Conflicting marijuana laws take stage in trial

A highly anticipated trial involving conflicting laws over the use and sale of marijuana got underway Friday in federal court in Los Angeles with the prosecution depicting the defendant as a brazen drug trafficker who toted around a backpack full of cash and the defense struggling to provide context without actually mentioning that their client was dispensing "medicinal marijuana."

At the center of the case is Charlie Lynch, a 46-year-old businessman from San Luis Obispo County, who opened a facility called Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers in spring 2006.

Prosecutors contend that Lynch violated federal law by selling $2.1-million worth of marijuana in less than a year, some of it to kids "not yet old enough to legally drink."

Lynch's defense attorneys would like to present evidence that their client was dispensing doctor-prescribed medicinal marijuana to sick people in accordance with state law, but the U.S. Supreme Court has concluded that federal drug laws trump those of the states and that why the drug was being distributed is therefore irrelevant.

But one of his attorneys hinted during opening arguments that Lynch had sought -- and presumably received -- approval from an official with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration before he set up shop.

If they are able to convince U.S. District Court Judge George Wu that there is a sufficient basis for mounting such an entrapment defense, they may be allowed to present evidence that Lynch believed he was operating within the law, which legal experts said would probably make him more sympathetic to jurors.

"It could have an enormous effect," said Rebecca Lonergan, a USC law professor and former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. "Anytime you have a hot political or public policy issue like this, there is the risk that members of the jury will decide based on their politics, not the evidence in the case."

scott.glover@latimes.com