his or her CUA defense, but this is a different question than whether the defendant is entitled to assert the defense at all.
Moreover, the sponsors of Senate Bill No. 420 (2003-2004 Reg. Sess.) made clear that, although couched in mandatory terms, the amounts set forth in section 11362.77, subdivision (a) were intended “to be the threshold, not the ceiling.” (Historical and Statutory Notes, 40 pt. 1 West’s Ann. Health & Saf. Code (2006 supp.) foll. § 11362.7, p. 192); Gonzalez v. Raich, supra, 545 U.S. ___ [125 S.Ct. at p. 2215, fn. 41, 162 L.Ed 1] [noting that “the quantity limitations [set forth in § 11362.77, subdivision (a)] serve only as a floor”].) In this case, defendant presented testimony at trial by his doctor that the amount of marijuana found in his possession at the time of his arrest was appropriate in light of his medical needs and the manner in which he used the marijuana, e.g., eating it for the most part, rather than smoking it. Again, the possibility that a properly instructed jury might ultimately have disbelieved a CUA defense to the transportation charge is a different matter than whether the jury should have been given the instruction in the first instance.
Finally, the Attorney General argues that defendant is not entitled to a CUA defense to the charge of transporting marijuana because the jury “after considering all the testimony regarding [defendant’s] medical use [found] that [defendant] possessed the marijuana with intent to sell rather than for his own personal use.” The jury’s finding goes not to whether defendant was entitled to advance a CUA defense, or whether the MMP is retroactive, but, as we discuss in the next part, whether the failure of the trial court to have given the instruction prejudiced defendant.
remaining question is whether the error was prejudicial. We now turn to that issue.
Defendant contends that the trial court’s failure to have given a CUA instruction on the transportation count violated his due process right to present a defense and the error must, therefore, be assessed under the federal standard of prejudice which asks whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
(Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18,24.) He maintains that the instructional error was prejudicial under this standard.
marijuana for personal medicinal use and necessarily rejected it. Given the explicitness of defense counsel’s argument — “When you look at the circumstances overall, you will find that he was not intending to sell that marijuana. He had certain [medical] conditions . . . . And that’s what he was using it for” — the jury could hardly have missed the point.
10 Defendant asserts that the question of whether the Court of Appeal correctly reversed his conviction for possession for sale is not before us because the Attorney General only “sought review of the Court of Appeal decision as it applied to the transportation charge.” This is not accurate. The Attorney General’s petition for review and his opening brief specifically argued that the jury’s finding that defendant possessed the marijuana with intent to sell precluded a finding of prejudice arising from the trial court’s failure to give a CUA instruction. The Attorney General did not limit that analysis to the transportation charge and he requested that we reinstate defendant’s conviction of both counts.
Defendant’s response to this argument similarly was not limited to the transportation count. Moreover, our order granting review did not limit the issues and under rule 29(b)(1) of the California Rules of Court we are empowered to “decide any issues that are raised or fairly included in the petition or answer.” (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 29(b)(1).) In his brief, defendant requests that, if we reverse the Court of Appeal, we remand the case for that court to consider additional claims of instructional error it did not reach once it concluded that the trial court’s failure to give a CUA instruction required reversal. This request further underscores defendant’s understanding that the Attorney General’s prejudice argument potentially affected both counts. In light of our reversal of the Court of Appeal, we will remand the case to allow the court to consider defendant’s further claims of error.
For the reasons stated above, the judgment of the Court of Appeal is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
WE CONCUR: GEORGE, C. J.
I concur in the majority’s judgment, but I disagree sharply with certain of its intermediate conclusions. To place my views in context, I briefly review the facts and procedural background.
In 2001, defendant was arrested while transporting one pound three ounces of marijuana in his pickup truck. Officers stopped the truck on a tip and confirmed that it “reeked” of marijuana. Defendant twice denied there was marijuana in the truck. Yet a search of his backpack, which had been located on the passenger seat, revealed numerous baggies containing premeasured amounts of marijuana. The backpack also contained an electronic scale. Further searching revealed a one-pound brick of marijuana concealed in a storage compartment behind the passenger seat.1 The truck contained no paraphernalia for personal use.
Defendant was charged with transporting marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11360, subd. (a))2 and possession of marijuana for sale (§ 11359). During his 1 According to an August 30, 2006, press release by the White House Office of National Drug Control, the current street value of a pound of marijuana is about $4,000. (White House Off. of Nat. Drug Control, Press Release (Aug. 30, 2006) online at <http:www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/about/index.html> [as of Nov. 27, 2006) On that assumption, defendant was arrested while transporting marijuana with a street value of about $4,750.
FN2 All further unlabeled statutory references are to that code.
2002 trial, at a hearing under Evidence Code section 402, he sought an instruction asserting, as to both charges, a defense authorized by the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (CUA; § 11362.5). At the time of defendant’s trial, this defense expressly applied only to medical patients who possessed or cultivated marijuana “for [their] personal medical purposes” upon a physician’s recommendation or approval. (Id., subd. (d).) However, Courts of Appeal had split on the issue whether the defense implicitly extended to an eligible patient’s transportation of marijuana for personal medical use.
At the hearing, defendant offered testimony that he was an eligible patient who was transporting amounts necessary and reasonable for his particular needs.
He also testified that he actually was transporting the marijuana for his personal medical use. The court nonetheless refused the instruction. It ruled that the CUA defense did not apply to a charge of possession for sale, and was also not appropriate for the transportation of “one pound, three ounces of marijuana.” However, the court permitted defendant to put on evidence that the marijuana was for his personal use as proof he did not possess it with intent to sell. After the defense presented its case at trial, defendant renewed his request for CUA defense instructions. The request was again denied.
