Lawyer charged in marijuana operation case says state and federal laws ban prosecution

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Arrested last year at his Denver law office, a Colorado attorney facing federal charges in connection with an alleged illegal marijuana operation says he shouldn’t be prosecuted.

That’s because state law permits him to do what he did and a federal budget amendment bans the use of federal funds to pursue the case, says attorney David Furtado. In fact, a motion filed last week by his counsel alleges, it is the Department of Justice that is violating the law, because the budget amendment effectively nixes federal prosecution of marijuana businesses operating legally under state law.

But the unanswered question is whether a federal budget amendment that went into effect after Furtado was charged protects claimed illegal conduct that occurred beforehand, according to the Denver Post.

“This is brand new,” law professor Sam Kamin of the University of Denver said of Furtado’s argument. “And, as with so much in marijuana law,...

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