MMMA lawyers not NORML affiliated?
- Thread starter TheMan13
- Start date
TheMan13
Well-Known Member
I have some serious concerns about the obvious conflicts of interest, the symbiotic vs parasitic relationship and the unchecked profitability of this for profit legal service business model without transparency.
As I currently work to establish true MMMA patient and caregiver advocacy devoid of NORML interests nothing has become more obvious to me than the absence of and our need for consumer protections as I interview victims. I simply cannot get over the rate at which these families in such crisis and need are bankrupt and left with criminal pleas/records as they can afford nothing more.
I believe our first order of business will be to establish long overdue consumer protections on this front. We need honest reviews and cost analysis of these legal services/individuals to provide some transparency and accountability. We need a comprehensive guide for these vulnerable families so that they are not blindly led to slaughter.
Finally and I believe most importantly we need a safety net to free these families from this for profit legal defense conundrum. Rather than allow so many of these victims to simply be denied a right to a trial based on economics, we need to assist these families in ridding themselves of this for profit defense business plea game and assume a public defense/defender. Here we would like to simply backup public defenders with our third party expert MMMA legal council and briefs at our cost. In reality most public defenders have more trial experience and are more successful in their locals than any for profit NORML attorney.
Let's be clear, the repeated loss of trials and appeals by our status quo/establishment defense lawyers have caused a clear loss of MMMA patient and caregiver rights granted by the People. In People v Brown we lost our right to be free from unreasonable drug war inspired search and seizure (aka our 4th Ammendment rights). Yet no aspect of our law has been more profitable for this defense game ...
Any thoughts?
As I currently work to establish true MMMA patient and caregiver advocacy devoid of NORML interests nothing has become more obvious to me than the absence of and our need for consumer protections as I interview victims. I simply cannot get over the rate at which these families in such crisis and need are bankrupt and left with criminal pleas/records as they can afford nothing more.
I believe our first order of business will be to establish long overdue consumer protections on this front. We need honest reviews and cost analysis of these legal services/individuals to provide some transparency and accountability. We need a comprehensive guide for these vulnerable families so that they are not blindly led to slaughter.
Finally and I believe most importantly we need a safety net to free these families from this for profit legal defense conundrum. Rather than allow so many of these victims to simply be denied a right to a trial based on economics, we need to assist these families in ridding themselves of this for profit defense business plea game and assume a public defense/defender. Here we would like to simply backup public defenders with our third party expert MMMA legal council and briefs at our cost. In reality most public defenders have more trial experience and are more successful in their locals than any for profit NORML attorney.
Let's be clear, the repeated loss of trials and appeals by our status quo/establishment defense lawyers have caused a clear loss of MMMA patient and caregiver rights granted by the People. In People v Brown we lost our right to be free from unreasonable drug war inspired search and seizure (aka our 4th Ammendment rights). Yet no aspect of our law has been more profitable for this defense game ...
Any thoughts?
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passmethelid
Well-Known Member
is this one affiliated with norml? http://www.schmidlaw.com/
edit: nevermind, he was once president of mi norml.
edit: nevermind, he was once president of mi norml.
TheMan13
Well-Known Member
Micheal Komorn (3MA President) is likely one of the more branded/well known NORML attorneys out there. He lists only eight "Komorn Victories" on his website: http://komornlaw.com/victories/
Note that only one is a trial/not guilty by jury and that is for possession of only 3.5 grams. He also notes specifically in that short/vague synopsis of the case that the client refused "any plea deals". This seems indicative of the problem I am attempting to address ...
Wasn't he involved in People v Carruthers losses as well?
$7500/10,000 min just to start the plea game alone does not seem reasonable IMHO
Note that only one is a trial/not guilty by jury and that is for possession of only 3.5 grams. He also notes specifically in that short/vague synopsis of the case that the client refused "any plea deals". This seems indicative of the problem I am attempting to address ...
Wasn't he involved in People v Carruthers losses as well?
$7500/10,000 min just to start the plea game alone does not seem reasonable IMHO
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TheMan13
Well-Known Member
Where is our Geoffrey Fieger pimping pro bono not guilty trials for the guy with 666 plants/pounds and a dog fighting ring in the backyard 
If we do not or cannot defend the worse speech (patient/caregiver), there can be and we will have no freedom of speech (MMMA) ...
If we do not or cannot defend the worse speech (patient/caregiver), there can be and we will have no freedom of speech (MMMA) ...
