United States v. Trevino

355 F. Supp. 3d 625
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 16, 2019
DocketNo. 1:18-cr-166
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 355 F. Supp. 3d 625 (United States v. Trevino) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Trevino, 355 F. Supp. 3d 625 (W.D. Mich. 2019).

Opinion

Paul L. Maloney, United States District Judge

Defendant Daniel Trevino has been charged with various violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act, but he claims that his conduct complied with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. He has now moved the Court to quash the indictment because, beginning in 2014, Congress prohibited the Department of Justice from using funds to prevent states from implementing their own laws regarding the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of marijuana. Trevino thus argues that the government's prosecution of him violates this limitation on expenditures enacted by Congress and, therefore, also violates the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution and asks the Court to "quash" the indictment "unless and until the government establishes the authority" of the DEA and DOJ to expend federal funds to prosecute him.

The Court scheduled a hearing on the motion. First, it took argument on who bears the burden of proving or disproving compliance with the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. Having heard from both parties, the Court concluded that the defendant bore the burden of proving "strict compliance" with state medical marijuana law and cited the Ninth Circuit opinion of United States v. McIntosh , 833 F.3d 1163 (9th Cir. 2016) and Judge Lawson's opinion that, as the party seeking an injunction, the defendant bore the burden of enjoining the prosecution for violation of the Appropriations Clause. United States v. Bally , No. 17-20135, 2017 WL 5625896, at *5 (E.D. Mich. Nov. 22, 2017).

The parties were then to proceed to the evidentiary hearing on the motion, and Trevino was to call his first witness. However, Trevino then raised a separate question that appears to be an issue of first impression: If he testified at the evidentiary hearing and was ultimately unsuccessful on his motion, could the United States use his testimony as substantive evidence in its case-in-chief? Of course, the question needed to be resolved before the evidentiary hearing could proceed, so the Court adjourned the hearing and ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing whether Trevino's testimony could be used as substantive and/or impeachment evidence.

Now with the benefit of the parties' briefs, the Court concludes that a defendant's testimony at an evidentiary hearing to enjoin prosecution-based on a Congressional funding prohibition-does not require use immunity, and therefore, any *627relevant testimony given by Trevino is admissible as substantive evidence in the government's case-in-chief.

I.

The Court has set forth the facts generally at issue in previous opinions. It suffices to say here that Defendant Daniel Trevino operated a medical marijuana business in Western Michigan beginning in 2011 and continuing through at least 2016. He maintains that his business complied with pertinent Michigan law regarding the use, distribution and transfer of medical marijuana. The federal government disagrees. It charged Trevino and three co-defendants with various violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act, including conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute marijuana (Count One), maintaining a drug premises (Counts Two, Six, Seven, Eight), manufacturing marijuana (Counts Three & Five), and possession with intent to distribute marijuana (Counts Four and Nine).

II.

A. State and Federal Regulation of Marijuana

The advent and acceptance of medical marijuana among the states has not been matched by the federal government. While thirty or more states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, the federal government has classified marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Federal Controlled Substances Act since 1970. Drugs must meet three criteria to be placed in Schedule I: (1) the drug must have a high potential for abuse; (2) the drug must have no currently accepted medical use in treatment; and (3) there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision. 21 U.S.C. § 812. "By the terms of the Act, marijuana is 'contraband for any purpose,' and, if there is any conflict between federal and state law with regard to marijuana legislation, federal law shall prevail pursuant to the Supremacy Clause." United States v. Walsh , 654 F. App'x 689, 695 (6th Cir. 2016) (quoting Gonzales v. Raich , 545 U.S. 1, 14, 125 S.Ct. 2195, 162 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) ).

The conflict between state and federal views of medical marijuana has created new frontiers for traditional issues of constitutional law and kept many legal commentators gainfully employed. See, e.g. , Raich , 545 U.S. at 16, 125 S.Ct. 2195 (holding that Commerce Clause empowered Congress to regulate solely intrastate cultivation of marijuana; id. at 57, 125 S.Ct. 2195 (O'Connor, J., dissenting) ("[W]hatever the wisdom of California's experiment with medical marijuana, the federalism principles that have driven our Commerce Clause cases require that room for experiment be protected in this case."); Robert A. Mikos, On the Limits of Supremacy: Medical Marijuana and the States' Overlooked Power to Legalize Federal Crime , 62 VAND. L. REV. 1421, 1456-60 (Oct. 2009) (examining federal supremacy and examining preemption of various state methods of "legalizing" medical marijuana).

B. Congress Prevents the DOJ from spending funds "to prevent States from implementing" Medical Marijuana Programs

Congress added a new dimension to the medical marijuana debate in 2014 by imposing a spending limitation on the Department of Justice's funds relating to medical marijuana:

None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of ... Michigan ... [and 31 other states and *628

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355 F. Supp. 3d 625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-trevino-miwd-2019.