[420 Girl]

SOMERVILLE — Testimony is expected to begin Tuesday in the trial of John Wilson, charged with growing marijuana at his Franklin, Somerset County, home.

The case has generated statewide attention because Wilson suffers from multiple sclerosis and he has said he was trying to alleviate the pain of the disease with home-grown marijuana.

As they have done before Wilson's pretrial court appearances, members of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey stood outside the Somerset County Courthouse carrying signs that urged Gov. Jon Corzine to pardon Wilson and for the state legislature to pass a law legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Wilson is facing a first-degree charge of maintaining or operating a drug-manufacturing facility. It can bring a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Wilson is facing two other charges, a second-degree manufacturing charge and a third-degree possession offense. The second-degree charge can bring five to 10 years in prison; a third-degree offense, three to five years.
On Aug. 18, 2008, a National Guard helicopter pilot spotted Wilson's marijuana patch on Skillmans Lane in Franklin behind Wilson's rented home and township detectives arrested him, seizing 17 marijuana plants, some 6 feet tall, authorities said.

Russell Curley, the deputy state attorney general prosecuting the case, told Superior Court Judge Robert Reed, who will be presiding over the trial, that the pilot will not be available to testify because he is stationed in Iraq.
In July, Reed ruled Wilson cannot use his medical condition as a defense or mention it to a jury since there is no legislatively permitted exemption for personal marijuana use for his drug charge.

A state appeals court rejected an attempt by Wilson's attorney, James Wronko of Somerville, to challenge that ruling while the case is continuing. But it could be the subject of a future appeal, Wronko had said previously.
"It's not about multiple sclerosis," Curley said. "It's about operating a drug-manufacturing facility."

Jury selection began Monday afternoon.



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