Others say the underlying motive of the prosecution is personal.
"If the judge determines the prosecution's personal interest is going to interfere with the prosecution's role of seeking justice, the judge may and probably will remove the prosecutor," said Vincent M. Bonventre, an Albany Law School professor.
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The U.S. government has cracked down during the past two years on more than 500 marijuana dispensaries in several states, but no one has faced federal prosecution for personal use.
Led by Don Stapley, The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has had many conflicts and power struggles with Thomas, accusing him (unofficially) of using the office for personal gain, conducting selective prosecution, and pursuing expensive investigations against certain people based simply on personal vendettas.
"Aggressive enforcement and prosecution of personal possession and use of marijuana does not keep us safer, and the glaring racial disparities in who is and is not arrested have contributed to a sense among many in our communities that the system is unfair," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in his office's announcement.
It's a pledge to prosecute, and prosecution introduces a different kind of ugliness: the public investigation of personal tragedies.
One juror, they said, later went on to "reach out to members of the prosecution team for personal advice about her career and educational plans".
Licensed shops, called coffee shops, have been allowed to sell them since 1997, and Dutch citizens may grow up to five marijuana plants for personal use without fear of prosecution.
Nor is there any suggestion that the government targeted Mr. Swartz for prosecution based on personal or political reasons, or as part of a vendetta against political foes, as in the horrendously unfair federal prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.
