James Souder Found Not Guilty by Jury of
His Peers
A first hand report by
Anthony Lorenzo
of the Florida Cannabis
Action Network
posted July 20, 2002
Well, I spent
the entire afternoon in court watching the court proceedings.
For those of you who are new to the list, here was what happened:
On May 4, the Million Marijuana March, Florida
Cannabis Action Network organized a march in
Melbourne, Florida, that garnered international media exposure
(CNN aired the tape of the march at 4 A.M. Sunday morning, and
prime time in CNN Latin America and CNN Europe). We were escorted
by the police down the strip while the officers stopped traffic
with their lights flashing. It was a GREAT event, though it would
have been nice had more people came; we did help to organize three
protests in this state, promote the one in Tampa, and helped build
FSU NORML from the beginning who organized one in Tallahassee.
After the Melbourne event, which I attended,
we had a party at the Greenhouse. The Greenhouse was a bar that
used to be open until the police harassed their clientel so much
they stopped coming. Who would hang out somewhere that cops routinely
visit and arrest people? Well, yes, I would, but who else?
The police came on the scene and were questioning
Jodi. James Souder, a cameraman with Pot-TV.net who has worked
with CAN for some time pulls in and whips out the video camera
to begin filming. The officers end up assaulting and arresting
James for "Resisting arrest without violence" and claimed
he was interfering with their investigation. James videotaped
the incident... and I bragged about it on here. I said we would
put it on the Net for your viewing (dis)pleasure to see CAN activists
in action.
We will, but I will get to that...
Today, James Souder stood trial for his 'resisting'
charge. A jury of six of his peers sat through the testimony.
Jodi James, James Souder, and myself all testified. The prosecution
asked me if I had been consuming marijuana that day. I told the
complete truth... it was great. They asked how I knew James and
Jodi... I explained that I met James at a political rally and
that Jodi was running for office, and we met when she was the
person who all medical marijuana petitions were turned in to.
It was awesome. They asked if I was under the influence when the
incident occured. I answered yes, if you gave me a drug test I
would have been positive, but I was not impaired in any way and
I remembered clearly what had happened.
The closing arguments were horrible to sit
through. The prosecution called Jodi, James, and I liars because
we were friends, and because our stories were all matched because
we got together and discussed them. In the end, the jury took
a little longer than a half hour to decide at 5:10 P.M. They were
all old people except for one lady. Only one member of the jury
was black, or a man. The young white lady was the foreman (foreperson).
James was so scared during the proceedings...
he
really has been put through it. He is diabetic, and a little overweight,
which doesn't help with him being under so much stress. It reminded
me of how scared I used to be. If any of you have met me on the
street, know that I am always like this. I meet more people who
like what I am doing than not. I meet people from all walks of
life who like what I am doing. We DON'T HAVE TO REMAIN AFRAID.
They can't put us all in prison! Where will they put all the Muslims
who have been charged with no crime if they lock up the 40,000,000
cannabis users. They keep us in the flock like sheep when we believe
we need to fear them. I fear no one. But I understand James's
fear. Jail is a scary place. You are dependant on the state for
your lifesaving medicine. Whoa, 'nough said. (Besides, Pot is
really expensive in prison, trust me!)
James was so sure there was a POSSIBILITY
we could lose. I am so glad he is free with us tonight.
The Jury found James NOT GUILTY! Officer
Coward lived up to his name and did not stick around to hear the
verdict. I was looking forward to the look on his face. As he
sat in the witness stand earlier, he took a moment to stare me
down. I Smiled (yes, the condescending little brother smiling
at the older brother about getting them in trouble and getting
away with the crime). Would you believe he got up and TOLD THE
PROSECUTOR ON ME!!?? Yes, he did that, I do so solemnly swear
(GLAD THEY DIDN'T ASK ME TO SWEAR ON THE BIBLE). Ok, so now you
have heard the story from the Green-Libertarian's mouth while
I am stoned and working with 4 hours sleep. I Hope I didn't put
you to sleep.
As promised, I will get James to put the
tape on
Pot-TV.net as soon as Dick Wilson (James and CAN's Attorney) ok's
its release. CAN has plans to now file a civil suit against the
officer who has harassed the Greenhouse and assaulted Mr. Souder.
Perhaps in the civil case we will be able to get some footage.
We could have today, but we did not have access to a video camera
for the proceedings as James' was being used to play the tape.
His backup camera was damaged in the police encounter and doesn't
work right now.
I am moving to melbourne soon to help with
Jodi's campaign full time. If elected, Jodi will introduce legislation
to legalize medical marijuana in Florida. MOST of you know where
Jodi stands on anything beyond that, but medical marijuana is
doable now. If any of you CAN help, please give us a call at:
321-253-3673. We need donations of time, money, or skills. We
will find something that suits your expertise. please check out
Jodi's campaign web site:
www.jodijames.org
Peace,
Anthony
Lorenzo
Florida Cannabis Action Network
www.flcan.org
