Attorney General Marty Jackley is hitting the road for another press conference, this time in Flandreau today at 9 a.m. A.G. Jackley doesn’t tell us what the presser is about or even whether he’ll be opening it with another prayer to bring the community together.
Cannabis news website Leafly reports that A.G. Jackley is coming to town to boost his gubernatorial bid by announcing felony charges against Eric Hagen, CEO of Monarch America, for his work with the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in its aborted attempt to legalize marijuana on tribal land:
Jackley, who made his name in South Dakota as a drug warrior, is known to be considering a run for governor in 2018. He’s unable to legally sanction any tribal member who worked on the cannabis project while on tribal land. It’s widely speculated that he may bring heavy conspiracy and possession charges against Hagen — who is not an enrolled member of the tribe — to bolster his own political reputation and to scare away other consultants who may consider working on tribal cannabis projects within the state.
Hagen is originally from South Dakota and currently divides his time between that state and his home in Denver [Bruce Barcott, “South Dakota Expected to Bring Felony Charges Against Cannabis Consultant,” Leafly, 2016.08.02].
Medical cannabis advocacy group New Approach South Dakota, which is fighting to place its medical cannabis initiative on this year’s ballot, gives this speculation enough credence to hit the road to Flandreau. New Approach SD is inviting supporters to rally at Jackley’s press conference to support the tribe and protest Jackley’s tactics:
Monarch America & FSST had been on track to have CBD oils available for Pediatric patients in Jan 2016. Patients could medicate on site and parents had a space to bring their children for safe access to medicine. A clinic environment would be implemented to provide a high standard of care and education.
Jackley robbed us all of having safe access and now despite this being a legal business on Federal Trust land he has extended his over reach & abuse of power to attempt to prosecute these people. It is a travesty & a complete waste of SD resources [New Approach South Dakota, Facebook post, 2016.08.02].
If the Attorney General is announcing charges against Hagen and/or anyone else involved in the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s pot ploy, it should be noted that it took Jackley less than a year to find someone to take to court over an exercise of tribal sovereignty, while it took three years for Jackley, once alerted to wrongdoing by federal authorities, to take anyone to court over EB-5 corruption carried out on behalf of great white father Mike Rounds.
Related Reading: Perhaps A.G. Jackley can portray this ditchweed hunt as less anti-Indian sovereignty and more pro-Green: per kilogram of output, indoor marijuana cultivation consumes more than 300 times more energy than the production of aluminum.
Update 13:05 CDT: A.G. Jackley announced the indictment of Eric Matthew Hagen on three Class 3 felony counts:
- Conspiracy to possess more than ten pounds of marijuana; punishment up to ten years in the pen and a $20K fine.
- Possession of more than ten pounds of marijuana; ten years, $20K.
- Attempted possession of more than ten pounds of marijuana; 7.5 years, $15K fine.
A.G. Jackley has also pushed Monarch America COO and grower Jonathan Hunt to plead to one Class 6 felony count of conspiracy to possess between a half pound and one pound of marijuana, punishable by up to two years and $4K. Hunt has apparently agreed to help the A.G. prosecute Hagen and is expected to enter his plea on August 15.
The state’s complaint alleges that Hunt ordered marijuana seeds from the Netherlands, smuggled them into the tribal facility in 2015, and worked with others to grow the marijuana that the tribe ultimately destroyed last October.
Certainly he won’t be announcing any charges against the corrupt Flandreau police force that he covered for. Recall how they were conducting illegal searches and stealing from the evidence locker, but we didn’t find out about it until a whistleblower disclosed records from DCI? Jackley should explainat his press conference why his investigative people at DCI covered for criminals with badges.
