NJ Weedman still trying to get out of jail pretrial
TRENTON » Mercer County inmate Ed Forchion, better known as the NJ Weedman, showed up at court Tuesday with his “Political Prisoner #420” orange jumpsuit to continue arguing for another detention hearing, saying he has new evidence that could persuade a judge to release him from jail pretrial.
The state accuses Forchion of engaging “in conduct which a reasonable person would believe would cause a witness or informant to testify or inform falsely,” but Forchion on Tuesday said the state’s case against him “is just factually not even close to being true.”
Forchion, 53, has been jailed without bail on witness intimidation charges since his high-profile arrest on March 3. He originally had a detention hearing on March 7 and was represented back then by private attorney Edward Heyburn. That initial proceeding ended with Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw signing the order that placed Forchion on pretrial detention, and Forchion since then has exercised the full extent of his appeal rights and defense motion filings in hopes of securing his way out of jail pretrial.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Anthony Massi for the second time in three weeks listened yet again to oral arguments presented by Forchion and Mercer County prosecutors, but the judge still was not prepared to make any decisions on Tuesday.
Massi said he would write an opinion by Friday afternoon on whether Forchion shall be granted a reopened detention hearing, adding, “That’s as quick as I can get it done.”
“Stall and delay,” Forchion said after his court proceeding concluded on Tuesday with no resolution. A new detention hearing, if he is granted one, could reaffirm his detention or reverse it and set him free on his own recognizance or with conditions as he awaits trial.
Forchion is no longer being represented by private attorney Heyburn. The NJ Weedman is now solely representing himself. He has “pro se” experience of representing himself in prior court cases unrelated to his current legal troubles, but this time Forchion has technical assistance from a stand-by counsel, defense attorney Christopher Campbell.
The witness intimidation charges against Forchion are connected to an active drug 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 included a restaurant, religious sanctuary and tobacco shop, and officers allegedly seized more than $19,000 in marijuana. A witness cooperating as a confidential informant helped police build that drug case against Forchion.
After posting bail in the drug case, Forchion took active steps to learn the identity of the cooperating witness. Prosecutors said Forchion intimidated that witness by publishing a myriad of sensitive information about the informant on social media.
On Aug. 19, 2016, prosecutors filed a motion seeking a protective order that would have protected the confidential informant’s identity. Judge Massi granted the protective order on Feb. 23. Prosecutors, in turn, swiftly presented a case to a grand jury, and the grand jurors on Feb. 28 handed up a direct indictment charging Forchion with one count of seconddegree witness tampering and one count of third-degree witness tampering.
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 the marijuana legalization advocate at his business partner’s home in Parsippany on the warrant. The arrest occurred while Forchion was livestreaming on Facebook.
Forchion, once the proud owner of the NJ Weedman’s Joint restaurant and sanctuary on East State Street in Trenton, has had to close up shop as a direct result of him being charged with heavy criminal offenses and detained as an inmate at the Mercer County Correction Center pretrial.
Mercer County Assistant Prosecutors John Boyle and Stephanie Katz voiced opposition to Forchion’s defense motion on Tuesday, arguing that Forchion failed to present new evidence of material value and therefore has no basis to be granted a reopened detention hearing.
“I think it is material,” Forchion said of his evidence, which includes email exchanges between him and his former attorney Heyburn.
Forchion said he had publicized the identity of the confidential informant to build an entrapment defense and said he thought his legal strategy was permitted under his Sixth Amendment rights to confront his accuser. He said he wanted the confidential informant to testify to the truth “as my star witness.”
Judge Warshaw ordered Forchion to be detained on March 7, saying neither electronic monitoring nor imposing a gag order on Forchion would prevent the defendant from obstructing the administration of justice. “The court is satisfied that the only way to prevent further intimidation” to a witness in the case, Warshaw said back then, “is to detain this defendant.”