Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.hemp,alt.drugs
Subject: Trial in New Hampshire
From: [g--e--n] at [falcon.cc.ukans.edu] (Red Green)
Date: 3 Jan 95 14:01:35 CST

Suspect Says Marijuana Laws Unconstitutional
(The Union Leader, Manchester NH, Monday, 2 January, 1995)

By PAUL TOLME
Associated Press Writer

NEW HAMPTON---Harold Schaefer clings to the belief that Americans, whether
they admit it or not, feel the country's marijuana laws are cruel and
unconstitutional. Now, as Schaefer is about to face a jury on drug
charges, he says it's time to make a stand. "I've been a patriot all my
life. I still pledge allegiance to the flag,'' Schaefer said. "But I
withdraw my allegiance to this government." 

Schaefer, 37, is charged with growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants for
distribution in what authorities call the state's largest indoor growing
operation. He is scheduled for trial tomorrow in Concord's U.S. District
Court and faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted. 

Despite admitted tough odds, Schaefer looks forward to his trial. If
jurors believe in the Constitution and its guaranteed personal freedoms,
Schaefer says he will walk free. 

"These are issues of, liberty: a woman's right to have an abortion, a
homosexual's right to have a sexual partner of the same sex," he said. 

Schaefer says it's nobody's business whether he grew the marijuana, just
as nobody has the right to ask someone's sexual preference. If authorities
found him selling marijuana to a minor, that would be an offense he said. 

As frustrations with the country's drug problems mount and prisons fill, a
national debate is growing on the wisdom of America's drug policies. 

Author Peter McWilliams wrote that people shouldn't be punished for any
activity "that does not physically harm the person or property of
another." Others who have researched marijuana laws say one in six federal
inmates are imprisoned for marijuana offenses. 

John Finn, a Dartmouth College math instructor from Thetford, Vt., is
helping Schaefer from becoming part of those statistics. 

"I consider him the reincarnation of Patrick Henry," said Finn. 

Finn has sent word of Schaefer's trial to groups across the country
opposed to the nation's marijuana laws. 

Finn has no patience for people who say Schaefer knew the law and chose to
break it. Laws, such as those that once segregated whites from blacks, are
meant to be changed, he said. "Hey, the Nazis had laws too," he said.

In addition to moral and financial support, Finn hopes to affect the
outcome of Schaefer's trial by educating jurors about their right to
acquit someone if they feel a law is unconstitutional or the penalty too
harsh. Jury nullification allows jurors to judge the law as well as someone's
guilt or innocence. 

The problem, Finn and others say, is that jurors don't know they have this
right and federal judges refuse to tell them. With the help of the Fully
Informed Jury Association, a national organization dedicated to informing
jurors about jury nullification, Finn plans to pass out leaflets outside
the courthouse during jury selection and expects supporters to attend the
trial. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Ollila refused to discuss the case and
wouldn't speculate about whether Schaefer would be allowed to introduce
the jury nullification defense. Ollila did say a recent ruling established
that defendants "may not use sympathy as a defense to committing a crime." 

Schaefer says he is relying on common sense, not sympathy. Since his
arrest, he has poured over the Constitution and can recite passages by
heart. His face reddens as he works himself into a fervor while citing
freedoms the Bill of Rights guarantees. "Do you think the Bill of Rights
would pass today in Congress? No way " he said. 

Scattered on a table that is one of the few pieces of furniture he still
owns are books of legal terms, a copy of the Constitution, articles on
drugs and society, Thoreau's "The Federalist Papers." When he isn't
working odd jobs, he studies or talks to friends he has made since being
arrested. 

He traveled to Lawrence, Kan., recently to meet a woman charged with
growing 172 marijuana plants. "We rely on one another to hold one
another's hand so no one feels alone going through this horrible process,"
Schaefer said. 

Soon after returning from Kansas, Schaefer was thrown in jail, where he is
being held without bail. Police say he violated parole by driving drunk,
trying to outrun an officer in his car, and threatening the officer with a
knife. 

Despite his anger, Schaefer says the intent of the drug laws is good.
However, in its efforts to protect, the government has committed
injustices on people who have never harmed anyone else, he says. 

The legal process, itself, leaves scars. He says he has refused to cut any
deals with prosecutors because he doesn't want to give names. "I refuse to
put anyone through what I've had to endure," he said. 

Schaefer recalls coming home June 27 to find authorities swarming his
property, emptying drawers and dumping trash on the floor, reading love
letters he had sent to his wife 14 years ago, then leaving his house in
shambles. "I felt raped," he said. 

Schaefer moved to New Hampshire in 1987 from Long Island, N.Y., looking
for a better life for his two children. He brought $125,000 and his
construction company which did $1.2 million in business in 1989 and 1990. 

His business sank as the economy soured and people defaulted on payments.
He fell behind in his property taxes and mortgage payments but continued
to work 80 to 90 hours a week and refused to declare bankruptcy until this
year because the idea morally repulsed him. 

His marriage also soured and his wife, Kathleen left last January. After
he was arrested, prosecutors arranged a plea bargain with her in return
for testimony against him, he said. 

"They have turned her against me," he said. "I don't blame my wife. I'll
do anything to make sure she doesn't go to jail." 

When money got so tight he couldn't afford to send his son Ian, 10, to
private school, he began working for teachers at the school in return for
tuition. After his arrest, he found it difficult to work and couldn't
afford the mortgage. His home was auctioned by the bank in November. 

"They paint me as some drug lord," he said. "Where are the fancy cars, the
swimming pool, the vacation homes?" 

Before being jailed, Schaefer ignored advice to run, saying that would be
conceding guilt and would deny him his day in court. 

He plans to give his opening and closing arguments and prays the judge
will let him argue that the marijuana laws are unconstitutional. 

At times, the stress is unbearable. 

"I cry every day," he said. "I'm fearing the potential of being separated
from my children for a long time. People have killed themselves for a lot
less than that."
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