Why Mr. Rorschach, it is obvious that you do not recognize professional courtesy of a mutual back scratch. Jackley needs to be “tough” on crime for his ad campaign, but he also knows how to manipulate the locals into votes for him. Case in point is the way he handled Joop so as not to disrupt those millions that really did not vanish. I doubt we will see anything new other than a new prayer that will go something like this to begin with. O Big Feller, please do not allow Hillary Clinton to be the prez when we can get so much more corruption out of a Trump presidency. We can bring back the EB5 to its glory days and we can Gear Up for even more ways to fleece the rubes. Amen
Where is the same quest for “law and order” regarding the Pringle compound? Apparently harassing tribes and marijuana users is more important than the lives of the young women being held there. There is a reason this sect chose SD as a place of “refuge”. One day we will have our eyes opened and be sickened by the actions allowed to transpire there under the guise of “religious freedom”. Where is the same respect for the tribes’ freedoms?
The Flandreau Sioux Tribes needs to totally ban Marty Jackley from their reservation.
Just Say NO to Jackley. Good campaign slogan as well.
This represents a new low in Jackley’s use of his prosecutorial power for political purposes. Shameful and embarrassing.
Let’s see, EB-5 and Gear Up, with a total of 7 known dead bodies and millions gone missing from taxpayer dollars: at least 3 years until any prosecutorial action. Nothing on the Pringle compound. Nothing on the large number of companies that provide South Dakota citizenship for tax-dodgers. But by God, we’re gonna advisors to the Flandreau tribe about legalizing marijuana. Once more, Marty Jackley goes for the least necessary prosecution.
Interesting point, Eve. Whatever pot they grew in Flandreau, none of it went to market. None of it turned our children into potheads and gatewayed them into meth and human trafficking. None of it killed anyone or cost any state funds… other than Marty’s gas money to drive to Flandreau for the cameras today.
He obviously does not have enough to do. Cut his salary in half.
Mr. Jackley said that the Indians are victims in this. He said that this Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe isn’t in trouble, but these other bad fellows are. This is good news indeed.
Weed is bad. It is bad.
South Dakota taxpayers are the real victims in this farce. We pay this clown’s wages while he does nothing that has to do with fighting crime. There was no crime committed and yet he grandstands like there was a there there. Some weeds are bad, more or less the same as noxious politicos like Marty.
Speaking of noxious politicos, here is another example of business done by the chosen one. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/trump-taj-mahal-set-to-close-after-labor-day-weekend/article_d297274e-59a7-11e6-962b-4b2234e7959b.html
How do you loose money on a casino? Only a presidential business wizard like purple heart trump can tell you that, must be his sacrifice.
Marty is making the point that he can’t prosecute indians who grow marijuana on tribal land but he certainly can prosecute non-indians involved in the business who did some transporting and other activities in-state. Eventually this will be legal, taxed and regulated – so he has to do this now while he can.
I still want to know why he and DCI covered up for crooked cops in Flandreau and it took an anonymous whistleblower disclosing DCI reports for the public to even know the cops there were crooked. You know darn well that after covering for the criminals in badges that he’d prosecute the whistleblower to the fullest extent of the law if he could prove who it was.
You give Marty to much credit. He has lost every case he has brought against Obama. Every one. That cost South Dakota taxpayers money for his grandstanding. As far as whistleblowing, he missed what Benda may have been doing to clear his name in the EB5 scandal. He is in Flandreau because that is the home turf of the old Indian fighter Bill Janklow. This is a dog whistle that you cannot hear Mr. Rorschach, others can though. Kind of like when Reagan went to Philadelphia, Mississippi to make a point regarding race. Same bull different day.
Grudz, Jackley calls the tribes a victim? And the great silver father has to ride in from Pierre to protect them? I can’t imagine that characterization sitting well with the tribe asserting its sovereignty. Is there any sign that the Monarch guys duped the Flandreau Santee Sioux?
Meanwhile meth use increases in South Dakota and heroin use raises its ugly head. Drug fighters need to target their drug fighting resources on the problem that exists and threatens to get much worse and stop wasting tax dollars grandstanding efforts like this.
Such a huge waste of resources. Im not for legalization but im also not for locking people up for 10 years for nonviolent crimes. Moody County is not very big. Might be worth it to start a Jury Nullification campaign.
Legalize it, tax it and be done with it. Let us farm a commodity that actually makes money……