Joseph P. Welch

Rush Hour Protest at Forest Park

joe — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:41:00 +0000

Greater St. Louis NORML protested yesterday against the prohibition of marijuana and in support of our petition to decriminalize marijuana in the City of St. Louis.

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske visits St. Louis

joe — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:31:23 +0000

Marc Emery Day Protest - St. Louis 2009

joe — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:49:12 +0000

Our protest yesterday turned out great!

St. Louis NORML Protests Political Prosecution of Marijuana Reformer

joe — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:45:41 +0000

Keegan Hamilton of the Riverfront Times posted an article about today’s Marc Emery Day protest at the courthouse downtown by Greater St. Louis NORML - check it out here: St. Louis NORML Chapter Holding “Prince of Pot” Protest Tomorrow

Today’s protest is going to be downtown at the Mel Carnahan Criminal Courthouse at 1114 Market Street (the corner of Market and Tucker) at 4:00 P.M.

Hamilton writes:

“Emery is just another example of an otherwise law abiding citizen being sent to prison for a non-violent marijuana offense,” says St. Louis NORML director Joseph Welch. “Except his case is more political. He’s being singled out for his role in the marijuana legalization movement.”

Emery was targeted by the United States government not because he was just selling seeds in his storefront shop and online, but because he was an active and aggressive reformer.

[Emery] is the editor of Cannabis Culture magazine and the founder of the BC-based Marijuana Party (guess what they’re in favor of). Former U.S. Attorney John McKay called him “the biggest purveyor of marijuana from Canada into the United States” and the DEA claimed that marijuana seeds he sold via the Internet for 11 years resulted 1.1 million pounds of pot (worth an estimated $11 billion) being grown in this country.

The Daily RFT dot com - St. Louis NORML Chapter Holding “Prince of Pot” Protest Tomorrow

Worst of luck to you, Bobby Garrett - another bad cop goes down.

joe — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:35:36 +0000

Detective Bobby Garrett was as crooked as they come, and now he’s getting his. This corrupt police officer put one of my clients in jail for 2 months and almost sent him to prison for 11 years - luckily, though, it only took our jury 25 minutes to find my guy NOT GUILTY.

The St. Louis American reports:

On Friday (August 28), former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detective Bobby Garrett plead guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, making false statements and theft of government funds, according to Acting United States Attorney Michael W. Reap.

Though Reap described it as an “isolated incident,” the investigation revealed several City undercover detectives under the leadership of then Police Chief Mokwa committing crimes together on multiple occasions while in the line of duty.

Federal investigators describe a network of on-duty police officers stealing money from purported drug dealers and lying in official documents to conceal their crimes.

Federal agents also described false arrests made as part of the cover-up and obstruction of justice when their crimes were investigated.

Garrett, Leo Liston and Vincent Carr were police detectives employed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, assigned to the Crime Suppression Unit.

Their duties included investigations involving auto theft, burglary, illegal narcotics sales and firearms offenses and were usually carried out while working in plain clothes and unmarked cars.

According to statements made in court by Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith at the time of the guilty plea, Garrett aided and abetted other officers acting with him in stealing money from a purported drug courier they stopped on September 18, 2007, and failed to properly report the stop and seizure in order to conceal their actions.

Further, Goldsmith said, in a June 6, 2008 drug raid, Garrett stole money, lied on police reports about the drug raid, and took other actions to conceal the theft, including falsely arresting and charging an individual relative to the drug raid.

Garrett later lied to a representative of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI agents investigating the incident in order to conceal his criminal conduct, Goldsmith said.

In an unrelated June 11, 2008 drug raid, Garrett and other officers working with him seized approximately $12,000 in cash, but only reported approximately $4,000 of the seized cash to the police department. The remaining approximately $8,000 was misapplied by Garrett and the other officers, and a false police report was prepared in order to conceal their criminal conduct, Goldsmith said in connection to the guilty plea.

Garrett, 49, of St. Louis County, plead guilty to one felony count of embezzlement of government property, one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one felony count of wire fraud, two felony counts of making false statements and one felony count of misapplication of government funds.

Read the whole story from the St. Louis American online: Former City detective pleads guilty to multiple crimes committed on duty