Judge sentences Adler
to a year in prison

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> Natural Law Party gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Adler said he was hoping a state judge sentencing him for marijuana violations would be proud of his attempts to legalize medical and religious use of the drug.

That was what he told Judge Greg Nakamura yesterday in a half-hour speech punctuated frequently by tears.

But Nakamura sentenced Adler to a year in jail for five felonies related to marijuana.

Nakamura ordered Adler to serve six months of the sentence immediately. Whether Adler must serve the remainder will be "under advisement," Nakamura said.

The sentencing puts an end to Adler's campaign for governor, a circumstance he already anticipated when he asked comedian Kaui "Bu La'ia" Hill also to run for governor as a Natural Law candidate.

Adler, 50, was arrested in 1998 for possessing 89 marijuana plants and again in 1999 for 55 plants. Court testimony about the 89 plants said they weighed about one ounce each.

Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Hashizaki said Adler sold marijuana to an undercover agent six times in 1999. "He was in it for the money," Hashizaki said.

Adler's lawyer Michael Glenn responded, "He is a certified freedom fighter."

Adler's second lawyer, Harry Eliason, said Adler has changed his outlook. He now realizes "he needs to continue his advocacy within the confines of the law."

A minister in the Religion of Jesus Church and a medical marijuana user, Adler told the judge, "All I'm looking for is reasonable, rational guidelines to exercise my ministry within your approval.

"I have flexed and changed and am beginning to metamorphosize," he said.

He said his arrest on Dec. 23, 1999, was a "designer crime," which involved an undercover officer entrapping and lying to him by claiming to need marijuana for an injured back.

He said police broke his dog's back during the arrest although the dog was chained and not near his plants.

Adler had been found guilty by the judge in a nonjury trial of two felony possession charges in the 1998 case. In a plea agreement, Adler pleaded guilty to three felony possession charges in the 1999 case.

Besides the one-year jail sentence, Nakamura sentenced him to five years' probation and $4,350 in fines.

Nakamura refused to let him have medical marijuana in prison or to associate with people, such as his church members, who use marijuana. Those rulings could be changed by a hearing to be scheduled later, the judge said.