VANCOUVER - Pot activist Marc Emery will drop his fight against extradition and plead guilty in the U.S. to a single charge of distributing drugs.
"I'm going to be making a guilty plea in Seattle in six to eight weeks," Emery told 24 hours.
"Then I will be sentenced on that guilty plea sometime in August or September."
Emery said he decided not to fight against his extradition, in a hearing that was supposed to happen this month, because he would have likely lost.
"The Canadian government has never refused a U.S. request to extradite," Emery said.
Emery said he expects the District Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington to seek a federal sentence of 5-8 years in prison.
"Jail time is very likely and certainly very possible," said Emery, who said he plans to write a book (tentatively titled "100 Chapters"), learn French and Spanish, and get a job inside the prison - if he's sentenced.
Emery said he would seek to transfer to a Canadian prison to serve his time, claiming that U.S. authorities have promised not to oppose a transfer.
Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office haven't yet responded to a request for comment.
Emery was first arrested in July 2005 in Halifax, after RCMP executed a warrant issued by the Western District of Washington, following an 18-month U.S. investigation into his marijuana seed selling business.
Emery and his co-defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds and conspiracy to engage in money laundering, charges that carried penalties ranging from 10 years to life in prison.
In April, Emery's co-defendants, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams, agreed to a plea agreement involving a sentence of two years probation.
Irwin Loy reports for Vancouver 24 hours
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DPL
2 years ago
Havent smoked the stuff sold
Havent smoked the stuff sold it, or grown it maybe I'm not the right guy to comment about the fellow. But there must be more serious issues around the drug business. Like catching the guys selling crack cocain to young kids outisde their schoolks, or some health agencies who want to provide the users with crack pipes. The US war on drugs and of course the chasing of folks hauling Pot across the borders is getting rather silly. Our cops spend a lot of time chasing folks as well.
MichaelT
2 years ago
netherlands is closing
netherlands is closing prisons due to lack of prisoners saving wads of dough because they have decrim/defacto legalization of weed.
prohibition is madness x 10
x4estworker
2 years ago
Another win for the Zealots
Marc Emery has been skewered by the fanatics that manage and work at the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
This is along the lines of what happened to Tommy Chong, who was sent to jail for the ludicrous "crime" of selling pot pipes. The DEA went the full distance with him and they are doing the same with Emery.
The point of persecuting these two individuals is really hard to determine, as the majority of people in both Canada and the United States think the law is an ass when it comes to prosecuting pot smokers. In other words, what's the public interest in sending these people to jail? The answer, of course, is that the DEA is a power unto itself and believes that it is answerable to no one.
The DEA folks should join the Women's Christian Temperance Union, which for years tried to have booze banned. That would be more of a public service than chasing pot smokers and seed merchants.