Mr. Kimura, please stop prosecuting cases of 'Adult Personal Use.'

The story of what happened to Seattle’s Chief Prosecutor who lost his job because he disrespected the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance passed by Seattle voters:
Nobody bawled into their pillow last election night like City Attorney Tom Carr, an eight-year incumbent with the backing of labor unions and city hall, who was trounced by a 26-point margin. “I’m stunned. I thought this would be a tight race,” said challenger Pete Holmes after seeing the first batch of results.

Carr chalked up his drubbing to an “anti-incumbent year.” But that makes less than zero sense, considering Richard Conlin won a fourth term on the city council with over 77 percent support and Nick Licata coasted easily to a third term.

Voters were sick, specifically, of Carr’s bullshit: cracking down on popular clubs, ignoring a voter-approved measure to stop prosecuting marijuana-possession cases, subpoenaing reporters to name confidential sources, and pushing cases for years after the city should have dropped them.

In voting for Holmes, Seattle instituted a new directive for the city attorney, who acts as the city’s primary lawyer and prosecutes misdemeanors in the municipal court. Holmes vowed on the campaign trail to represent the wishes of the people. He’ll stop all pot-­possession prosecution and prize the music scene, he says, and coax the city officials to drop lawsuits when the city is wrong.

“Basically,” said Peter Holmes  “…this is Carr’s worst nightmare. The poor guy…”

The link to the article is : http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/election-2009-winners-and-losers/Content?oid=2708202

Mr. Jay Kimura is the chief Prosecutor for the County of Hawaii as part of the division of "Public Safety." Mr. Kimura's department has a budget of approximately 9 million dollars per year. He has been in office since 1992 and was elected unopposed last year.

The Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance is a document of nearly 2,000 words that sets new priorities for policy concerning Cannabis in the County of Hawaii. The ordinance prescribes for all County officials and personnel a new direction for Hawai’i County and a new set of priorities that do not involve search, seizure, arrests, prosecution, harassment or intimidation of individuals for ‘adult personal use’ of Cannabis as defined by the ordinance.

Last month the Peaceful Sky Alliance submitted a 60 page document to Hawaii County Council citing numerous departments and naming numerous County Officials who have obstructed the Ordinance or failed to make the necessary changes in policy and practice in order that the County of Hawaii is in compliance with the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance.

One of the officials named in the document is Mr. Jay Kimura who heads the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. His department continues to prosecute cases of ‘adult personal use’ as defined by the ordinance (Cultivation or possession of 24 plants or 24 ounces of dried material on private property by adults over the age of 21 years).We have posted the details of one such case and we plan to post the details of others in the future.

Far from being confusing or unclear, Hawai’i County’s own ‘Lowest Priority’ ordinance was modeled after similar ordinances successfully implemented in other counties and municipalities around the country. There is a special section of the ordinance that addresses the fact that the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Hawaii is not permitted to spend county funds to prosecute cases which fall under the definition of ‘adult personal use’.

Since our council was served with this summary document, Mr. Kimura has appeared before Council during a special hearing and expressed open defiance and opposition to the law passed by 35,000 voters. Below is the section of the summary document that addresses the failings of Mr. Kimura and his office:

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Office of Prosecuting Attorney not yet in Compliance:

Mr. Jay Kimura of the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney has several times made negative comments concerning the validity of the ordinance as it is written into law. He was heard to make negative remarks about this ordinance when sworn into office for his current term at the Inauguration Ceremony at Afook Chinin Auditorium on December 1, 2008.

In stating a conflict of the “Separation of Powers” doctrine, Mr. Jay Kimura has ignored the fact that as the constitution is written, Federal law, while the “highest law of the land,” does not overrule laws passed by states or local ordinances such as the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance.

Mr. Jay Kimura has received a letter from Peaceful Sky Alliance regarding statements he made to the effect that he was waiting for an opinion from the Office of Hawai’i State Attorney General to determine the legality of the ordinance. The chain of correspondence between Mr. Kimura and Mr. Mark Bennett has been requested by the Board of Peaceful Sky Alliance and to date, none has been provided.

