{"id":8104,"date":"2018-03-01T14:35:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T14:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2968471&amp;preview_id=2968471"},"modified":"2018-03-01T14:35:58","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T14:35:58","slug":"mistrial-declared-for-denver-cannabis-church-leaders-charged-with-open-and-public-marijuana-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/mistrial-declared-for-denver-cannabis-church-leaders-charged-with-open-and-public-marijuana-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"Mistrial declared for Denver cannabis church leaders charged with open and public marijuana consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/mistrial-declared-for-denver-cannabis-church-leaders-charged-with-open-and-public-marijuana-consumption\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Mar 1, 2018, 5:00 am \u2022 Updated: Mar 1, 2018, 8:16 am <span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/alexp\/\" rel=\"author\">Alex Pasquariello<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The prosecution of leaders of a Denver cannabis church on charges of open and public consumption of marijuana didn\u2019t make it past jury selection Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Denver County Court Judge Fred Rodgers declared a mistrial for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/04\/12\/international-church-of-cannabis-elevationists-denver-social-use-law\/77127\/\">International Church of Cannabis<\/a> founders Steve Berke, Lee Molloy and Briley Hale after city prosecutors decided they couldn\u2019t seat a six-person jury.<\/p>\n<p>The three defendants each face a misdemeanor charge of open and public consumption of marijuana and violating the Colorado Clean Indoor Act. They were issued citations following an April 20, 2017, undercover Denver Police sting conducted during their church\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/04\/21\/international-church-of-cannabis-denver-420-debut-public-consumption\/78098\/\">private, invitation-only 4\/20 celebration<\/a> at which many of the 200-plus attendees smoked marijuana in designated consumption areas.<\/p>\n<p>The municipal case is being prosecuted in Denver County Court so city attorneys can argue that the three church leaders were complicit in fostering open and public consumption of marijuana by those attending the event.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 21 people called for the six-person jury, one was dismissed for a medical condition and two were dismissed when they said their stance on marijuana precluded them from upholding the jurors\u2019 oath. Seven of the remaining 18 in the pool were challenged for cause during the two-hour selection process that saw four potential jurors openly questioned Senior Assistant City Attorney Rebekah Watada\u2019s theory of the case.<\/p>\n<p>With the larger county court juror pool having been released for the day, and with neither side willing to relinquish their three preemptory challenges allowing each legal team to dismiss jurors deemed unacceptable, just five possible jurors remained and a mistrial was declared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never seen that,\u201d the defendants\u2019 attorney Warren C. Edson said of the array of people that questioned the prosecution\u2019s legal theory during jury selection. \u201cHopefully this is a wake-up call for the city that this (case) isn\u2019t the open-and-shut matter that they think that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One member of the jury pool questioned why seven police detectives were on the prosecution\u2019s witness list for a misdemeanor marijuana case.<\/p>\n<p>Another said he didn\u2019t think tax dollars should be spent prosecuting such cases.<\/p>\n<p>Still another perspective juror said she struggled to understand why the city was pursing the complicity argument when she had witnessed Denver police officers ignore open and public consumption of marijuana in city venues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave you ever been to Red Rocks?\u201d she asked Watada.<\/p>\n<p>Following the declaration of a mistrial, the defendants waived their right to a speedy trial, and a new date was set for July 11.<\/p>\n<p>Watada asked the judge to request a 50-person pool from which to select the six-member jury for the next go-around. She declined to comment about the ongoing case.<\/p>\n<p>The new trial will take place nearly 15 months after two undercover Denver Police detectives breached The International Church of Cannabis\u2019s private, invitation-only 4\/20 festivities. The church at 400 S. Logan St. is the headquarters of Elevation Ministries, a Colorado nonprofit religious organization that claims cannabis as its primary sacrament.<\/p>\n<p>To date, there have been at least six hearings on the case, Edson said.<\/p>\n<p>Though each of the three defendants faces two misdemeanor charges, the case could set an important precedent for Colorado\u2019s cannabis laws, Edson said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2012\/11\/06\/coloradans-say-yes-to-recreational-use-of-marijuana\/\">Amendment 64<\/a>, the voter-approved constitutional measure that legalized marijuana in 2012, states that personal marijuana use is allowed by adults 21 and older except when \u201cconducted openly and publicly or in a manner that endangers others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the state approaches five years of legal recreational marijuana sales, open and public consumption has yet to be defined by the state\u2019s Task Force on the Implementation of Amendment 64, the Legislature or in the courts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is, I think, the first time we\u2019re going to have a jury decide what is open and public (consumption),\u201d Edson said. \u201cWe have case law about what\u2019s open, and we have case law about what\u2019s public, but we don\u2019t have a case law about what\u2019s both. And that\u2019s big.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While a conviction in the municipal case imposes a maximum penalty of just $300, Edson said a it could have dire consequences for his clients and their nascent church.<\/p>\n<p>Public consumption is a nuisance crime in Denver, he said, so a conviction allows the city to file forfeiture papers on the church property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s where this is heading,\u201d he said when asked why the city was pursuing the case.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the courtroom, Berke said that the undercover police sting, charges brought against him and his cohorts and ongoing prosecution constitute religious persecution. He also vowed to mobilize the church\u2019s 2,000-plus Denver metro-area members to hold local politicians accountable for police resources and tax dollars being used for marijuana prosecutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis entire circus is a travesty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h3>Inside The International Church of Cannabis<\/h3>\n<div id=\"gslideshow\" class=\"gss-container\">\n<div class=\"gss-info\">\n<div class=\"gss-long-cap\">DENVER, CO &#8211; APRIL 11: This is a photo of the interior of the International Church of Cannabis at 400 south Logan street on April 11, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. The interior painting was done by artist Okuda San Miguel. The members of this new church call themselves Elevationists and say that the use of cannabis helps elevate people to a higher form of themselves. They plan to open their doors to the public on April 20th and have a weekend of events planned for the neighborhood to introduce people to this new and unique concept for a church. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson\/The Denver Post)<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> &#013; &#013; <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/alexp\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/mistrial-declared-for-denver-cannabis-church-leaders-charged-with-open-and-public-marijuana-consumption.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alex joined The Cannabist as Editor in April 2017. He started his journalism career in Colorado as a reporter at community newspapers and national ski magazines before heading to New York to work as an editor at Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler and digital&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During jury selection, potential jurors openly questioned prosecutor&#8217;s legal theory that the defendants were complicit in fostering the open and public consumption of marijuana at the church&#8217;s 2017 4\/20 celebration. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,851,6813,77,5667,9,5019,7534,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,3424,6818,2655,5673,5022,7535],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}