By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A Hilo marijuana advocate who’s been in federal custody in Honolulu for almost two years while awaiting trial has been denied bail a sixth time.
Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang on Tuesday denied a bail request by Roger Christie, founder and leader of The Hawaii Cannabis (THC) Ministry.
Christie’s court-appointed Honolulu attorney, Thomas Otake, said he and Christie are “disappointed in the court’s ruling.” Otake took Christie’s case after a federal public defender withdrew. He said he’d appeal to U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi, “who has never heard the case.” Otake said he believes a review hearing will be set “in about a week.”
Kobayashi is also expected to be the judge in Christie’s trial, which after numerous delays is scheduled for Jan. 23, 2013.
On July 8, 2010, Christie and 13 other Big Island residents were arrested by federal agents. All were charged with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute 284 marijuana plants, which carries a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and a maximum of 40 years if they’re convicted. The others were granted bail, but Chang ordered Christie held without bail, calling him “a danger to the community.”
Christie’s downtown Hilo ministry and Wainaku apartment also were raided March 10, 2010, by the feds and local police. According to court documents, authorities confiscated approximately 845 grams of processed marijuana from the apartment, along with $21,494 cash found in a safe in the apartment and in a bank safe deposit box. The money and the apartment face possible federal forfeiture.
Noting that Christie has been jailed for almost 23 months, Otake said that “changed circumstances” merits another look at setting bail for his client.
“With the passage of time there’s been two significant changes,” he said. “The first is that the ministry has now been shut down and not in operation for that amount of time. The second is that he himself has been free from the use of marijuana for that amount of time. And we argued that was significant because one of the concerns of the court initially (was) that he’d be released and continue operating the ministry.”
Other circumstances Otake noted in a court documents are that Christie recently wed co-defendant Sherryanne “Share” St. Cyr and that Christie’s elderly mother is terminally ill in a Colorado hospice. Share Christie has pulled nomination papers for the Big Island’s mayoral race and was expected to file by Tuesday’s deadline.
In a court document, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Loo wrote that Christie’s mother’s illness “is unfortunate but it does not make him less of a danger to the community or less of a flight risk. Unless he has lost his phone privileges he should be able to speak to her, and if it becomes necessary, he could always request a furlough.”
Loo also argued that releasing Christie and reuniting him with his wife “would likely increase the danger to the community and the risk of flight rather than reduce it” because they “were the leaders of the ministry and the leaders of the charged conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana.”
Five of Christie’s co-defendants, Michael B. “Dewey” Shapiro, Timothy M. Mann, Susanne Lenore Friend, Jessica R. Walsh and Victoria C. Fiore have made plea deals with the prosecution which could involve testimony against Christie. None have been sentenced. Otake said the guilty pleas would not impact Christie’s case “in any significant way.”
“I think everyone knows, especially in Hilo, that Rev. Christie was always pretty open and public about his activities with his church,” he said. “It was in downtown Hilo with a big banner in front that said THC Ministry. There’s a lot of facts that the government and Mr. Christie agree to, there’s just the matter of applicable law and legal defenses that are there.”
Christie has maintained that marijuana is a holy sacrament of his religion and his involvement with it is constitutionally protected.
“That’s definitely gonna be a big piece of our defense,” Otake said.
Otake is hopeful that Kobayashi will grant Christie’s request to be released on bail to Mahoney Hale, a halfway house in the Iwilei neighborhood near downtown Honolulu. He called Christie “about the most peaceful, well-mannered and respectful human being you can meet.”
“It really doesn’t sit well that he’s denied the opportunity for bond when others with much more serious charges are often given the opportunity for bond. It’s not unusual in federal court for people with multi-pound methamphetamine trafficking charges to be released on bond.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
