NJ Weedman just says no to drug charges in Trenton
TRENTON >> The city police has operated like a white supremacist terrorist group and violated the nation’s Ku Klux Klan Act by harassing, arresting and retaliating against Trenton marijuana activist Edward Forchion, according to a lawsuit.
Filed by attorney Edward Heyburn in Mercer County civil court, the lawsuit lays out a number of explosive allegations against city police officers: a high-ranking cop took steroids; another officer had sex with an underage girl while on duty; and police go unchallenged and unpunished for fabricating information about confidential informants in order to get around probable cause.
The lawsuit further alleges Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri has failed to root out, and in some cases, covered up widespread corruption in the department. It also claims his office uses state’s forfeiture laws to keep property that is not purchased through unsavory exploits or used in furtherance of a crime.
Also named as defendants are city police director Ernest Parrey Jr., Capt. Eldemiro Gonzalez, Detective Yolanda Ward and police officer Herbert Flowers.
As leaders, Onofri and Parrey “turned a blind eye to the illegal and unconstitutional actions” of police officers, according to the lawsuit.
Top city officials also failed to take corrective action against police officers who arrest people for engaging in constitutionally protected free speech and properly train officers about how to deal with city residents without impinging on their civil rights, according to the lawsuit.
A police spokesman did not return a phone call requesting comment, and the prosecutor’s office won’t comment on pending litigation.
This is the second lawsuit Forchion has filed against the city this year.
He is currently litigating a federal lawsuit against the city over his cannabis church on East State Street. He says the Liberty Bell Temple should not have to abide a city curfew requiring his businesses to close by 11 p.m.
The dispute between the city and Forchion culminated in an April raid of his restaurant, smoke shop and pot temple. Police said they arrested 11 people, including Forchion, and seized $19,000 worth of marijuana.
The lawsuit points to a number of retaliatory actions police took prior to and after the raid, many allegedly happening after Forchion sued the city in March.
It all started in the earlymorning hours of Feb. 28, according to the lawsuit, when police descended on Forchion’s joint after they reportedly received word of a fight on East State Street.
Capt. Gonzalez claimed in sworn court papers that one person was arrested and charged. Sen. Raymond Lesniak’s law firm is defending the city in the federal lawsuit.
Forchion and his attorney have disputed Gonzalez’s other claims and suggested he committed perjury by contending there was a 30-person melee.
Rather, Forchion claims police showed up to his place and threatened to enter the cannabis church unless everyone left.
Forchion said about 30 people left after he told them the cops had threatened to come in. Those people were outside in the street but no one was fighting, Forchion said.
Heyburn suggested in the lawsuit police were never called to the joint and showed up on their own. He said callers’ names were redacted to “conceal the fact that these calls were fabricated.”
Forchion contends he has video surveillance tapes, which have been seized as evidence in his drug case, proving Gonzalez lied.
Det. Ward got a warrant April 18 to raid Forchion’s businesses.
On April 27, police in tactical gear and armed with semi-automatic rifles descended on the businesses. Authorities arrested people and seized drugs. They also towed Forchion’s iconic Weedmobile, a delivery truck and another vehicle.
The lawsuit says a warrant Judge Anthony Massi signed did not allow police to seize the Weedmobile, which was later crushed.
Ward amended the warrant two days after the raid in order to take the vehicle, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says police continued harassing Forchion after the raid.
Officers stopped people leaving the activist’s restaurant and discouraged them from patronizing it because they said it was under investigation, the lawsuit says. Police parked on East State Street to discourage business.
Growing frustrated with their tactics, Forchion stood outside his business May 10 with a “We R Open F--- the Police” sign. Trenton Police officer Flowers tried to stop Forchion from holding up the
sign, the lawsuit says.
They were involved in a heated exchange in which Forchion called the police officer a pedophile. He was rung up on cyber-bullying charges in a move deemed unconstitutional by civil rights groups.
Further, the lawsuit says, what Forchion said about Flowers is true.
The lawsuit accused Flowers of “sexual conduct with at least one underage female” while he was on duty and assigned to the alleged victim’s apartment building.
Forchion said detectives from internal affairs tried to interview him about the allegations following his arrest on the cyber-bullying charge. He refused to speak with them.
A police spokesman would not say whether Flowers is under investigation.
The lawsuit also references another instance when a Trenton Police officer was outed, but not disciplined, for taking human growth hormone.
The shot was directed at Det. Sgt. Anthony Manzo, who was one of a dozen current and former Trenton Police officers who used their government health plans to purchase steroids, according to a 2010 Newark Star-Ledger story.
