Tag Archives: Kansas

Civil Liberties, Featured, States Rights

Kansas Supreme Court Overturns Law Criminalizing DUI Test Refusals

Feb 29, 2016 Barry Donegan Leave a comment

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that a state law that makes it a crime for a DUI suspect to refuse a warrantless blood or breathalyzer test is unconstitutional.

The law assessed criminal penalties ranging from a misdemeanor for a first-time refuser to up to a felony for repeat offenders.

According to The Kansas City Star, the justices voted 6 to 1 against the law, claiming that blood and breathalyzer tests are a form of search and that the criminal law prohibiting refusals imposes a punishment against individuals who attempt to reserve their Fourth Amendment constitutional right not to be subjected to an unreasonable search and seizure.

The law had been enacted in an effort to give teeth to the state’s implied consent law, which requires residents to consent to being subjected to DUI investigations as a condition of obtaining a driver’s license.

However, the court ruled that drivers who agree to the implied consent statement retain the right to terminate the agreement.

“Once a suspect withdraws consent, whether it be express consent or implied (under the statute), a search based on that consent cannot proceed,” stated the court in its majority opinion.

Ex-Lawrence Police Department officer and current member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s national board of directors Jay Norton told The Kansas City Star, “Obviously MADD’s position is that driving is a privilege and not a right. … We support penalties for refusing to take chemical tests. We think law enforcement members need to have all the tools at their disposal to keep our roads safe from drunken drivers who kill about 10,000 people a year.”

Kansas criminal defense attorney Jay Norton said in support of the ruling, “The Supreme Court has affirmed the right of the individual citizen to be free from forced searches by the government.”

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Missouri v. McNeely that in most DUI cases police must obtain a warrant before ordering a suspect to submit to a blood or breathalyzer test, except in “exigent circumstances,” with justices noting that the fact that the suspect’s body might be metabolizing evidence of intoxication at the time of the stop is not an emergency reason justifying a warrantless search.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it will consider whether state-level laws criminalizing the refusal of warrantless DUI tests are constitutional.

According to KSN-TV, “roughly a dozen” states currently have laws on the books which criminalize the refusal of warrantless blood or breathalyzer tests by DUI suspects.

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Drug War, Featured, Marijuana Prohibition

Shona Banda’s Lawyers File Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Against State of Kansas

Jul 20, 2015 Barry Donegan 2 Comments

Attorneys Sarah Swain and Matthew Pappas have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the State of Kansas and its Department for Children and Families on behalf of cannabis oil activist and Crohn’s disease patient Shona Banda, whose 11-year-old son was taken by authorities in April of this year after he spoke out about his mother’s successful medical marijuana treatment during a public school anti-drug presentation. After Banda’s son was seized by the state, Garden City, KS police raided her home on the basis of an unauthorized interrogation of her son, allegedly finding cannabis oil constituents and paraphernalia used to make it, and charged her with 5 criminal charges. Banda faces over 30 years in prison if convicted.

Swain, who said last month that she intends to attack cannabis’ classification as a hardcore Schedule 1 narcotic with no medical use as a part of Banda’s defense, teamed up with attorney Matthew Pappas and announced the lawsuit on Banda’s behalf at a July 3 press conference in Los Angeles, according to The Garden City Telegram. The federal civil rights suit alleges that the State of Kansas and the Department for Children and Families violated Banda’s rights by taking her son.

“There’s a fundamental right in our country that if you’re doing something that is to help a condition you suffer from, and that’s the purpose of what you’re doing, then it would be inappropriate [to seize a parent’s child over the substance], unless there is an extremely important interest and a narrowly-tailored law. It would be necessary to have that situation before you would ever take a child out of somebody’s custody,” said Pappas in an interview with The Garden City Telegram. He continued, “In Kansas the issue comes down to whether or not there is a justification that the law prohibiting marijuana is narrowly tailored given the fact that she’s using it to alleviate serious pain and symptoms related to Crohn’s disease and not to get high.”

