NJWeedman
Arrested in New
Jersey on April Fool’s Day
Will Use
Jury
Nullification in His Defense
NJWeedman
Purports Jury Nullification
Says If It
Doesn’t Make
Sense,
You Must Acquit - NULLIFY- New Jersey's
Marijuana Law
CLICK ABOVE IMAGE
4/20/2010 Press Release
On April 1, 2010, Ed Forchion, aka NJWeedman made headlines. He
was busted in New Jersey with a pound of cannibus in the trunk
of his car. April Fool’s Day was playing itself out in full
glory. The man, notorious for his run-ins with the New Jersey
law, now a transplant living in California and dispensing
medical marijuana legally on a daily basis, returns home to
get….arrested! And so the saga continues for NJWeedman,
America’s most prominent Black activist for the legalization of
marijuana.
Ironically, as the owner of his own medical marijuana dispensary
in Hollywood, CA now, his arrest was a coup of sorts for the New
Jersey police.
Indeed, it was an April Fool’s Day tale the media could not
resist. Yet while Ed Forchion’s arrest in Mount Holly, NJ made
front page news, his trial will be likely be heralded as
marijuana’s own Roe vs. Wade case. Forchion plans to represent
himself and utilize an
open advocation of
Jury Nullification as a defense to his charges. Since the
New Jersey Constitution at Article 1 paragraph 6, allows a jury
to judge the law as well as the facts in a case, Forchion wants
the jury to recognize that the New Jersey marijuana laws are
unjust and thereby acquit him.
As the founder of the
Legalize Marijuana Party, Forchion is no newcomer to the politics game. He ran campaigns for Governor, Congress, the State Legislature, and the Burlington County Board of Freeholders. As detailed in his recently released tome, “Public Enemy #420” (https://www.createspace.com/3425534 ) Forchion has a history that spans decades in his quest for his right to smoke marijuana legally. With this recent arrest, the cannabis activist will add a new chapter to his life story as he represents himself in the case and brings to the forefront once again, the rarely discussed issue of “jury nullification.”
This will be Forchion’s second bid to bring the issue of
jury nullification to the forefront of the judicial system. A practicing Rastafarian, he faced up to 30 years in prison back in 2000 when he was arrested and charged with conspiracy and possession of over 40 pounds of marijuana. He acted as his own defense counsel then, with a defense of religion, medical and open avocation of jury nullification. The issue of
jury nullification so rattled the courts back then that he was offered a plea bargain, which he took, avoiding a possible jail sentence. To this date, he regrets that decision. He envisions this case as another opportunity to bring jury nullification back to the forefront.
Weedman plans to utilize
jury nullification once again to fight to not only have his charges dropped, but he also plans to file a lawsuit against the state to overturn the state’s medical marijuana law. Forchion believes the New Jersey law is unconstitutional for allowing terminally ill people to possess marijuana while state criminal law prohibits anyone else from possessing pot.
“The state should not be able to have two legal descriptions of the same substance,” Forchion states. “How can the state be allowed to have it both ways? Arresting some people on criminal laws that state marijuana has no medical value and also allowing others to use marijuana for medical use. Isn't that a violation of the 14th amendments right to equal protection of the law says Forchion between puffs of sticky icky.
Forchion's defense raises heckles in the legal establishment, but it's based on the time honored doctrine. "Jury nullification of law," as it is sometimes called, is a traditional American right defended by the Founding Fathers. Those Patriots intended the jury to serve as one of the tests a law must pass before it assumes enough popular authority to be enforced. Thus the Constitution provides five separate tribunals with veto power – representatives, senate, executive, judges and JURY – that each enactment of law must pass before it gains the authority to punish those who choose to violate it.
“There is a reefer revolution going on in this country and it can’t be denied. 14 states now recognize the medicinal value of this sacred herb on some level. By purporting the issue of
jury nullification, I’m just looking for one juror to examine the New Jersey marijuana laws and recognize the contradictions in it. Not guilty is the verdict I’m hoping for,” cites Forchion. “I’m openly going to challenge my jury to render a verdict in spite of the law. The law is wrong, based on lies and false facts. I wish to tell my jurors the truth about marijuana. I want to tell the jury that this law I’m charged with violating is wrong not I.”
NJWeedman is a cult figure in the marijuana legalization community. He achieved media notoriety when he was front of the entire New Jersey State Assembly in 2000, then gained national attention when he fired it up at Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA during the republican national convention there.
Upon fleeing the tyrants of the New Jersey court system in 2000, relocating to Los Angeles a few years ago in what he calls a self-imposed political asylum - or exile, he has opened his own legal medical marijuana dispensary,
The Liberty Bell Temple. The dispensary is located at 5641 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, CA and represents the basic concepts of democracy and faith.
Forchion until this arrest has claimed he was no longer a weed activist and instead insisted he was a weed capitalist. Now ironically he has been forced by this arrest to once again be a the WEED ACTIVIST that got him famous,
NJweedman Super-hero to the Potheads.
Forchion is continually fueling his
advocacy for the medical marijuana movement. His ‘pot parties’ are now
legendary in Hollywood and he recently stirred controversy with his "Obama
One Year in Office" party celebration. His NJ Weedman video series,
filmed from the shop and seen on his website
http://www.libertybelltemple.com/ and at YouTube.com, commands a
following of viewers from around the world. He regularly updates his
footage with vivid coverage of the happenings in his shop, including
specials on the vast varietals of medicinal marijuana he is now able to
serve up legally, daily to his patients.