Chapter 14, Article 16 of the County Code requires a bi-annual report submitted as follows:

…These reports shall include but not be limited to: the number of all arrests, citations, property seizures, and prosecutions for all Cannabis offenses in the county of Hawai’i, the number of complaints regarding marijuana eradication over-flights; the breakdown of all Cannabis arrests and citations by race, age, specific charge, and classification as infraction, misdemeanor, or felony, the estimated time and money spent by the County on law enforcement and punishment for adult Cannabis offenses, and any instances of officers or deputies assisting in state or federal enforcement of adult Cannabis offenses. These reports shall be published with the cooperation of the County of Hawai’i’s Prosecuting Attorney, the Chief of Police, and all associated law enforcement staff in providing needed data.

While a summary of the “arrests that were the result of those investigations initiated prior to November 4, 2008” was provided, this does not meet the requirement of the ordinance that the report include estimated time and money spent by the County on law enforcement and punishment for adult Cannabis offenses. This information has not been provided by the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. An audit of the time and money spent by Mr. Kimura’s Office for the prosecution of adult Cannabis offenses has been requested of the Legislative Auditor.

Mr. Jay Kimura received a letter from Peaceful Sky Alliance dated September 9, 2009 notifying him of at least one case that concerns prosecution for an offense that would now be classified as ‘adult personal use’ and would not be subject to arrest or prosecution by our County’s police and prosecution. We have asked Mr. Kimura to review any such cases on the basis that the ordinance states the following request of his department:

…Neither the County Prosecuting Attorney nor any attorney prosecuting on behalf of the County of Hawai’i shall prosecute any violations of the sections of Chapter 712-1240 of the Hawai’i Revised Statutes regarding possession or cultivation of Cannabis in a manner inconsistent with the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority §14-100 COUNTY PROSECUTING  ATTORNEYS

To date, we have not received a reply from Mr. Kimura concerning this matter.

Mr. Kimura should be required to issue a public statement of his full support for the implementation of the ordinance. His full cooperation is required so that appropriate accounting procedures are put in place in order to meet requirements of the County Code. Further, Mr. Kimura should provide public assurance that his department is currently prosecuting no cases of ‘adult personal use’ where this would contravene the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance.

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Image by James Moore

“The November 9 Supreme Court arguments on whether it is cruel and unusual to impose life in prison without parole on violent juveniles who have not killed anybody understandably got prominent media coverage,” a National Journal column reports.“But a far more important imprisonment story gets less attention because it’s a running sore that rarely generates dramatic “news.” That is our criminal-justice system’s incarceration of a staggering 2.3 million people, about half of them for nonviolent crimes, including most of the 500,000 locked up for drug offenses.” (From -November 13, 2009 National Journal read about it here: America’s Prison Spree Has Brutal Impact)

and just in .. news from Wall Street Journal  that U.S. Commission is  to Assess Mandatory Sentences

People who drank alchohol used to be the 'bad guys.'

“Congress has ordered the panel that advises judges on prison terms to conduct a review of mandatory-minimum sentences, a move that could lead to a dramatic rethinking of how the U.S. incarcerates its criminals,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “The review is a little-noticed element of the National Defense Authorization Act signed into law last month by President Barack Obama. The defense-spending bill calls on the commission to perform several tasks, including an examination of the impact of mandatory-minimum sentencing laws and alternatives to the practice.”  November 12, 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

It looks like this has been a big week for the Drug War. Take heed County of Hawaii. The American Medical Association has announced it will review the scheduling of Cannabis as a ‘dangerous drug’ (which it isn’t)  and a Commission of Judges is asked to review the practice of handing out harsh sentences for absurd ‘crimes’. 20 million prisoners later.. The Drug War is costing us way too much. The budget for Prosecutions in Hawaii County is 11 million dollars. That is a lot for an island with a population of 177,000 men women and children don’t you think?

