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June 14, 2014
Hello out there,
Aloha. Happy Father’s Day. I hope this finds you in top-shape and high-spirits.
As a spiritual practitioner I must - and to the best of my ability I do - take 100% responsibility for what led to the raids, arrests and indictments of the Green Fourteen. To my co-defendants I say that I’m sincerely sorry for leading you into trouble. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.
After 10 years of operating the THC Ministry with what seemed like ‘immunity’ from prosecution … acknowledged to me personally over the years by local, state and federal law enforcement agents and officials … I got cocky and prideful and, according to the old saying, “Pride goes before a fall.”
I was also careless by offering important THC Ministry ordinations and memberships to people I hardly knew - or didn’t know at all - hoping that my “legitimacy” and ‘immunity’ would transfer to them IF they were “sincere” spiritual users and zero selling Cannabis. The extreme prohibition of our sacrament and the horrendous damage done to good people for far too long had a lot to do with my enthusiasm for promoting the THC Ministry concept far and wide. I was hoping to help protect people who were otherwise vulnerable to being arrested and imprisoned.
I’ve come to know through the legal process of “discovery” that one of our Ministers was too loose with his new-found THC Ministry ordination and was blatantly selling sacrament. When he got arrested (in 2007 or 2008?) he rightfully drew attention to me and a formal investigation was opened on our activities by the Hawaii County Police. I’ve come to realize this was more my fault and responsibility than his. As far as I can tell this incident started the official investigation of me and those around me.
Last year another possible piece of the puzzle of our case came to my attention and I filed it away. A few days ago I found the document in my paperwork which I think is worthy of sharing with you and adding to the website about our case. Please know that this document is based on an educated rumor; it’s “submitted testimony”, but not sworn court testimony.
The following is submitted testimony to the Hawaii State Legislature on March 21, 2013 in their debate of SCR 75, a Resolution to encourage the Federal Government to allow me bail.
“Comments: Testimony for Roger Christie: I am a friend of Share Christie, and an attorney licensed in the State of Missouri since 1989. In the spring of 2011 I started working pro bono to help Share and Roger on their case. On several occasions I spoke by phone with Dana Ishibashi, the public defender representing Share until October 2011. Share told me that Dana was a friend of the prosecutor, Michael Kawahara.
It seemed to me that the federal government’s prosecution of Roger was far above what seemed reasonable. On one of my phone calls to Dana, I asked him if he knew the real reason the government wanted to prosecute Roger so much. Dana told me that when operation Green Harvest was in place, the program had a budget of $460,000., of which the federal government paid $400,000., and the local government paid $60,000. When Roger helped get the Peaceful Skies initiative passed on the Big Island it prohibited the local government from spending that $60,000. Dana said that after that the local authorities went to the federal authorities and complained about what Roger had done and that the federal authorities said they still could go after Roger and that is just what they did.
It seemed clear to me that Dana believed Roger had been specifically targeted because of his work in getting Peaceful Skies passed. Dana did not share with me where he got this information. I hope the Senate can find out.
Sincerely ______ _______, J.D.”
* This testimony was signed by the sender, but their name was omitted here by me.
I’m reminded of the hempseed case in the early 1990’s when Aaron Anderson and I were arrested for importing legal, DEA-approved, USDA-approved, steam-sterilized hempseeds from China for our Hawai’i Hemp Council. We were both charged with “commercial promotion of marijuana” and faced 10 years in state prison and a $25,000. fine. Mostly due to the good legal work of attorney Steven Strauss, Aaron and I were found “not guilty” in court about five years later. Soon after that, Steve sued Hawaii County Prosecutor Jay Kimura for “selective prosecution” of Aaron and me because the hempseeds were commonly available in the stream of commerce as legal bird seed. In the discovery process for the case Steve found a document from the Prosecutor’s Office that clearly said that Aaron and I were prosecuted for being “vocal hemp activists”, a First Amendment legal right. That document helped to persuade Hawaii County to settle the case with us for a payment of $75,000.
God, that’s great! Please show us the blessings in THIS situation … and hurry! We are safe, we are loved and all is well.
All the very best to you,
Roger
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