'Weedman' wins fight over DNA sample
By JOHN REITMEYER Email: jreitmeyer@phillyBurbs.com
Burlington County Times

September 8^th, 2004

(Camden-NJ) - A New Jersey Superior Court judge has ruled that marijuana-legalization advocate Ed "NJWEEDMAN" Forchion is not guilty of criminal contempt for refusing to give the state a sample of his DNA.

The decision doesn't overturn a 2003 state law requiring criminals to submit DNA samples to the state, but it clears Forchion, a Pemberton Township resident who is running for Congress and the Burlington County Board of Freeholders, from facing a criminal penalty for not complying with the statute.

At issue is Forchion's opposition to a law that requires criminals to give a DNA sample when they are sent to jail or sentenced to probation. The law also required anyone in jail or on probation at the time of its passage in September 2003 to submit DNA samples to the state. Forchion was enlisted in the state's probation-like Intensive Super-vision Program on a 2000 marijuana-distribution conviction at the time.

Despite his outspoken defiance of the DNA-sample law, the state discharged Forchion from supervision Dec. 3, 2003, without forcing him to submit a sample. A month later, a grand jury in Camden County indicted Forchion on a charge of contempt for not complying with the law.

In response, Forchion, who faced a possible 18-month prison term, challenged the indictment and the DNA-sample law.

In a decision issued last week, Judge Robert G. Millenky said the state isn't allowed to pursue contempt charges against criminals who refuse to submit DNA samples because the 2003 law did not call for any criminal penalties for noncompliance. The law only allows the state to keep criminals in jail or on probation until they comply with the DNA-sample law, and since Forchion had already been released, he was not subject to any penalty, the judge wrote.

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Judges can only consider the constitutionality of a law if not doing so would otherwise prevent them from issuing a ruling and Millenky said he wasn't forced to do that in this case. Still, Forchion touted the decision as a victory for challengers of the law.

"They say the little guy can't beat city hall, well NJWEEDMAN just beat the entire state," Forchion said.

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi, whose office successfully tried Forchion on his original drug of-fense, said he would appeal the decision.

"This decision establishes a dangerous and far-reaching precedent that could result in litigants ignoring court orders," Sarubbi said.

Staff writer Mike Mathis contributed to this report.

September 8, 2004 7:54 AM