Authorities claim that DCF seized Banda’s son because evidence related to her alleged use and manufacture of cannabis oil was found within reach of her child. Banda’s legal team will reportedly argue that her use of cannabis was medicinal in nature and that the substance is less toxic than other legal household items and medications. In his interview with The Garden City Telegram, Pappas cited prior case law that upheld a parent’s right to custody of a child as fundamental under the Civil Rights Act of 1871.

Truth in Media has covered Shona Banda’s cannabis oil activism since March of 2014, as she first gained notoriety after producing her own inexpensive cannabis oil extraction method in an effort to create a home treatment for Crohn’s disease and other ailments. Truth in Media’s exclusive interviews with Banda about her custody battle and the criminal charges she faces were cited by mainstream media outlets like The Washington Post and ABC’s The View and sparked a national discussion over medical marijuana and cannabis prohibition.

To find out more about Banda’s story, click here.

Truth In Media’s latest Consider This episode takes a look at the drug war and non-violent offenders. Watch it in the below-embedded video player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zTOFxdUsQw

Drug War, Marijuana Prohibition

Ron Paul Calls for Jury to Nullify Cannabis Oil Mom Shona Banda’s Criminal Charges

Video Jun 26, 2015 Barry Donegan 11 Comments

Since March of last year, Truth in Media has covered the work of cannabis oil activist Shona Banda, a mother and Crohn’s disease patient who successfully used cannabis oil to treat her illness and developed her own inexpensive method for extracting it. However, Banda’s ordeal took a serious turn in April of this year when her son was seized by the Kansas Department for Children and Families and her home raided by police after her 11-year-old son spoke out about Banda’s successful cannabis oil treatment during an anti-drug presentation at his Garden City, KS public school.

Truth in Media’s exclusive interviews with Banda about her fight to regain custody of her son and the five criminal charges, three of them felonies, that she faces pursuant to the April raid on her home garnered nationwide attention, with outlets like The Washington Post and ABC’s The View picking up the story.

Now, Shona Banda’s case has caught the attention of libertarian icon and former Republican US Congressman Ron Paul, who weighed in on her case during Tuesday’s episode of the Ron Paul Liberty Report.

In the episode, seen in the above-embedded video player, Ron Paul spoke optimistically of the fact that laws prohibiting treatment with cannabis oil have been overturned in many states, but noted that these changes are happening too slowly to help in Shona Banda’s case. As an alternative, he pointed to jury nullification, a legal tool that jurors can use to defend fellow citizens from unjust laws.

“[Shona Banda] could end up in prison for 34 years,” said Paul, who called the charges against her “so egregious.”

Jury nullification describes a discretionary act in which a juror uses his or her right to acquit a defendant, but does so, not on the basis that the accused is innocent of the charges, but instead based on the belief that the law itself is unjust. Former Congressman Paul cautioned that efforts to stand outside a specific courthouse and educate jurors on the principle of jury nullification could result in activists being charged with jury tampering.

Paul also pointed out the fact that parents who home-school their kids do not face a risk that public school employees will interrogate their children in an effort to spy on parents’ behavior. He concluded by articulating his broader view that the War on Drugs exceeds the federal government’s constitutional limits. “[The federal government] shouldn’t even be involved. Where is it in the Constitution that they’re going to tell us about what our kids can do or what a person can do for their own body, taking something that grows naturally and finds out that its the best medication they could take? I mean that is not a federal function.”

Shona Banda’s supporters have already raised nearly $50,000 to support her legal defense via a GoFundMe page. Banda has predicted that her legal fees may exceed $150,000.