The majority holds that the MMP applies retroactively to defendant’s case.
It further determines that the trial court “erred” by failing to instruct on the CUA defense now authorized by the MMP, because defendant adduced evidence sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt concerning both his medical eligibility to use the quantity of marijuana with which he was arrested, and his actual intent to use it only for his personal medical purposes. However, the majority concludes, this “error” was harmless, because the jury necessarily rejected any CUA defense when, under proper instructions defining the offense of possession for sale, it convicted him of that charge.
I acknowledge that the MMP extends a limited CUA defense to the particular charges defendant faced. I also concur in the majority’s holding that the MMP applies retroactively to defendant’s case. I further agree that, even if the MMP technically would have warranted a CUA defense instruction on either or both the charged offenses, no retrial is necessary. As the majority indicates, defendant’s conviction of possession for sale, upon instructions that correctly defined all the elements of that offense, proves that the absence of a CUA defense instruction did not affect the trial outcome.
Additionally, however, I conclude, contrary to the majority, that defendant did not produce enough evidence to justify an instruction on the CUA defense pursuant to the MMP.
FN3 Indeed, the jury found defendant possessed the marijuana with intent to sell it despite hearing defendant’s evidence that the marijuana was for his personal medical use, as approved by a physician.
As the majority concedes, the CUA defense authorized by the MMP has three prongs, and defendant would not have been entitled to an MMP instruction on the defense unless he raised a reasonable doubt with respect to all three. Upon his failure to do so, the trial court, in the exercise of its “gatekeeping” function (see People v. Mower (2002) 28 Cal.4th 457, 475-476; People v. Jones (2003) 112 Cal.App.4th 341, 350 (Jones); see also People v. Lucas (1995) 12 Cal.4th 415, 466), could and should have ruled that the evidence was insufficient to allow the defense to go to the jury.
Thus, to justify a CUA defense instruction under the MMP, defendant must have adduced creditable evidence, first, that he was a “qualified patient,” in that a licensed physician had recommended or approved his personal use of marijuana to treat a condition specified in the CUA (see §§ 11362.715, 11362.765, subds. (a), (b)(1)), second, that the quantity possessed or transported, to the extent it exceeded eight ounces of dried marijuana, was consistent with his particular medical needs, as approved by a physician (§ 11362.77, subds. (a), (b)), and third, that the marijuana on which the charges are based actually was “for his . . . own personal medical use” (§ 11362.765, subd. (b)(1)).
not produced. Though written approval is not required, this lapse undermines the credibility of the ”qualified patient” claim. Moreover, as the officers had testified, defendant, when arrested, did not identify himself as a medical marijuana patient, and he denied the presence of marijuana in his truck, thereby suggesting consciousness of guilt.
Under proper circumstances, bare testimonial assertions of a physician’s approval may be sufficient evidence of the defendant’s status as a qualified patient. (Jones, supra, 112 Cal.App.4th 341, 350-351.) Here, however, such claims simply evaporate in light of the powerful contrary indicia that defendant was not a qualified user who was transporting marijuana for legitimate purposes.
section 402 hearing, and at trial, the court allowed the prosecution to impeach Dr. Eidelman’s credibility with evidence that he was then under investigation by the California Medical Board for numerous alleged violations of the Business and Professions Code in connection with his license to practice medicine in this state.
packaged, the large amount of marijuana concealed in the truck’s storage compartment, and the presence of the electronic scale.
The MMP recognizes the possibility that, with specific medical approval, qualified patients may be entitled to handle significant amounts of dried marijuana for their personal medical use. (See § 11362.77.) Yet the overwhelming evidence detailed above essentially negates an inference that defendant was transporting this very large quantity of marijuana under such circumstances.5 In sum, his evidence of personal medical use failed to establish, for purposes of entitlement to a CUA instruction, a reasonable doubt that he possessed and transported the marijuana with intent to sell it.
Accordingly, I conclude, an instruction on the CUA defense was not warranted under the MMP, and the trial court’s ruling to that effect would have been correct. On this basis alone, I would reverse the Court of Appeal’s judgment and reinstate defendant’s convictions.
One additional point warrants comment. The majority consistently applies the term “error” to the trial court’s instructional rulings, even though the majority relies solely on statutory law that was not in effect when the trial court acted. Of course, we do not expect clairvoyance from our courts. Indeed, a judicial ruling that departed from then-current law would itself be error. Thus, even assuming a CUA instruction was warranted, nunc pro tunc, by virtue of the later-enacted MMP, I would not imply criticism of a diligent and hard-pressed trial court by labeling its failure to anticipate this statute as “error.” 5 The majority notes defendant testified that the large quantity was necessary and reasonable because he preferred to eat, rather than smoke, marijuana. However, Sergeant Cuadras testified that in his experience he had never encountered someone transporting a pound and three ounces of marijuana for the purpose of eating it.
Instead, it is sufficient to determine, in hindsight, whether the MMP, as retroactively applied, justified a CUA instruction in defendant’s case, and, if so, whether the absence of the instruction influenced the outcome, thus rendering the trial unfair by current standards. If the answer is “yes,” we can and should simply remand for a new trial, without citing trial court “error” as the reason.
As indicated, I, unlike the majority, do not believe the MMP would justify a CUA instruction on the facts of this case. Assuming, however, that the majority is correct on that point, I agree, for the reasons expressed in its “harmless error” analysis, that omission of the instruction did not affect the trial outcome, thus rendering the trial unfair. I therefore concur in the judgment of reversal.
Maureen J. Shanahan, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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