NJ Weedman trying to get himself out of jail again
TRENTON » Here we go again.
A marijuana activist best known as NJ Weedman has been jailed without bail on witness intimidation charges since March 3 but continues to assert his innocence while arguing his pretrial detention at the Mercer County Correction Center is unconstitutional.
Drama always seems to surround Edward Forchion, a man who smoked a joint inside Trenton City Hall during a 2015 City Council meeting.
Forchion is accused of knowingly engaging “in conduct which a reasonable person would believe would cause a witness or informant to testify or inform falsely,” but Forchion at a court hearing on Wednesday said there is “no evidence” to support the witness intimidation charges against him and suggested he wants the informant to testify to the truth.
Shackled in chains and wearing an orange Mercer County Correction Center jumpsuit with the phrase “Political Prisoner #420” inscribed on the back of the garment, Forchion presented oral arguments in court Wednesday afternoon in hopes of persuading a Mercer County Superior Court judge to reopen his detention hearing.
Forchion is challenging the constitutionality of his pretrial detention in a federal court while simultaneously trying to get the state courts to reconsider whether he is too dangerous to be released pretrial from jail on any conditions.
Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi is expected to issue an opinion as soon as next week on whether Forchion shall be granted an opportunity to have another detention hearing — a legal proceeding where a judge could decide to release NJ Weedman from jail or keep him locked up pretrial.
Checkered past
Forchion, who turns 53 on July 23, had a legally troubled past in his younger days but overcame his criminal history when he opened up a Trenton-based restaurant in June 2015 dubbed NJ Weedman’s Joint — an eatery that once received legislative kudos from powerful New Jersey state lawmakers.
Something of a local cannabis celebrity, Forchion during summer 2015 declared he “went from zero to hero” by “becoming mainstream” and being “accepted by the community” — a community that had previously shunned him as a pariah on the fringe.
But NJ Weedman’s reputation has once again taken another battering as he fights a slew of criminal charges against him. To be sure, Forchion has a long rap sheet, including four active criminal cases in Mercer County Superior Court comprising two drug cases, a cyber harassment case, and a witness intimidation case.
Trenton Police Officer Yolanda M. Ward arrested Forchion on April 27, 2016, charging him with possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute. The arrest occurred during a police operation in which the Mercer County Narcotics Task Force raided Forchion’s East State Street businesses, which includes a restaurant, religious sanctuary and tobacco shop, and allegedly seized more than $19,000 in marijuana.
In 2016, Forchion took advantage of New Jersey’s previous criminal justice system that allowed him to gather up the financial resources to buy his way out of jail.
After posting bail following his April 2016 arrest, Forchion again found himself on the wrong end of the law several weeks later when Trenton Police Detective Eliezer Ramos arrested him on May 13, 2016, charging him with fourth-degree cyber harassment. He was accused of cyber-bullying Trenton Police Officer Herbert Flowers and promptly posted monetary bail in that case.
Bail reform
In 2017, New Jersey implemented criminal justice reforms that gave the state newfound powers to jail newly arrested highrisk defendants without bail for up to two years as their cases play out in court. The concept is hardly original or novel, because other states, such as Massachusetts, Texas and Maryland, have long had similar provisions where dangerous defendants may be held in jail without bail for a limited period of time.
This new change in New Jersey’s criminal justice system is the reason why Forchion is now locked up at the county jail without bail as his witness intimidation case plays out in court.
NJ Weedman’s pretrial freedom began to dwindle when a Mercer County grand jury on Feb. 28 handed up a direct indictment charging the marijuana legalization advocate with one count of second-degree witness tampering and one count of third-degree witness tampering.
A witness cooperating as a confidential informant helped police build a drug case against Forchion. Eventually the authorities raided NJ Weedman’s Joint and arrested Forchion on a litany of drug charges in April 2016. Forchion took active steps to learn the identity of the cooperating witness and is accused of intimidating that witness on social media by publishing a myriad of sensitive information about the informant.
Upon being indicted on witness intimidation charges, a warrant was issued for Forchion’s arrest on Feb 28. Several days later, police on March 3 arrested NJ Weedman at his business partner’s home in Parsippany on the warrant. The arrest occurred while Forchion was livestreaming on Facebook.
Forchion during the March 3 arrest was found to be in alleged possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana. Thus, police charged him with new counts of drug possession with intent to distribute.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office on March 4 filed a pretrial detention motion against Forchion. He had a firstcourt appearance on March 4 in which he was represented by public defender Kathleen RedpathPerez.
At his detention hearing on March 7, Forchion was represented by private attorney Edward Heyburn; the proceeding ended with Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw signing the order that placed Forchion on pretrial detention.
Forchion filed an appeal, but the judiciary’s Appellate Division upheld Warshaw’s detention order. Forchion said he believes it is unconstitutional for him to be locked up without bail pretrial. The U.S. Constitution prohibits “excessive bail,” but the U.S. Supreme Court has opined it is constitutionally permissible to hold dangerous defendants in jail without bail pending a criminal trial.
Going forward
NJ Weedman recently became unsatisfied with his legal representation over what he called “irreconcilable differences” and filed a motion on May 9 requesting to relieve Heyburn of his counsel services. Judge Massi granted the motion, and Forchion as of July 5 has been represented by defense attorney Christopher Campbell.
While Campbell sat beside Forchion on Wednesday, Forchion did most of the talking before Massi and essentially accused the state of malicious prosecution.
“They created the crime and arrested me for it,” Forchion said, “and indicted me for complaining about it.”