In September of last year, Ben Swann released a Truth in Media episode confronting the federal government’s mixed messages about the efficacy of medical marijuana. Watch it in the below-embedded video player.

https://youtu.be/zuX9y0hiqWE

Drug War, Featured, Government Accountability, Marijuana Prohibition, Politics, US

Shona Banda’s Attorney Plans to Fight Cannabis’ Classification As Schedule 1 Narcotic

Jun 16, 2015 Barry Donegan 24 Comments

Since March of 2014, Truth in Media has covered the work of cannabis oil activist and Crohn’s disease sufferer Shona Banda, who has successfully used cannabis oil to manage her disease and developed her own inexpensive method to extract it. However, Banda’s story took a dramatic turn recently when her home was raided by police and her son was seized by the Kansas Department for Children and Families after he spoke out about his mother’s cannabis oil treatment during an anti-drug presentation at school. Truth in Media’s exclusive interview with Banda about the State of Kansas’ seizure of her son went viral and attracted worldwide mainstream media attention from outlets like The Washington Post and ABC’s The View.

Last week, Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier announced that Shona Banda would be facing five criminal counts related to the cannabis oil and paraphernalia items that were found in her home during the aforementioned April raid by Garden City police. Truth in Media spoke exclusively with Banda last week about those charges, three of which are felonies.

Yesterday, as Banda surrendered to Finney County authorities, her attorney Sarah Swain held a press conference, which was captured on video by Jennifer Winn, a well-known Kansas-based political activist who mounted an unsuccessful-but-serious run for the Republican nomination for governor of Kansas in 2014.

Swain said that she intends to challenge the federal government’s classification of cannabis as a hardcore Schedule 1 narcotic with no medical use as a part of Banda’s defense and that she’s willing to take her case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

“The real issue to me in this case is not just about Shona Banda — it’s why do we have marijuana classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which requires… that there be no medicinal benefits to that substance such as metamphetamine or heroin or crack cocaine… There are hundreds of studies that will tell you [the medical benefits of] marijuana,” said Swain.

She continued, “The fact that this country continues the War on Drugs, which is really just a war on families and a war on the poor is absolutely ridiculous, and it’s our goal with this case to, not just to change the way that Shona Banda is treated here in Garden City, KS, but to take this case every step of the way to litigate it all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, if we need to, to make sure that this drug is no longer classified as a Schedule 1 drug, and as soon as it’s classified as something less than that, millions of people’s lives will be positively affected by that change.”

When a reporter asked Swain whether she would be challenging the constitutionality of authorities’ interrogation of Banda’s child at school without parental permission and the use of its findings as probable cause for a raid on her home, Swain said, “My strategy is to do what’s best for my client first, and what’s best for Shona Banda is that the tactics that were employed by DCF, Department for Children and Families, in questioning her child and the tactics that were employed by the Garden City Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department are thoroughly litigated. I certainly think there are some issues that exist with the constitutionality of the way the information was gathered, the search warrant was prepared, the eventual search of her house was done, and I will litigate all of those issues fully, but I’m not going to stop there. I’m going to litigate this issue even at the district court level as if this is a case that can change the law, not just here, not just in Garden City, not just in Kansas, but throughout the entire country. That’s what our goal is, and I know it’s a lofty goal, but I think that it’s an incredibly important goal.”

Swain noted that the Banda could be facing over 30 years in prison if she is convicted on all five charges. “She’s 38, so not only is it essentially a life sentence, but this is a woman who was using cannabis to treat a disease, Crohn’s disease, that’s absolutely debilitating, so not only is it that she’s facing life in prison just due to the years, but, essentially, it’s a death sentence if she is sent to prison and does not have access to the treatment that she was using that cured her of her Crohn’s disease and allowed her to live a somewhat normal life,” said Swain.

Swain noted that Banda could be facing additional personal risk in terms of years behind bars and potential loss of custody of her son due to her decision to let her case be a battleground for a legal fight over the federal government’s classification of cannabis as a Schedule 1 narcotic, but that Banda is willing to take that risk.

Swain also said that the case is important to her personally as her father is a Vietnam veteran who uses cannabis to manage his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Banda’s bond was set at $50,000, and some of the funds raised by her supporters through a GoFundMe page were used to post bond after a hearing on Tuesday morning. At the press conference on Monday, Sarah Swain called on supporters of medical marijuana around the world to continue donating to the GoFundMe page to assist Banda in what is likely to be a protracted legal fight.

