DENVER—Federal prosecutors want to bar a Colorado pot grower facing federal drug charges from using the state’s medical marijuana law in his defense.
Christopher Bartkowicz was charged with cultivating and distributing marijuana after federal drug agents raided him suburban Denver home this spring. He’s set to go on trial Sept. 20.
According to court documents, Bartkowicz showed federal agents three strains of marijuana he was growing to sell for $200 an ounce during the raid. Bartkowicz allegedly gave the agents a binder full of state medical marijuana registry cards and said he thought he was following state law.
Colorado voters approved medical marijuana in 2000, and the state allows patients to designate “caregivers” to grow their pot for them.
But federal prosecutors don’t want Bartkowicz to bring up Colorado caregiver rules in his trial. In a motion to ban the state defense filed Tuesday, the government argued a state-law defense would be “completely irrelevant” to Bartkowicz’s federal indictment.
The government also wanted to ban the pot grower from using any medical claims in his defense that could provoke jury sympathy.
Bartkowicz’s lawyer, Joseph Saint-Veltri,didn’t return a message Thursday seeking comment.
Federal prosecutors pointed out in their motion that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in a California case that state marijuana laws don’t trump federal drug laws. That case, however, was decided before U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced in a memo last year that the Obama administration wouldn’t use resources to prosecute people following state marijuana laws.
“This memorandum does not alter in any way the (Justice) Department’s authority to enforce federal law,” the motion argued.
Federal drug authorities raided Bartkowicz’s home this spring after Bartkowicz showed off his basement pot-growing business to a Denver TV station.
