CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
A federal judge on Tuesday invoked a rarely used rule when giving reduced sentences to a Ventura County, Calif., couple charged with growing marijuana for a West Hollywood medical marijuana club, the Los Angeles Times reports. U.S. district judge A. Howard Matz relied on the "lesser harm" rule--that a defendant may commit a crime to avoid a perceived greater harm--in sentencing Judy Osburn, 50, to one year of probation. She could have received a prison sentence of up to 37 months. Osburn's husband, Lynn, 54, received a one-year prison sentence stemming from weapons charges and one year of probation for the marijuana charge. "You are a principled person," Matz told Judy Osburn at the sentencing hearing. "I don't consider you to be a threat or menace to society. But however salutary your purpose," he added, "the ends do not justify the means." The couple pleaded guilty in October after the judge ruled that they could not tell a jury during a trial that they were growing marijuana for medicinal purposes and with the support of West Hollywood city officials and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. California voters approved a ballot measure legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana in 1996. Judy Osburn was a director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, which dispensed marijuana to about 960 people, who used the drug to treat symptoms of AIDS or cancer or to counter nausea caused by medications to treat the diseases. Agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in October 2001 raided the club and shut it down. Federal officials plan to appeal the probation sentences given to the Osburns.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Record 1.2 million people show out for Cologne’s Pride parade
July 23 2024 10:51 AM
Here's how far-right activist Leonard Leo helped fund Bud Light boycott
July 23 2024 10:27 AM
Elon Musk’s comments about his trans daughter prove why she doesn’t speak to him
July 23 2024 9:16 AM
Nancy Pelosi endorses Kamala Harris for president
July 22 2024 4:07 PM
Charli XCX declares Kamala Harris IS brat & our next President's campaign agrees
July 22 2024 3:08 PM
Pete Buttigieg roasts JD Vance and his gay tech bro billionaire
July 22 2024 1:42 PM
The AIDs pandemic can be ended by 2030, but governments must act: report
July 22 2024 1:01 PM
Conservatives' first attack on Kamala Harris: Pronouns and accessibility?
July 22 2024 12:45 PM
Advancing equality during Disability Pride Month
July 22 2024 11:30 AM