To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
An Urgent Request: Justice for Chris Woodard
Almost two years ago now, Long Beach Police, using a battering ram and armed with a defective warrant, raided a legal medical marijuana dispensary in Long Beach, California. The entire facility was destroyed. The basis for the destruction was alleged violation of an ordinance banning all medical marijuana in Long Beach that had been hastily enacted as "emergency legislation" at the urging of then City Attorney Bob Shannon. There was, of course, no emergency. The dispensary had leased the property far in advance of the passage of the ban and the City Council failed to include any amortization period, let alone the minimum 2-year period it should have. More than $30,000.00 damage was done to the interior of the dispensary. Patients were arrested as well as brutalized. Officers, effectuating their defective warrant, were in paramilitary uniforms with machine guns out pointed at patients who were prescribed cannabis pursuant to California state law.
Months after the raid, managing patient Christopher Woodard, a very professional and compassionate African-American man, filed suit against the City along with other patients and dispensaries that had similarly been raided, some without any warrants at all, since early-2011. The lawsuit alleged that the City as well as individually named officers, including Det. David Strohman, had violated various civil rights. Although most of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were patient dispensaries, the only individual plaintiffs were Woodard and his brother because officers had, following the raid of the collective, gone out several nights later and raided their homes. When they raided Woodard's home in Riverside County, officers terrorized his then eight-year-old daughter, who suffers from a heart ailment.
Following the raid, Woodard left the medical cannabis industry and went back to working as an electrician and E.M.T. Since the raid, his house has gone into arrears and he has had to borrow money from friends. The damage done by police to his home, family, and employer were devastating.
The trial date set for the lawsuit was March 12, 2014. However, about six (6) weeks before the lawsuit was to go to trial, Officer Strohman arrested Woodard. That's right -- almost two years after the raid, Strohman -- the main police officer defendant in the lawsuit for violation of civil rights -- arrested one of the two individually named plaintiffs in the case just shortly before trial in the civil case was set to begin.
As soon as our office attempted to arrange bail for Chris Woodard, the District Attorney sought a "1275 order," a program reserved for drug kingpins and large-scale drug traffickers. Essentially, the District Attorney alleged Woodard could not post bail until he proved the proceeds used for bail did not come from illegal drug transactions. In fact, Woodard could not afford the approximately $3,000 required for him to bond out of jail without loans from his family -- he never has been and is NOT a drug kingpin. He is a father and responsible person who has worked continuously to support his family and to help patients both as a managing patient and E.M.T.
After he had been jailed for nearly 3 weeks, Woodard's family was able to raise the money necessary to bail him out of jail. A hearing was thereafter set to determine the origin of the money as required by the Penal Code s. 1275 order the District Attorney had obtained. Prior to the hearing, Sergio Sandoval, who works for my law office, had arranged bail with the bonding company and had, as he has compassionately done for many individuals brutalized by Long Beach Police over the years, co-signed on the paperwork for the bail.
At the Penal Code s. 1275 hearing, just days before the federal civil rights trial was set to begin, Det. Strohman was in court along with Los Angeles Dep. District Attorney Patrick O'Crowley. When it appeared the judge was ready to grant bail and allow Chris to be released on bond, O'Crowley suddenly argued to the judge that he could not allow Woodard's release because the Pappas Law Firm was under investigation. With a look of disbelief, the judge asked O'Crowley what the firm was being investigated for and what evidence the District Attorney had. O'Crowley reported he had no evidence but that the firm was being investigated meaning that Sergio's signature on the bond paperwork was questionable. After going back and forth for a period of time, the judge granted the bail request despite Det. Strohman and O'Crowley's effort to thwart bail and keep Chris in jail.
That evening, bail was posted. However, as had happened before with Woodard, he was somehow "lost" in the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail system. For two days, despite bail being posted, Woodard was not released. Then, much to the surprise of everyone except the D.A., a new hearing before a different judge was suddenly set on the issue already determined by the first judge. Not surprisingly, the new judge was...
Months after the raid, managing patient Christopher Woodard, a very professional and compassionate African-American man, filed suit against the City along with other patients and dispensaries that had similarly been raided, some without any warrants at all, since early-2011. The lawsuit alleged that the City as well as individually named officers, including Det. David Strohman, had violated various civil rights. Although most of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were patient dispensaries, the only individual plaintiffs were Woodard and his brother because officers had, following the raid of the collective, gone out several nights later and raided their homes. When they raided Woodard's home in Riverside County, officers terrorized his then eight-year-old daughter, who suffers from a heart ailment.
Following the raid, Woodard left the medical cannabis industry and went back to working as an electrician and E.M.T. Since the raid, his house has gone into arrears and he has had to borrow money from friends. The damage done by police to his home, family, and employer were devastating.
The trial date set for the lawsuit was March 12, 2014. However, about six (6) weeks before the lawsuit was to go to trial, Officer Strohman arrested Woodard. That's right -- almost two years after the raid, Strohman -- the main police officer defendant in the lawsuit for violation of civil rights -- arrested one of the two individually named plaintiffs in the case just shortly before trial in the civil case was set to begin.
As soon as our office attempted to arrange bail for Chris Woodard, the District Attorney sought a "1275 order," a program reserved for drug kingpins and large-scale drug traffickers. Essentially, the District Attorney alleged Woodard could not post bail until he proved the proceeds used for bail did not come from illegal drug transactions. In fact, Woodard could not afford the approximately $3,000 required for him to bond out of jail without loans from his family -- he never has been and is NOT a drug kingpin. He is a father and responsible person who has worked continuously to support his family and to help patients both as a managing patient and E.M.T.
After he had been jailed for nearly 3 weeks, Woodard's family was able to raise the money necessary to bail him out of jail. A hearing was thereafter set to determine the origin of the money as required by the Penal Code s. 1275 order the District Attorney had obtained. Prior to the hearing, Sergio Sandoval, who works for my law office, had arranged bail with the bonding company and had, as he has compassionately done for many individuals brutalized by Long Beach Police over the years, co-signed on the paperwork for the bail.
At the Penal Code s. 1275 hearing, just days before the federal civil rights trial was set to begin, Det. Strohman was in court along with Los Angeles Dep. District Attorney Patrick O'Crowley. When it appeared the judge was ready to grant bail and allow Chris to be released on bond, O'Crowley suddenly argued to the judge that he could not allow Woodard's release because the Pappas Law Firm was under investigation. With a look of disbelief, the judge asked O'Crowley what the firm was being investigated for and what evidence the District Attorney had. O'Crowley reported he had no evidence but that the firm was being investigated meaning that Sergio's signature on the bond paperwork was questionable. After going back and forth for a period of time, the judge granted the bail request despite Det. Strohman and O'Crowley's effort to thwart bail and keep Chris in jail.
That evening, bail was posted. However, as had happened before with Woodard, he was somehow "lost" in the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail system. For two days, despite bail being posted, Woodard was not released. Then, much to the surprise of everyone except the D.A., a new hearing before a different judge was suddenly set on the issue already determined by the first judge. Not surprisingly, the new judge was...
Why is this important?
I am a patient advocate. Chris is not a drug kingpin, he is a patient, with a family. When the police can go in without a warrant, which Long Beach does on a regular basis, it is a police state, something needs to be done. We have appealed to many, and nobody in government is listening.