Just a quick review: On the morning of February 21, 2012 the Vallejo Police Department, in conjunction with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), Solano County Narcotics division and the California State Board of Equalization arrested the owner of the Greenwell Medical Marijuana Dispensary on Marin St. in downtown Vallejo. Up until that point Matt Shotwell had seemingly played by the rules.
In fact, the Vallejo City Finance Director Deborah Lauchner admits that members of the Board of Equalization had visited the Vallejo Marijuana dispensaries as recently as last summer, and found nothing awry. And Shotwell was one of the first outspoken proponents of the tax measure recently voted in by Vallejo taxpayers to tax Marijuana dispensaries 10% on all sales. Nevertheless, Shotwell was arrested within a few short months of the Board of Equalization review of local facilities. Some suspect that this arrest is the result of behind the scenes influence by some city officials who, shall we say, have a personal family history with drugs. Nevertheless, Vallejo’s ‘finest’ proceeded to make a public example of Shotwell in a very graphic and forceful way.
After his initial arrest, Shotwell was told that his bail would be set at $65,000. Ten percent of that amount is required by law to be paid to the court in order to obtain tentative release “on your own recognizance”. Shotwell posted the necessary amount. He was then released and allowed to return to his Napa Street home in Vallejo. Three hours later, with a document described under the California Code section as 1275.1, the police once again showed up at Shotwell’s door only to arrest him a second time. Penal Code section 1275.1 states in part: “Deposit, pledge, or consideration (bail) shall not be accepted unless a judge finds that no portion of the pledge was feloniously obtained.” It further states: “Within 24 hours a prosecutor, peace officer or judge can file a declaration executed under penalty of perjury setting forth probable cause to believe that the source of consideration (bail) paid was feloniously obtained through an unlawful act.”
So here is the back story: Testimony during his bail hearing on March 2nd in the court room of the most affable of Solano county judges, Judge Allan P. Carter revealed some interesting facts. It seems that the police literally scrambled to the home of Judge Paul Beeman (a long-time Vallejo player) with the 1275.1 document. They asked him to sign it almost immediately after Shotwell was released. Paul Beeman signed sans hesitation. Not only did Judge Beeman sign it, but he increased Shotwell’s bail to $100,000 making it almost impossible for Shotwell to find the money for his release from the Solano County Jail yet a second time. And so, Matt Shotwell sat in a jail cell for the next ten days until his hearing last Friday morning, March 2nd.
In the courtroom, Friday March 2, 2012
Shotwell was brought into the courtroom in the typical horizontal stripe prison uniform; he was chained and tightly handcuffed. He appeared unkempt and stressed, making a few attempts to see who was in the court room in his support. Many of his supporters were in fact present. The female bailiff quickly cautioned him to keep his eyes forward at all times to which he dutifully complied. Shotwell has been assigned a public defender, an attorney named Sarah Johnson. Johnson argued that “Mr. Shotwell is not a flight risk, and that he would not attempt to flee the Vallejo community.” Johnson further stated that Matt Shotwell has been a contributing citizen and did not need further incarceration at this juncture. Interestingly enough, Judge Carter seemed visibly surprised that the police went to the trouble of going to Judge Beeman’s home for a signature, and he seemed even more surprised that Judge Beeman had raised Shotwell’s bail to $100,000. To further complicate matters, Ms. Johnson informed the judge that there was no arrest warrant given during the second arrest. She further stated that it was “clearly an improper bail increase.” Judge Carter then asked the Prosecutor what the maximum exposure would be for charges made against Shotwell. The answer was: Nine years. Shotwell is charged with drug possession, cultivation of drugs, sale of drugs and possession of a firearm. The judge then ordered that the 1275.l document be immediately released, and reduced Shotwell’s bail to $65.000.
Matthew Shotwell has many friends and supporters in the community. One of Shotwell’s friends, who prefers to remain unknown, is a tall, clean-cut and good looking athletic man who played rugby for four years with Shotwell at Vallejo’s Cal State Maritime Academy. He agreed to put $6500 on his personal credit card in order to bail Shotwell out of jail the second time. Further counted among Shotwell’s friends is his actress/model girlfriend. Shotwell and his lady met on a movie set in San Francisco in 2010. In addition to the raid on Greenwell Collective, the Vallejo police, along with some Benicia police raided his girlfriend’s home in Benicia. Although she prefers her name not be printed, she was willing to speak about the incident: “They took all of my computers, and personal information. I work as an actress and all of my contacts and information are in those computers. I pray I shall get them back. They basically took away my livelihood when they confiscated them. Matt has never lived with me, so I don’t know why they targeted me. But they entered my own private residence when I was not at home. My girlfriend was there to witness their behavior. They took many things which have absolutely nothing to do with Matt.” “All I know is that there were a lot of men and badges everywhere.”
Another one of Shotwell’s university friends gave his name freely. Ryan Finke had this to say: “ Matt is a really great guy, and is very generous. He is so kind and good to my mother. She suffers from a very rare disease called Erythromelalgia. Matt has a topical marijuana cream at his store which has been prescribed for my mother by her doctors. It has really helped her so much. Now that they have shut Greenwell down, it will be more difficult for her to obtain this cream. I think the bottom line is that Matt played by the rules, he followed local and state laws. He even gave a lot of money to various causes in this city (Vallejo). He encouraged the recent local tax against the Marijuana dispensaries. This grey area of the law has been ongoing for years, so why are they attacking him now, and why him first? He has helped so many people, it is truly unfortunate. I will do all that I can to help him.” Vallejo resident Rich Neville had this to say: “In reality the laws of Marijuana dispensaries are still unclear. There is so much grey area still. It seems to me that they should leave these dispensaries alone for now until the laws are sorted out. They are jumping the gun.”
Meanwhile, Judge Carter ordered that Matt Shotwell return to the Fairfield jail facility until such time that his friend could make bail. He then set the next hearing for April 19 at 10:00 in Department 12 of the Superior Court at the Vallejo courthouse on Tuolumne Street. “Hopefully you will be free in just a couple of hours,” Judge Carter said to Shotwell.
Article from: ibvallejo.com
- Posted using my jailbroken iPod
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