In January of 2012, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America Patient Education Committee issued a statement which read, “The CCFA does support the calls by the various health organizations urging review of marijuana’s status as a federal Schedule 1 controlled substance, with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and the potential development of cannabanoid-based medications.” Marijuana’s classification as a Schedule 1 narcotic prevents its potential medical benefits from being directly studied by scientists in a clinical setting.

Back in September of last year, Ben Swann released a Truth in Media episode noting that the federal government holds a patent on medical cannabis despite the fact that it classifies the substance as having no medical use. Watch it in the below-embedded video player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuX9y0hiqWE

Civil Liberties, Drug War, Editor’s Pick, Government Accountability, Marijuana Prohibition, Police State, Politics, States Rights, US

EXCLUSIVE: Cannabis Oil Activist Shona Banda, Now Facing Felony Charges, Speaks Out

Jun 8, 2015 Barry Donegan 33 Comments

In April, Truth in Media published an exclusive interview with Shona Banda, a cannabis oil activist and Crohn’s disease survivor whose home was raided by Garden City, KS police and 11-year-old son was seized by the Kansas Department for Children and Families after her son spoke out about medical marijuana during an anti-drug presentation in school.

Banda’s ordeal became a national issue after her interview with Truth in Media was picked up by Radley Balko at The Washington Post and discussed on a wide range of mainstream media outlets and television talk shows including ABC’s The View. Truth in Media has been covering Banda’s activism since 2014, when she went public in an interview with Ben Swann about how she uses cannabis oil to treat her Crohn’s disease.

Meanwhile, The Garden City Telegram is reporting that Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier announced on Friday that five criminal charges are being filed against Shona Banda pursuant to the April raid by Garden City police. The charges, three of which are felonies, include distribution or possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of school property, endangering a child, unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, and two drug paraphernalia infractions. The Garden City Telegram notes that Banda could be facing anywhere between 138 to 204 months behind bars.

On Monday, Truth in Media spoke exclusively with Shona Banda about the charges that have been filed against her and her views on the cannabis oil movement that is exploding across the nation.

“I do believe that they’re trying to make an example out of me,” said Banda about the criminal charges she now faces.

She said of the state’s decision to press charges against her despite an overwhelming public show of support for her plight, “Well, they had a choice. People have made petitions [in support of Banda], over 130,000 signatures on one petition alone. I want to say that there are four or five different petitions out there. Phone calls have been made to the DA Susan Richmeier in Garden City. Letters have been written, and they still chose to charge me with felony 1 charges. They’re charging me with child endangerment, and they’re calling my machine a lab, and anyone can go on YouTube and look up what that lab consists of, because it’s ridiculous what they’re trying to charge me with.”

Garden City police claim that the raid on Banda’s home produced, according to The Garden City Telegram, “1.25 pounds of marijuana in plant, oil, joint, gel and capsule form and drug paraphernalia” along with what was characterized as a “lab used for manufacturing cannabis oil.”

Banda took particular offense to the fact that she was charged with child endangerment and said, “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. There was no endangerment of a child, for one. For two, this plant is the most non-toxic substance on the planet, so, it’s safer to have around my house than aspirin. So the child endangerment charges I can not believe.”

Regarding the charge related to allegedly possessing or selling cannabis in close proximity to a school, she said, “They’re trying to say that it’s 1000 feet from a school. I’m several blocks away from a school. I sure would like to challenge that.”

Banda also pointed out the fact that Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier took almost two months to come up with criminal charges after the April raid on her home. “How serious of a criminal am I really if it took them this long to charge me? How much of a danger to society am I really? How can you charge someone with a level 1 felony and have those charges be out for so long. If I’m such a danger to society, why did it take this long to charge me?”