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pergamum362
Well-Known Member
I dont know of any, as with everything else marijuanna related, it seems they associate marijuanna related activites even for clear medical use only, as cash cows.
passmethelid
Well-Known Member
yo tim, how about instead of fighting all other marijuana groups and lawyers and ballot initative groups, you work with them?
guess thats too much to ask.
guess thats too much to ask.
TheMan13
Well-Known Member
I'm not Tim, nor am I attempting to fight with other marijuana groups, lawyers or ballot initiatives here.
We're nearly a decade into MMMA now and I believe it's simply time to take a sobering honest look at where we have been and where we are going. The fact that we have seen a 17% increase in marijuana possession arrests since MMMA and there is no stop to the raids/asset forfeiture in site is problematic is it not?
Maybe it's time to concentrate on and attempt to solve this criminal problem facing patients and caregivers (aka MMMA) rather than forwarding leading business models (aka time to think outside of the box). If some will be insulted by my work here, let it be. Profit nor marketing myself have ever been my goal, this is solely about the unrepresented patients and caregivers constantly facing our criminal justice system.
That said, I have no intention of shunning NORML attorneys or to stop working with or supporting them. Let's be clear, when I write about/criticize our criminal justice system I must include ALL officers of the court and their special interests to maintain integrity. NORML/defense attorneys are unquestionably officers of the court and in turn part of the problem ...
Feel free to question my hypothesis here, but not my character brother. I'm not simply throwing around pithy undeveloped statements here am I? I am not a lawyer or LEO, but rather a social scientist with a clear obsession in "conflict of interest". Fault me for that, but please do no marginalize me or my cause as petty or partisan ...
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passmethelid
Well-Known Member
whoops, sorry, got you confused with someone else. my apologies.
passmethelid
Well-Known Member
might be wise to start calling lawyers and asking them. where have all the good lawyers gone eh?
call fieger.
larry king wanted to sue after winning his case at the supreme court. did he even find a lawyer willing to take the case?
call fieger.
larry king wanted to sue after winning his case at the supreme court. did he even find a lawyer willing to take the case?
TheMan13
Well-Known Member
I've got limited resources here brother, but I've been working at it for sometime now and plan to keep going for the foreseeable future. I've been preoccupied watching more than a few criminal cases this year alone following all the March raids statewide. Any help here in general would be greatly appreciated.
Dr.Pecker
Well-Known Member
How would one go about finding the win loss record?
jorge-green
Active Member
I have heard and seen Michael Komorn do excellent things in the name of the patients in the state of Michigan, and I think he is the most knowledgeable and hardest working defense attorney in the marijuana defense field.
Michigan has actually changed their policy on synthetic marijuana because of the work Michael has done.
Also, trust me, based on my experiences in the criminal justice system you want an attorney who wins your case before the trial. Trials are so stressful knowing your life is in the hands of a bunch of strangers. Worst week of my life.
Here is an example of a large case Komorn Got dismissed.
http://komornlaw.com/komorn-law-pllc-14-pound-medical-marihuana-case-dismissed-pursuant-to-section-8-of-the-mmma/
This whole attack seems personal...
jorge-green
Active Member
That isn't really a thing, because a win for one person may be a plea deal, while someone else may only win with an acquittal. And there is no database recording all of this.
TheMan13
Well-Known Member
You can only ask the attorney and rely upon their word, as no true record is maintained. I'd suggest at least asking how many times they've been to trial and the corresponding not guilt/acquittal rate.
Law is clearly an adversarial profession. The best bet is always on the billion dollar Madison Avenue type law firms world class staff and reputation, but that is not an option for most of us. The New York Yankees do not play the pickup team at your local ball park because it would be wildly unfair. As no such professional standards exist in our courts, what does that say about our "justice system"?
TheMan13
Well-Known Member
I don't even know where to start on that, but if I believed the marketing/branding I would not be here. Try giving what I've already wrote a look see ...
What's Komorn's trial record if you are so knowledgeable on his career? Or even what Law School he attended?
Ones ability to talk shit before they enter the ring says nothing about their ability to perform in that ring. If you cannot fight, all the threats beforehand are meaningless and surely not worth a 7500-10k door IMHO
Would synthetic marijuana even be a thing without losing People v Curruthers and in turn our MMMA rights just finally restored by our Congress?
I'm not trying to put Komorn or any other attorney down here. I'm just pointing out the facts of the game, that we are woefully uninformed/misinformed (myself included) and need to become more critical consumers if anything is going to change here ...
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