Five jurors and an alternate in the Ed Rosenthal marijuana trial held a press conference today. They demanded the Judge grant Ed a new trial. And as expected, they apologized to Ed -- one at a time.

The jurors said they had been unaware that the defendant, Ed Rosenthal, was growing marijuana for medicinal purposes, allowed since 1996 under California state law, when they convicted him on three federal counts of cultivation and conspiracy. He is to be sentenced in June and faces a minimum of five years in prison. "I'm sorry doesn't begin to cover it," said one of the jurors, Marney Craig, a property manager in Novato. "It's the most horrible mistake I've ever made in my entire life. And I don't think that I personally will ever recover from this."

The group said that two other juror members agreed with them. They were joined by the San Francisco district attorney and two members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

"In good faith, we as jury members allowed ourselves to be blindfolded to weigh the evidence before us," the statement said. "But in this trial, the prosecution was allowed to put all of the evidence and testimony on one of the scales, while the defense was not allowed to put its evidence and testimony on the other scale. Therefore we were not allowed as a jury to properly weigh the case."

In a nutshell, here was the problem:

The judge in the case, Judge Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court, had barred Mr. Rosenthal's defense from mentioning the state law because he was indicted under federal law, which does not allow the growing of marijuana for any purpose.

When he was arrested last February, Mr. Rosenthal was cultivating starter plants in a warehouse that were to be distributed to seriously ill patients by medical marijuana clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Rosenthal, who lives in Oakland, was acting in his official capacity as "an officer of the city" under Oakland's medical marijuana ordinance, Oakland officials said....

"In good faith, we as jury members allowed ourselves to be blindfolded to weigh the evidence before us," the statement said. "But in this trial, the prosecution was allowed to put all of the evidence and testimony on one of the scales, while the defense was not allowed to put its evidence and testimony on the other scale. Therefore we were not allowed as a jury to properly weigh the case."

In other words, Mr. Rosenthal's actions were legal under California law but not under federal law. The Judge ruled that because the trial was in federal court, state law was inadmissible and could not be used as a defense. Thus, the jurors never heard Ed's actions were authorized by the city of Oakland.

Lots of other bloggers are talking about the case, and thankfully, the mainstream media is picking up on it. In the end, we predict it will become one more black mark against Attorney General Ashcroft, at whose insistence the prosecution was launched. We hope he is ridiculed for it as he has become a caricature for non-tolerance and interference with all of our civil liberties.

Update: GlennReynolds.com , aka Instapundit, weighs in for Rosenthal. " Meanwhile, the Ashcroft Justice Department — which I thought was supposed to be protecting federalism, and chasing terrorists — needs to explain why it’s wasting time and tax dollars chasing people who are no threat to anyone, and who are doing things that are legal under their own state’s laws. I’m waiting. . . ."

Update: The grand jury transcripts are out in the case--Don't miss Dan Forbes article , "A Peek Behind the Rosenthal Grand Jury Veil: Manipulation Rampant."

A new Los Angeles Times poll finds that re-election support for President Bush in 2004 has dropped below 50%.

"The share of Americans favoring President Bush's reelection in 2004 has fallen below 50%, while Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts have emerged as the leaders for the Democratic nomination...."

"...the new results suggest that the close partisan balance that defined American politics before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is slowly reasserting itself. The fall in the percentage of voters committing to support Bush's reelection parallels a decline in his job approval rating since last fall and the return of sharp divisions along party lines about his performance."

And the best news of all..."Former Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, who is exploring a candidacy, and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards tied for third, each with 8%."

The losers: "Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who has said he is likely to enter the Democratic race, and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who will formally announce his candidacy later this month, drew 6% each. Trailing the pack were African American activist Al Sharpton, with 2%, and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, with 1%."

For more on the poll analysis, read "Bush is Not the Stealth Candidate He Was After 9/11," here. Excerpts from the polling data are here.

64 cities and counties have passed anti-war resolutions, according to the Institute for Policy Studies and Cities for Peace News. Here is the list.

Former UK Labour Cabinet Minister Tony Benn interviewed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Here is the full text of the interview which was broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 news program.

You can read quotes from the interview here. Saddam denied any link to Al Qaeda, said he did not have weapons of mass destruction and that the U.S. and Britain were going to war for control over oil.