In March of 2014, Truth in Media’s Evan Mulch reported on Banda’s innovative process for inexpensively extracting cannabis oil. “My oil was the first CBD oil tested in Colorado. I literally am one of the first patients to come out publicly with this oil… I really did help start an online social media revolution of paying it forward with healing yourself and telling others about it. I helped start all this, and I couldn’t make it in Colorado, so I just moved back home [to Kansas] so I could survive,” said Banda. “I wrote my book [Live Free or Die: Reclaim your Life… Reclaim your Country!] and went to Colorado to get it published. I helped start the medical movement in Colorado.”

Meanwhile, a frenzy of non-psychoactive cannabis oil legalization bills have been passing in even the most conservative of state legislatures of late, with Tennessee and Texas recently joining the list of states that have legalized low-THC cannabis oil to treat intractable seizures. Said Banda of the low-THC movement, “I’m still for these people who are trying to pass CBD-only laws because hemp is completely legal here, you can use hemp, and use can use the materials from hemp.”

However, she said that the bills did not go far enough and that bans on psychoactive forms of cannabis oil put some sufferers at risk who need it to treat their illnesses, “I fully believe that you need the full spectrum of cannabanoids in the cannabis plant, not the hemp plant, to create homeostasis and healing within the body… Why would you continue to pervert this process by taking out one constituent from an entire plant that is helpful and only allowing that one constituent? Because it doesn’t get you ‘high’? Our endocannabinoid system is made to accept it and work with it, and it works best when it is in its whole form.”

“I started this whole process because I wanted to live and grow and be with my children. I just want to live and survive with my kids and raise my children and live long enough to see grandchildren. It’s an inalienable right to live and I shouldn’t be punished for pursuing that… I shouldn’t be prosecuted for that,” said Banda. She continued, “The people of Kansas want [medical marijuana] available to them. It makes no sense to me that people’s lives in Colorado are more important than people’s lives in Kansas. How is this the United States of America when your life means more if you’re in California, Washington, Colorado, than when you’re in Kansas or Oklahoma or Texas?”

Banda, whose supporters have launched a GoFundMe page that has raised $43,000 so far for legal expenses, said that her legal quagmire has escalated to what is likely a “150 to 200 thousand dollar process.” She called on her supporters to “get this out there as absolutely to the masses as possible, because the mainstream media is not paying attention.” She continued, “There are still too many people who do not know what is going on. This is the most heinous of crimes. Why would you take a child away from his mother because his mother is trying to live. How is that protecting anyone in my family?”

Banda’s next custody hearing where she will learn more about her chances to reunite with her son is set for July 10. She has not yet been arrested on the aforementioned five criminal counts, which have been filed but not yet processed.

She believes that her fate “depends on whether Garden City is willing to accept science.”

She continued, “Wasn’t Kansas the state that said they weren’t going to teach evolution at one point? I mean, the state of Kansas is pretty scary. I’m just hoping that they’ll accept this science with a much more open mind.”

To find out more about Banda’s story, click here.

In September of last year, Ben Swann released a Truth in Media episode tackling the federal government’s mixed messages on medical cannabis. Watch it in the below-embedded video player.

https://youtu.be/zuX9y0hiqWE

Featured, Politics, States Rights, US

Kansas Governor Brownback Signs Constitutional Carry Bill into Law

Video Apr 3, 2015 Barry Donegan 12 Comments

On Thursday, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a constitutional carry bill into law that, starting July 1, legalizes the concealed carry of firearms by law-abiding individuals age 21 and older, whether or not they have obtained a permit. Effectively, the law lifts the pricey permit requirement that previously prevented some Kansans from lawfully exercising their constitutional right to bear arms in self defense. According to The Kansas City Star, Governor Brownback said, “We’re saying that if you want to [carry a concealed firearm] in this state, then you don’t have to get the permission slip from the government. It is a constitutional right, and we’re removing a barrier to that right.”

The state will continue to provide concealed carry permits for those who are interested in obtaining one in order to carry concealed firearms in one of the other 36 US states that recognize Kansas’ permits. The above-embedded video by KAKE-TV notes that, under the law, Kansas businesses retain the right to post signs prohibiting the concealed carry of firearms on their property.

