Back to all newsCW's client secures reversal of criminal conviction after 17-year legal battle
March 2024
For the past 17 years, partner Reuven Cohen has represented Charles C. Lynch, a Morro Bay medical marijuana dispensary owner whose 2007 arrest and federal prosecution resulted in the loss of his home and livelihood. Mr. Lynch opened and operated Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers with the express, unanimous support of the entire city government. Despite his dispensary's strict compliance with California law governing medicinal marijuana, the federal government indicted Mr. Lynch. His brave stand against the federal government went on to attract national media attention. Prosecutors, seeking a mandatory five-year prison sentence for Mr. Lynch, pursued the case through appeals, delays, and a maze of changing state and federal laws—even as marijuana became fully legal in California. Now, Mr. Lynch's battle to reverse his conviction is at an end. After nearly two decades of litigation, Cohen Williams has helped Mr. Lynch secure a diversion agreement that will expunge his prior felony convictions on April 20, 2024.
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