Attorneys want Handy Township marijuana case to be dismissed

Attorneys for four people accused of selling marijuana to an undercover officer at a now-defunct medical marijuana dispensary will ask the judge to dismiss the charges.

Judge Michael P. Hatty will hear the motion at 9 a.m. today as well as one from the prosecutor's office prohibiting the four defendants charged in connection to raids on the now-defunct Marshall Alternatives medical marijuana dispensary from using the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act as a defense.

The prosecutor's office also want to preclude "all references" to medical marijuana during the trial.

"Of course, the prosecutor would like to prevent the defendants from raising a defense — it would certainly make it easier to secure a conviction," attorneys Matt Newburg and Mary Chartier wrote in a court document filed Thursday.

The prosecutor's office argues that to use the immunity section of the state law, the defendants must prove they are "primary caregivers" who have been authorized under the state's registry to provide marijuana for medicinal purposes to the person receiving the marijuana, according to court documents.

The undercover officer's medical marijuana card did not provide a caregiver designation.

The defense argues entrapment, saying the officer presented fraudulent documents — a driver's license and registry ID card — to receive marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The prosecutor's office also argues that the law does not permit patient-to-patient sales of marijuana.

However, defense attorneys disagree, arguing that precluding the use of the MMMA and related evidence violates their clients' constitutional rights to present a defense.

Marshall Alternatives owners Christi Marshall, 39, and Alan Dale Marshall, 39, along with employee Stephanie Lynn Baxter, 30, were charged with delivering marijuana for allegedly selling the drug to an undercover narcotics officer who posed as a card-carrying medical marijuana patient in February and May 2011.

April Sundie Smith, 44, also is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver in connection to the Marshall Alternatives raids.