5/21/13 - The criminal cases against four people charged with selling pot to an undercover officer at a now-closed medical marijuana dispensary in Handy Township are moving forward again. Alan Marshall and his wife Christi were the owners of Marshall Alternatives on Fowlerville Road, which was aided twice by police in 2011. They were charged along with two employees, Stephanie Baxter and April Smith, for allegedly selling marijuana illegally to an undercover officer. Defense attorneys say it was a case of entrapment and that undercover officers used a fake driverâs license and medical marijuana registry card to make the purchases, which their clients thought were legally protected.
Their cases were on hold pending a ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court, which finally came in February when the justices affirmed the state's right to shut down dispensaries that sell marijuana on the grounds that they are a public nuisance. The decision allowed the case against Marshall Alternatives to move forward. All four defendants are scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing in Livingston County Circuit Court June 21st. The registered caregiver-to-patient transaction remains legal but the high courtâs ruling banned both compensated and un-compensated transactions between patients with state-issued cards. The state's 2008 medical marijuana law makes no mention of dispensaries, nor does it indicate how people should obtain the drug. (JM/JK)
↧