Is War on Weed losing ground? Judge rejects 5 yr request by DA & sentences Kubrin to 1 yr

[Peacetown Jonathan]

Is the tide beginning to turn against Sonoma County's secret war on weed? More than 1,100 people have now signed a petition to D.A. Jill Ravtich to "Stop Incarcerating Parents for Victimless Marijuana Crimes."

The County's prosecution of Sebastopol father and real estate broker Yarrow Kubrin for technical violations to California's arcane marijuana laws came to a conclusion yesterday morning, as I described in today's updated Sonoma Independent as follows:


Judge Rejects D.A.’s Five Year Request and Sentences Kubrin to One Year
by Jonathan Greenberg

The overfilled Santa Rosa courtroom of Judge Rene Chouteau was standing room only this morning, as nearly 100 supporters of Yarrow Kubrin turned out for the sentencing of a local real estate broker and father of two small children.Dozens of supporters waited in the hallway to hear the final sentencing, which was one year in county prison, followed by four years “supervised release” (probation).After the sentencing, Kubrin attorney Chris Andrian explained that this would likely mean about six months in local jail. “It was a fair and just decision,” Andrian said. “The judge took into consideration the good and the bad.”Andrian had asked for probation only, with no jail time, so that Kubrin could remain with his wife, seven-year-old daughter, and emotionally challenged four-year-old son.As described in detail here at the Sonoma Independent, the County’s $63 million per year Probation Dept. had requested a four and a half year prison sentence. And on behalf of ‘The People Vs. Yarrow Lee Kubrin,” Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch’s office ignored more than 1,000 signatures on a “Stop Incarcerating Parents for Victimless Marijuana Crimes” petition urging her to lessen its request for five and a half years of jail time.Unfortunately for the taxpaying public, Press Democrat court reporter Paul Payne did not bother with what seems like two logical follow up questions for Sonoma County's District Attorney: What did Kubrin do that had any impact on public safety, and which specific members of the public were victimized, or harmed, by his actions?

Sonoma County's District Attorney, whose $225,000 annual salary and $109,000 in benefits makes her the seventh highest paid D.A. of 58 California counties, refused to answer written questions provided a week in advance from the Sonoma Independent about the purpose of spending millions of public dollars to jail otherwise law abiding citizens for victimless crimes. But within hours of the sentencing, she was quoted in a Press Democrat article here calling the Kubrin prosecution a "public safety" case. She said, “This has nothing to do with whether it should be legalized...It has to do with efforts to keep our community safe now.”It seemed to many in the courtroom that Kubrin's care in keeping the guns locked in a safe in a locked basement room showed more concern for the safety of his children and wife than many gun owners demonstrate. And despite a reported 40 charges against him for technical violations of the California's arcane medicinal marijuana laws, there were no charges that Kubrin ever robbed or threatened anyone, or diverted water, farmed on public land, or sold to minors, or sold marijuana publicly.

READ MORE HERE....