MOUNT HOLLY - The man who gained notoriety as NJ Weedman didn't
expect to get arrested this month on his return to Burlington
County, but he intends to use the criminal charges against him
as a rallying point to
The self proclaimed “Weedman” was arrested
last week in Mount Holly as he was transporting a suitcase of
marijuana is the trunk of his rental car. The man,
Ed Forchion doesn't
deny it. There was a pound of marijuana - "high-grade California
Kush" - in the trunk of his rent-a-wreck when he was stopped in
Mount Holly on Thursday night by a state trooper.
The self proclaimed “Weedman” was arrested last week in Mount Holly as he was transporting a suitcase of marijuana is the trunk of his rental car. The man, who has incidentally ran for numerous public offices, is now facing charges of possession and distribution for the pound that was confiscated.
MOUNT HOLLY - Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion, the longtime marijuana activist who until recently was living in self-styled political exile in California, is running for Congress again.
Forchion filed his petition Friday to run as an independent for New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District seat, which covers parts of Burlington, Camden and Ocean counties and is held by Democrat John Adler of Cherry Hill.
Personal message to my future juror, keep quiet dont tell anyone your going to flatout acquit no matter what the prosecution presents - Just say "NOT GUILTY" utilize Jury Nullification to end this ridiculous war on potheads.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT JURY NULLIFICATION
Buy Public Enemy 420 below
(Secure Paypal purchase):
Caught with a pound of reefer, "NJ Weedman" says cops
"racially profiled" him
4/8/2010
By SULAIMAN ABDUR-RAHMAN
Staff Writer - The Trentonian
MOUNT HOLLY
—“NJ Weedman” Ed Forchion said he wishes he hadn’t been driving with a
pound of herb in his car on April Fools’ Day. But he’s also charging
police with racially profiling him.
Forchion, 45, was arrested at 10:15 p.m. April 1 on several pot
possession charges after getting stopped on Route 38 in Mount Holly,
according to state police.
Trooper Ken Rayhan pulled Forchion over on the highway near Pine Street
on allegations Forchion stopped his his car at a red light and proceeded
to drive before the light turned green.
But the routine traffic stop turned into a criminal investigation when
the trooper “smelt burnt marijuana coming from the car” and “saw a glass
smoking pipe on the rear floor,” said state police spokesman Sgt.
Stephen Jones.
Forchion, who sports a dreadlocks hairdo, admits to possessing the pound
of weed — “I clearly use marijuana” — but he accuses Rayhan of
initiating a “straight profile stop.”
Rayhan has been on the state police force for about six years. He
stopped Forchion “for no other reason than he disobeyed traffic laws,”
Jones said.
Forchion was driving in the right lane of the highway and stopped his
vehicle “basically in the middle of the intersection” upon realizing the
traffic light of his lane was red while the left-hand turn signal turned
green, Jones said in explaining the motor vehicle stop.
Forchion is a Burlington County native and self-described “weed
capitalist” who moved to the West Coast two years ago to open up a
medical marijuana dispensary in Hollywood. He has a history of multiple
failed bids for elected office in New Jersey, centering his campaigns
around legalizing pot for everyone, not just for the “walking dead.”
“I wasn’t even in town 24 hours and the state arrested me,” said
Forchion, a father of five. He services patients, including celebrities,
with his legal weed joint in California, but “I come to town every other
month to visit my kids.”
The author of “Public Enemy No. 420,” a narrative on pot, Forchion said
he “made the mistake of not having a hat on” when he was arrested here
last week. He said his hat would have concealed his dreads, which he
said would have minimized suspicion of wrongdoing.
Weedman said he will fight to get his charges dropped and he said he
will also file a lawsuit against the state to overturn the state’s
medical marijuana law. Forchion said he believes the law is
unconstitutional for allowing terminally ill people to possess marijuana
while state criminal law prohibits anyone else from possessing pot.
“The state should not be able to have two legal descriptions of the same
substance,” Forchion said. “How can the state be allowed to have it both
ways?”
State police said Forchion was driving while suspended in a 1991 Pontiac
Grand Prix that was rented in someone else’s name. Police said they
found the weed after scouring through the car on a search warrant.
The pot activist was charged with possession of marijuana over 50 grams,
possession with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia,
failure to obey a traffic signal, driving while suspended and driving
with a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle, state police
said. Weedman was also jailed on two unrelated warrants: one for $10,000
in unpaid child support and a $350 traffic warrant, state police
confirmed. Forchion said he was released Monday after paying the $10,000
child support and posting the 10 percent of his $50,000 bail.
Forchion said the state “opened up a can of worms, because I’m gonna
fight. I’m looking forward to my day in court.”
Once again on May 5th, 2010 the Burlington County family court denied me the right to see my daughter because of my "marijuana veiws". You see only white people are allowed to talk about changing the marijuana laws. The white politicans of New Jersey recently passed a medical marijuana bill that im sure they talked about for years. None of them have had thier kids taken for advocating changing the marijuana laws. Judge CALL even denied that New Jersey had legalized Marijuana for medical use.
Imagine not being allowed to
be a father because of your "public views!
In 2007 I fled the tyrants and bigots of the Burlington County Family court. I fled to California, seeking political asylum from the State officials who've persecuted me for saying, "LEGALIZE MARIJUANA". I now own and operate Liberty Bell Temple II, 5642 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood California. Take my vitual tour of the "TEMPLE".
NJweedman is a staunch supporter of Barack Obama. In 2008 he made a political ad with Sherpard Fairy supportive of his campaigne. In his ad, NJWEEDMAN asks Barack to keep his promise to end the DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensories. In 2009 Barack ordered the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT to end is raids on medical marijuana dispensories.
NJWEEDMAN on TMZ
MOUNT HOLLY
—“NJ Weedman” Ed Forchion said he wishes he hadn’t been driving with a
pound of herb in his car on April Fools’ Day. But he’s also charging
police with racially profiling him.
TWITTER
