Freest country in the world? Juries not always the brightest

Sadly ironic that this story should pop up (in the immortal NewsOfTheWeird.com) just when various states are decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana.

A Davenport, Iowa, jury convicted terminal-cancer patient Benton Mackenzie, 48, in July on four marijuana-growing felonies, even though his purpose was to harvest cannabis oil to treat his bloody lesions and the grapefruit-sized tumor on his buttocks. The judge had barred Mackenzie and his lawyer from even mentioning the illness in court -- because of a 2005 Iowa precedent (even though the Iowa legislature has subsequently allowed medical marijuana to treat seizures). Mackenzie's wife, his 73-year-old parents, his son and a friend were also charged with assisting Mackenzie's "operation" (though Mackenzie was almost surely the only "customer"). Mackenzie, who testified and was, of course, sworn to tell "the whole truth," said he was "flabbergasted" to learn that "the whole truth" excludes anything about his illness. [Des Moines Register, 7-10-2014; Quad City Times, 5-30-2014]

Law, government and courts are supposed to promote just and save people from bureaucratic torture -- not sentence them to it. It's depressing enough that the precedent mentioned was invoked, presumably by a lawyer or prosecutor, but ten times more so to realize that most people in a draft pool have no clue as to their real powers, most notably nullification.

Pray to God every day that you never fall victim to a corrupt or faulty "justice" system.

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