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Aloha. Enclosed is the short testimony I spoke to Judge Kobayashi at the sentencing for Share and me.
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April 28, 2014
To Judge Leslie Kobayashi, U.S. District Court Honolulu, Hawai’i
Aloha. When I was 12 years old a neighbor of ours took me to my first town council meeting in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. At one point in the proceedings the Chairman asked if I had anything to say on-the-record to the Council. That surprising invitation impressed me so much with the value of our first Amendment Constitutional Right to freedom of speech that I’ve been speaking my truth to our government ever since. I’m grateful that we’re able to continue that noble tradition today.
I’m sorry that my actions or inactions led our co-defendants into legal troubles, and that our arrest left our medical patients to fend for themselves. I did my best to make the THC Ministry a safe, legal place to worship and to obtain sacrament and medical marijuana. I hope they can forgive me for my errors in judgment.
Share and I do our best to live in gratitude and find that the more gratitude we have - the more good things Spirit gives us to be thankful for. Some people call it the “law of attraction”.
Looking back on our legal case I’m thankful that Your Honor ruled that Share and I were “sincere” and “legitimate”, and that “the government substantially burdened our legitimate religious practices”.
I also thank you for ruling that we made a prima facie case in the Motion to take our Defense of Entrapment by Estopple to the jury.
I’d like to thank our families, our friends and all the THC Ministry members for their generous and continuous love and support. These past 45 months have been much easier on us because of you.
I’d like to thank the news media for reporting fairly on our case along the way. We all share and deep respect for the First Amendment.
I want to thank our legal team of Tommy Otake and Lynn Panagakos. They’ve made a strong legal record and we look forward to taking our Motions to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and hopefully winning them there.
I want to thank my wife Share for loving and supporting me; for marrying me in the visiting room of the Federal Detention Center and “taking me for better or worse”. Our lack of physical connection has increased our spiritual connection.
Your Honor, whatever you feel is my appropriate prison sentence I will accept, and I’ll practice our THC Ministry blessing on it by saying:
God, that’s great! Please show us the blessings in THIS situation … and hurry! We are safe, we are loved and all is well.
Thank you and aloha.
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