The international press is beginning to rip Texas. This from Pravda.RU, written by journalist Richard Waagener in the Netherlands:

Executions Will Rise to 300 in Texas

Death in Texas comes for a lot of men and some woman in the form of an injection needle while they are strapped on a gurney in the death house in Huntsville Texas in the United States. This month the state of Texas expects to dispose itself of its 300th murderer after the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976. In total in the United States 827 men, woman and children where executed. If the scheduled roster is followed the ‘honor’ will go to Michael Johnson, a man who killed someone at a robbery when he was 19.

You can only wonder how such an occasion is celebrated in Texas. Will governor Rick Perry personally travel down to Huntsville to push the button which will cause the death of Johnson? Or will it be George Bush, the American president, who oversaw the execution of the greater half, namely 152 of these executions, when he was governor of the state of Texas? Probably not. Both declined to witness executions. Even with all the attention action groups, like Amnesty International, and the press are giving to the mechanics of the death penalty the train in Texas rolls on. Currently 446 people are awaiting execution, with eleven executions planned in the next months.

The example set by Illinois where all death penalty’s where commuted because the governor of that state doubted the fairness of has only caused ripples on the surface in Texas. This year alone already six men have abandoned there lives on the ultimate altar of ‘tough on crime’ politicians and hardboiled crime fighters, pushing for more executions.

As flawed as capital punishment was in Illinois, as flawed it is in Texas. International treaties are breached by the state executing foreign offenders, which were not given the assistance of the home country guaranteed under the Vienna convention. The execution of a Mexican last year caused a major diplomatic incident with the neighbors. President Fox of Mexico cancelled a visit to Texas as protest. Seven innocent people are already released after the spent together more than seventy years on death row, according to figures from Amnesty International. Some controversial executions have taken place, where opponents protest the guilt of the executed. The systems also allowed children and people with limited mental capacity to be executed, although steps are taken to mend that.

“Texas' capital punishment system exemplifies the findings that have emerged in recent studies conducted in Maryland and Illinois that reveal that the death penalty is determined by a geographic lottery”, according to press release of Amnesty International.” While Texas accounts for less than ten percent of the US population, it has been responsible for more than one-third of the national judicial death toll since 1976. Furthermore, Harris County prosecutors sentenced 35 of Texas' death row population, yet that county accounts for only 15 of the state's population. If Harris County were a state, it would rank 2nd with Virginia behind Texas in the number of executed inmates in 2002," the organization said. The total number of executions last year in Texas was 33, with 4 from Harris County. Virginia had 4 total executions.”

Meanwhile the pressure on Texas is growing. International investors are more and more concerned about the human rights situation in Texas. The Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has called for a tourist boycott of Texas and many government leaders asked the United States and Texas to revoke the death penalty and respect Human Rights on this issue. Until their call is heard executions will go one, although more and more people are listening. The United States and Japan are the only modern democracies, which still have this ultimate penalty.

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A business and tourist boycott of Texas. What a great idea...the politicans may not care about fairness and justice down there, but they sure care about their pocketbooks.

We hope we never get on skippy's bad side the way CNN Anchor Aaron Brown did today--our ears were burning for him. It's a skippy classic.

The British-American citizen fighting Texas execution lost tonight, and was put to death by lethal injection.

"Asked by the warden if he had anything to say, John Elliott mouthed "No sir" and nodded his head. He then closed his eyes. As the drugs began to take effect, he had a slight snort, cough and gasp before slipping into unconsciousness. As the lethal drugs continued to flow into his arms, witnesses, including his son and a sister, prayed aloud.

He was pronounced dead at 7:09 p.m. CST, seven minutes after the drugs started flowing."

Elliott denied his guilt. His lawyers sought a stay to conduct DNA tests (which hadn't been done at trial) but the courts refused.

"Elliott was born in 1960 in England, where his father was stationed at a U.S. air base, giving him dual citizenship. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant clemency for Elliott and more than 100 ministers of Parliament signed a House of Commons motion demanding clemency."

Elliott is the third British citizen executed in the U.S. The other two were put to death in Georgia. Our prior coverage of the case is here .

For UK coverage, start here and work backwards.

The vote on Bush judicial pick Miguel Estrada is tomorrow. Dial 1-800-839-5276 tonight or early tomorrow and tell your senators to filibuster Miguel Estrada tomorrow. The Washington Post says "Republicans...hold a two-vote advantage in the Senate where a filibuster is the only likely option for Democrats to stop a presidential nominee."

