Q: What can be done if a judge in MI is ignoring the court of appeals decision that allows mmj patients to use on probation
My disabled husband was arrested for DUI and took a plea to a lesser charge because it seemed like all he could do. He took the plea with the understanding that it would not prevent him from using medical Marijuana as a brain tumor patient. The judge in lapeer County is not allowing him to use without violating. He was also charged $1600 in court, but had accepted to pay only $300 in his plea agreement. He is on SSDI. EVERYONE in court that day was fined $1600. A lot went wrong with his day in court and his public defender was about as useful as not even having a lawyer. My husband was not properly defended and important info never made its way to the judge, like the fact that my husband has GERDS and that likely affected the validity of the breathalyzer test. She was also unaware of why he would need mmj, though that info was given to his lawyer before court. A motion was submitted to allow him to use mmj on probation, but that was denied even with proper medical documentation.
A:
That judge is not the only one...what can be done? Appeal a revocation or sanction of probation.
While it sounds like you are disappointed in the case outcome, DUIs can be tough to defend. If your husband was driving, and his BAC was over 0.08...I'm not sure what benefit going to trial would bring. Your husband probably plead to operating while visibly impaired. I'm not sure what his GERDS would have to do with anything; where it might have an affect is in close cases where the BAC results come back at like 0.09 or something like that, and you're trying to argue it was actually less because of GERDS.
As to fines / costs....again, not the only judge to be doing that, and $1,600 is about right for a DUI across the board. Yes, judges should take individual factors into consideration....again, remedy is appeal, but that comes with a lot of possible consequences.
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