TRENTON >> Wearing a tailored gray pinstripe suit and a ganja chain dangling from his neck, Trenton’s well-known marijuana activist showed up more than 15 minutes late to court Tuesday for his arraignment where prosecutors formally extended a plea offer that could send him to prison for years.
Ed “NJ Weedman” Forchion pleaded not guilty to 11 drugrelated charges and was offered a 7-year plea to admit guilt to distributing drugs within 1,000 feet of the Daylight/Twilight School in Trenton. Forchion would have to spend three and a half years in prison, prosecutors said, because his past drug convictions make him an “extended-term” offender.
Forchion and his attorney, Edward Heyburn, called the offer “ridiculous,” saying they don’t believe the charge will hold up because of the distance between the school and Forchion’s downtown businesses.
The indictment says the school sits on the 500 block of Edgewood Avenue, about a mile and half by car from NJ Weedman’s Joint at 322 East State Street, according to Google Maps. Daylight/Twilight is actually located at 135 East Hanover Street, which is less than a quarter mile from Forchion’s restaurant.
“I wanted to fall out laughing,” Forchion said. “That’s absurd.”
Forchion said after the hearing in front of Judge Anthony Massi that he will not accept any offer from prosecutors and plans to convince a jury to acquit him by arguing the state’s drug laws are unjust.
The tack is known as jury nullification and was unsuccessfully employed by a Mays Landing man who was sentenced this year to 17 years in prison for growing 17 marijuana plants.
Jon Peditto’s case drew attention from marijuana activists like Forchion, who showed up to support him at sentencing.
Forchion says he feels his case is different from Peditto, who had an “image” problem with the jury.
Forchion admits he “can be an a—hole,” turning to his girlfriend and life partner for confirmation, but he knows when to turn on the charm for the jury.
“I am not being bribed out of my right to a fair trial with a plea of leniency,” he said. “I have a right to face a jury of my peers. The prosecution in this state cannot put me in prison without the authority of a jury. I absolutely do not think a jury is gonna convict me of these marijuana charges in this day and age.”
At the hearing, Heyburn addressed several issues, specifically Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Katz’s request to keep secret the identity of a confidential informant who allegedly purchased marijuana from Forchion at least four times at his business.
The indictment reflects purchases on March 15, March 22, March 30 and April 15.
The last “controlled buy” took place about two weeks before the April 27 raid of Forchion’s restaurant, smoke shop and cannabis church.
Forchion said he never sold weed to anyone and contends patrons at his businesses shared weed.
“There was weed there,” he said. “I’d be embarrassed if there wasn’t.”
Forchion points out police didn’t start making a case against him until after he sued the city and accused a high-ranking police captain of lying in an affidavit, claiming 30 people fought outside his East State Street joint months before the raid.
Heyburn said prosecutors’ case, which hinges on whether police had probable cause for the raid in which authorities said they seized $19,000 worth of marijuana, is already “crumbling.” He plans to vigorously fight for the name of the undercover informant.
Heyburn has filed numerous filings in civil and criminal court, contesting various aspects of the case.
Forchion intends to sue the city for false arrest and is also fighting forfeiture of more than $400 seized from his businesses during the raid.
Heyburn said prosecutors must show the money was from illicit drug proceeds if they want to keep it.
For his part, Forchion has criticized the state’s forfeiture laws, which one libertarian think tank said were some of the worst in the nation, after his iconic Weedmobile was crushed.
Of the ardent marijuana supporter’s problems, showing up to court on time might be the biggest.
Free on bail, Forchion walked into court “beyond fashionably late,” wearing a suave tailored ensemble from Byer’s Men’s Shop in Trenton.
Forchion hopes to break out the “ganja green” suit at a later court appearance. He is scheduled to return to court in October, if he can make it that long.
Forchion sauntered in around 9:17 a.m. for a 9 a.m. court hearing.
“Apparently Weed Time is different than Eastern Standard time,” Heyburn said in the hallways after calling his client to see where he was.
Forchion, who was also late for a court appearance earlier
“The prosecution in this state cannot put me in prison without the authority of a jury. I absolutely do not think a jury is gonna convict me of these marijuana charges in this day and age.”
this month, apologized when he walked into court.
Massi waited patiently in chambers for the Weedman’s arrival. He came out several times to say he “was ready to go at 9 o’clock.”
The judge did not issue a bench warrant for Forchion, sternly warning him to be on time or call ahead if he is late.
“I feel like an idiot,” Forchion told his attorney. “We left in plenty of time and hit traffic.”