What's wrong with Miguel Estrada? Start with the New York Times editorial, "An Unacceptable Nominee." Then read Media Horse this past week - they have the whole story. For more, go to People for the American Way.

Remember, Estrada is particularly dangerous because he is up for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. A disproportionate share of our Supreme Court Justices come from that court. Those in the know posit that Bush intends to put Estrada on the Supreme Court. We don't even know what he stands for. We've never read opinions by him. We know he worked on the Bush election controversy in Florida with Ted Olson, and that he offers advice to, and is a friend of, a certain acerbic-tongued light-haired pundit.

What can you do? Lisa English of Ruminate This has this answer:

The administration is pushing for a vote on Estrada that will come soon...anytime between now and Colin Powell's speech before the United Nations tomorrow. Distract the people and they'll not think to protest the packing of uber-conservatives with lifetime appointments onto the nation's courts.

Timing is everything. Do these two things. It will take you TEN MINUTES:

1. Pick up the phone - right now - and dial the toll-free congressional switchboard at 1-800-839-5276. Urge your Senator to FILIBUSTER the Estrada nomination. That's it. You'll be asked your name, address and phone. Simple and to the point.

2. Follow up that call with a visit to True Majority and send off their fax which calls for an Estrada filibuster. The fax is already written. If you agree with the verbage, just sign your name and move on. If you'd like to craft your own personal message, take the opportunity to do so.

We are talking ten minutes of your time. Ten minutes that can make a difference. Our country cannot afford to tolerate the corporate and religious ideologues being pumped out by this administration onto our courts.

Here's a small part of what the Horse says about Estrada:

Our site meter has been busy all day today--thanks to Instapundit, Vodkapundit, and Eric Alterman's Altercation. Last week Atrios helped our numbers out a lot. If you haven't read them yet today, go on over. They are must reads every day. Thanks, guys.

While we do keep our sitemeter private (mostly for user privacy), we're happy to announce that we just hit 200,00 visits and 300,000 page views today. We've been averaging between 2,000 and 3,000 visits a day since just before Christmas. We're not in the big leagues yet, but we're climbing. So please, all of you readers, keep coming back. And if you'd like to hit the "chip in" link on the left, we'd be most grateful for your couple of bucks.

Update: We had 3,589 visitors today, a few hundred more than our previous "record."

The prosecutors lost their bid to keep pot guru Ed Rosenthal in jail pending sentencing.

This kind of overkill by prosecutors is how they lose the public trust. There was no justification for their request--Rosenthal is not a flight risk or a danger to the community. He's stuck around throughout these proceedings, including showing up for court today, after the verdict, and he's on a $200k bond. Ashcroft should know better by now.

Update: Daily Kos weighs in, read to the end. So does Instapundit, and Calpundit. Matt Yglesias weighs in here on legalization.

"A jury awarded more than $11 million to a former hotel manager Tuesday after concluding he was fired by real estate maven Leona Helmsley because he is gay."

"The jury found that Charles Bell had endured a "hostile and abusive work environment" while running Helmsley's Park Lane Hotel. He was awarded $10 million in punitive damages and $1.2 million in compensatory damages."

"State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub had told the jurors to take into account the defendant's financial condition and said Helmsley's net worth is estimated at $3.2 billion to $4 billion."

Kudos to Mr. Bell and his lawyers...for their perserverence in taking the case to trial--undoubtedly Mrs. Helmsley had a battery of high powered lawyers from a big firm--this just goes to prove that the little guy can win too.

From the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty:

Proposals to ban the execution of people with mental retardation and juvenile offenders and measures that would abolish the death penalty or place a moratorium on executions are under consideration in a number of states, according to an analysis released today by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty .

Even though it is still early in most state legislative sessions, legislators already have filed more than 200 death penalty-related measures. Bills that would reform, curtail or abolish the use of the death penalty outnumber unfavorable bills by a three-to-one ratio, according to the NCADP analysis.....

On Tuesday, NCADP also unveiled a new tool that will allow activists to lobby their state legislators and state legislative reporters to track legislation in their state capitals. By visiting www.ncadp.org, activists can access the NCADP Legislative Action Center and find out what death penalty-related bills have been filed in their state, the status of those bills and how to contact state legislators.