Critics of the law decried the fact that concealed carriers will no longer be legally required to take an eight hour gun safety class. State Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D-Wichita) told The Kansas City Star, “That’s a major responsibility to carry a gun, whether it’s concealed or not. And it’s scary… I predict from the legislation that — and it’s going to go quick, it’s going to be July 1 — we’re going to see some accidents, possibly deaths.”

Kansas State Rifle Association president Patricia Stoneking said that her group has been working for ten years to pass the legislation. As a next step, she would like to see the age restriction on constitutional carry lowered to 18. Said Stoneking, “Eighteen-year-olds are allowed to open carry, and they go to war and put their lives on the line to protect this country… I believe we can lower the age to 18 at some point in the future. I think after everybody sees that there are not going to be any of the dire predictions coming true, and they relax a little bit, then we can talk about that.”

KAKE-TV reporter Ben Jordan said, “Governor Brownback has signed every major gun rights bill sent to him since he’s taken office.” Kansas is now the sixth US state to allow for the concealed carry of firearms without a permit.

Politics, US

Supreme Court refuses to act on same-sex marriage issue

Oct 6, 2014 Zach McAuliffe 4 Comments

While more people are showing support for same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court made the decision Monday to not get involved with any appeals court decisions over same-sex marriage and allow these courts to decide how their states should move forward.

As a result of their refusal to get involved, five additional states have been added to the list of 19 others who allow same-sex marriage. These five new states are Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin, according to Reuters. The appeals courts who rule over these states have already ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in the past.

Six other states, who fall under the jurisdiction of those appeals courts, may also be affected by this decision and they may see same-sex marriage soon. These six are Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

“The court’s letting stand these victories means that gay couples will soon share in the freedom to marry in 30 states,” said president of the Freedom to Marry organization, Evan Wolfson, according to USA Today. “But we are one country, with one Constitution, and the court’s delay in affirming the freedom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimination and the harms and indignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places.”

Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said, according to the BBC, “Today is a joyous day for thousands of couples across America who will immediately feel the impact of today’s Supreme Court action.”

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has made a decision which has suggested support for same-sex marriage. Last year, the Supreme Court invalidated parts of a law which denied legally married same-sex partners spousal benefits.

All of the small victories for those in support of same-sex marriage make many believe the Supreme Court will soon make a decision which will tackle the issue nationwide.

Politics, US

Kansas sees Republican moderates fight back

Jul 16, 2014 Zach McAuliffe 1 Comment

The GOP in Kansas has turned against itself as Republican Moderates from the state have turned their support away from the current Republican governor, Sam Brownback, and have instead endorsed the Democratic challenger Paul Davis.

More than 100 Republicans, including current and past officeholders according to Politico, are said to be showing support of Davis in the upcoming November election. These supporters have given Davis, what is being called a “surprisingly strong shot,” in the election.

Some of the supporters for Davis include former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, former president of the Kansas Senate Dick Bond, and former legislator Steve Morris. “It’s a big step for every one of us,” says Bond, “and a major departure from our Republican roots.”

Former state Representative Charlie Roth is also supporting Davis, saying he has “nothing but positive things to say,” about Davis. Roth continues his support by saying, “I found him to be thoughtful, smart, and always open to suggestions. He is a natural leader and will bring Kansans together. He will be a tremendous governor.”

Many thought the state’s strict abortion laws would come under fire from Davis, but the up-and-coming challenger said he had no intention of changing the abortion laws and would leave them in place.

Davis has said he wants to implement planned tax cuts and use funds to improve the education system in the state, according to Newsmax.

According to a press release from the Davis campaign website, Davis for Kansas, many say the Republicans left Brownback because of the “experimental” tax plan he had put in place, which saw severe cuts to the education system, as well as “fiscally irresponsible budgeting.”

“All of us are proud Republicans,” reads another endorsement from former GOP lawmaker Wint Winter. “We came together because of our common love of Kansas, our commitment to Kansas families, and our belief in moderate, commonsense leadership.”

Ben Swann's Truth In Media