Judge to pot farmer: 'What did you tell your kids?'

Judge to pot farmer: 'What did you tell your kids?': "Judge to pot farmer: 'What did you tell your kids?'
Attorney questions usefulness of 7-year prison term

By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

The accused leader, Jerry R. Berkey, 36, had pleaded guilty in April to running a series of marijuana grows in Snohomish County. The grows made him a good living, according to prosecutors, affording him a home and a recreational vehicle.

Describing their product as the 'pollution (they) spread in the community,' (Judge) Pechman hectored Berkey for drawing others into his business.......

(She sentenced him to seven years in fed prison) Had he been prosecuted under state law having pleaded guilty to the same crime -- conspiracy to manufacture marijuana -- he would likely face no more than six months in jail, Ressler told the court. The likely maximum sentence would have been five years.

(His attorney} disputed how a lengthy sentence would promote respect for the law.

'Persons involved in growing marijuana in the United States receive sentences that run the gamut,' Ressler said in court documents. 'Whether any of these sentences promote respect for the law is unknown. Counsel assumes that it would be difficult to establish any statistical relationship between the sentence imposed and respect that persons might feel for the law.'