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Tyrone Brown received a last minute reprieve from death row for smoking pot while on probation

Tyrone Brown served 16 years of a Life Sentence for smoking Cannabis while on probation:

As an example of how much of a joke the Drug War can get to be.. listen to this case; In 1990, Tyrone Brown, then 17 years old, took part in a $2 Dallas stickup in which no one was hurt. He got caught, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, and received a sentence of 10 years probation. A few weeks later, he was in court again — because a drug test detected the presence of marijuana in his urine. For still unexplained reasons, his sentencing judge, Keith Dean, threw the book at him. The 17-year-old was resentenced to life in prison, where he remained up until 2007. We can be thankful that eventually the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry saw the wisdom of pardoning Tyrone but long after it was somewhat of a joke. If you google Tyrone Brown, you will see yet another comparison between the kind of harsh sentence you can get for using Cannabis but you don’t see if you are a convicted killer.  But now, thanks to drug reform activists, a Dallas newspaper, a nationally televised investigative journalism program, and outraged citizens across the land, Brown was freed from his life sentence.

We all know that each prisoner in the United States costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars each year that they are incarcerated let alone the money it costs and lengthy court procedures that it takes to put each one of them there. Do you really like to think that your tax dollars are being spent to lock up adults who enjoy Cannabis for their own personal use? You might be shocked to know the cost of the Drug War but chances are by now, you might be well familiar of how this outright war on a plant, has usurped our Nations resources and the treasuries of; the Federal Government, the States and Counties all around the country. That’s the reason for ordinances and new legislation that is determining that adult personal use of Cannabis should go from the highest priority of Law Enforcement to the lowest. Enough already!

Is Justice "Blind"? This is our question for the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney

Puna Man sentenced to 18 months jail for selling 2 ounces of Cannabis to a registered medical marijuana user:

A case closer to home received a hearing in the Hilo 3rd circuit court today (Friday November 13). Just to give you an idea of how the Office of The Prosecuting Attorney is spending our County money, take a look at this case. A man 50 years old with debilitating spinal injuries, himself a medical marijuana patient, was caught in 2007 selling marijuana to another medical marijuana patient. He was arrested along with his wife who was 7 months pregnant with their first child. He now has two children since his arrest. This man was not in fact indicted until 18 months later. The Grand Jury indicted him after the passage of the voter ordinance Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance

This man pleaded guilty to the charges and his lawyer is now negotiating the terms of probation for him. In many cases now, the judges rule against medical marijuana patients being permitted to use Cananbis on probation. This is the same man who has more than one debilitating condition and was actually granted permission by the courts recently to leave the island for hip replacement surgery and time needed for his recovery before resuming his court appearances. His surgeon has determined that there are benefits for him to use Cannabis. His doctor here in Hilo attended court today to testify to the fact that while using Cannabis, this man has been able to reduce the doses of morphine he had become dependent on to manage his pain. In spite of two medical opinions, Judge Greg Nakamura would only say that he would take this testimony ‘under advisement’ which for those of us who don’t know, means he doesn’t have to abide by these doctor’s medical opinion. The question we then ask ourselves, is this: Has this judge taken upon himself the responsibility for managing critical health conditions? This is an affront to the profession of medicine by the profession of justice.

This is yet another case of someone who should have seen all charges against him dropped to say nothing of the fact that it shouldn’t be a crime to supply a medical marijuana user who has been licensed by the State of Hawaii to possess and use Cannabis.  The Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance specifically MANDATES the prosecutor NOT to prosecute ANY cases that now fall under the description of ‘adult personal use’ as defined by the ordinance so why are they still prosecuting these cases and wasting County funds?

Countless hours of time of the judges and the prosecution have already been wasted in pursuit of this case and it does not appear to be close to ending. This is yet another example of wasted County Funds that is occurring. It’s also a genuine miscarriage of justice as the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, headed by Mr. Jay Kimura, openly violates our Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance.

Finding this absurd ? Finding this a waste of County funds? Stay tuned because this is a bad habit the County of Hawaii has and the Prosecutor can’t seem to kick. If you have ‘horror’ stories of your own to share, please feel free to post them below or send them to us at peacefulskyhawaii@gmail.com and we can feature them here on this site.