California v. London
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A jury found defendant-appellant Christopher London guilty as charged of cultivating marijuana and possessing marijuana for sale. He was sentenced to three years’ probation, subject to terms and conditions including that he serve 60 days in jail. At trial, defendant claimed he was lawfully growing 100 marijuana plants for a medical marijuana collective under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and the Medical Marijuana Program Act (the MMPA) and was therefore not guilty of unlawful marijuana cultivation, possession for sale, or the lesser included offense of marijuana possession. In the published portion of its opinion, the Court of Appeal addressed defendant’s claims that the trial court erred in refusing to allow his cannabis expert to give opinion testimony critical to his lawful cultivation defense, including that defendant was lawfully cultivating the marijuana under the MMPA and that a $20,000 sum he expected to be paid for his 100 marijuana plants, when fully grown, did not include an unlawful profit. The Court of Appeal concluded the expert’s testimony on these and other points was properly excluded because the expert lacked sufficient evidence to render the opinions. With regard to defendant’s additional claim that the court erroneously instructed the jury on his lawful cultivation defense under the MMPA., the Court agreed the instructions misstated the applicable law under the MMPA, but concluded defendant did not produce sufficient evidence to raise a reasonable doubt he was lawfully growing the 100 marijuana plants for himself and other qualified patients, and he was not earning a profit. Accordingly, there was insufficient evidence to support instructing the jury on defendant’s MMPA defense. The Court therefore affirmed the judgment.
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