Affidavit of Prejudice of Reverend Brenda Williams Shoop regarding Judge Robert E Wilters

State of Alabama

Baldwin County, Circuit Court

Case: CC-06-2398 Affirmed

Affidavit and Declaration of Prejudice

regarding Judge Robert E. Wilters

I, Reverend Brenda S. Williams, MAKE OATH AND SAY AS FOLLOWS:

Judge Robert Wilters is prejudiced against medicinal and spiritual hemp, and therefore prejudiced against my religion.

In November of 2006, as my husband and I were shopping around for attorneys, we found a prevailing attitude regarding Judge Robert E. Wilters among the local attorneys we interviewed. Our case had not been assigned to a judge at this time. In every case, before we would even begin discussing our situation we were confronted with the question, “Who’s courtroom are you in?” and not knowing the relevance of this we just answered honestly that we did not know. Every single attorney commented that we had best hope it wasn’t Judge Wilters.

On November 27^,2006 we interviewed attorneys Skip and Johnny Brutkiewicz in Mobile, Alabama. Johnny Brutkiewicz informed us that Judge Wilters was the harshest drug/hemp judge in Baldwin County.

On November 29, 2006 we interviewed attorney James M Byrd and was told by this officer of the court that we should pray not to be assigned to Judge Wilters’ courtroom for a drug/hemp charge.

On November 30, 2006 we interviewed attorney Donald Bolton. This officer of the court told us that if we were assigned to Judge Wilters, we could each “look forward to getting raped while in prison” after being convicted on drug/hemp charges.

In addition to these statements from officers of the court, published quotes from Judge Wilters himself show that:

Judge Wilters has prejudice toward cases involving “drugs/hemp.”

“Drug dealers may not be considered violent felons,” the judge said, “but they do more damage to their communities than many robbers.”
Will early paroles lead to 'anarchy'? Brendan Kirby Alabama Sentencing Commission (Exhibit A)

Judge Wilters interjects his own personal feelings into his decisions.

Wilters said he objects "only on the ones that are just so far out of line that I can't stand it."
Will early paroles lead to 'anarchy'? Brendan Kirby Alabama Sentencing Commission
(Exhibit A)

Other opinions on Judge Wilters:

Defense lawyer Jim May states this about Judge Robert Wilters:

Defense lawyer Jim May says Hill certainly qualifies as an expert under the Alabama rule, which basically says that if a witness knows more than the average person, he or she is qualified. "You'd have to know this judge to understand why" Hill wasn't allowed to testify, May says. Tracing the Bullets Mark Hansen (Exhibit B)

Board-certified forensic examiner Wayne N. Hill Sr states this about Judge Wilters:

And Hill, who says Wilters was "definitely a prosecutor's judge," stands by his assessment of the case.
Tracing the Bullets Mark Hansen (Exhibit B)

My case was originally set in Judge James Reid’s courtroom. My attorney filed a motion to dismiss based on my religious beliefs on April 26, 2007 (see court record: Motion and Brief to Dismiss for Violation of Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Alabama Religious Amendment and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act), but this motion has yet to be heard, argued, or ruled on. The next thing I knew, my case was transferred to Judge Robert E. Wilters’ courtroom. No explanation was given except that all “drug” cases were assigned to Judge Wilters. This is a false move because my case is not about “drugs,” my case is about religious freedom.

In light of my religious sincerity, and because of the quotes and opinions from the officers of the court (including Judge Wilters himself), I am certain, beyond doubt, that I will not receive a fair and impartial trial, or fair and impartial rulings on motions, from Judge Robert E. Wilters.

The facts of my case are as such:

I am a member of the The Hawai’i Cannabis Ministry and a reverend of my faith.

In my faith, Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in Cannabis, is the container of the Holy Spirit through which communion with God, the Prophets, Jesus Christ, the Saints, and my fellow Christian Brothers and Sisters is observed and maintained, thus the cultivation and consumption of Cannabis Sacrament is a mandatory religious practice.

I assert that in my faith, Cannabis is one of the original ingredients of The Holy Anointing Oil of Moses and The Christening Oil of Jesus The Christ, and that this Oil is manufactured and used by the Ministry in Fire Baptism, Chrismation and prayerful healing of the sick as directed by Mark 6: 12-13 and James 5: 14.

I assert that I demonstrate a prima facie violation showing that the laws against cannabis as applied to me substantially burden my sincere religious practice and that I therefore qualify for protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

My sincerity is shown by the following: (the exhibits below will be offered at trial)

In January of 2005, I started nursing school at The University of South Alabama. First semester classes included Pharmacology and I studied the textbooks required for my class. In our textbook, Pharmacology for Nursing Care - Lehne, Richard, I found that cannabis sativa was listed in Schedule I (having high potential for abuse and no approved medical use in the United States). However, in the more detailed description of cannabis, Approved Therapeutic Uses, I found that it included suppression of emesis and appetite stimulation, followed by the startling (to me) fact that the University of Mississippi maintains a plot of cannabis for the US Government. I recognized the inconsistency between those two separate text book references right then and there.

Interestingly, one of the "negative side effects" listed was dissociative state in which the user feels "outside of himself or herself." I recognized that my experience of this state, I truly believe, is the spiritual awareness state that enables one to be more objective about his/her own connection to God. In essence, the ability to rise above the mundane and truly see "the bigger picture" in regards to God's plan for the individual. This is when the pieces started to fall into place regarding the very real potential of using cannabis for my own spiritual awareness. (The very same spiritual awareness that I felt was severely lacking in my own life.)

Further down in the text, the actual mechanism of action described that "the most important (mechanism) is the activation of specific cannabinoid receptors found in various brain regions." Aha! This confirmed that we already have these receptors in our brains, and we are born with them. Those receptors must be there for a reason.

After many more months researching the various reports on safety and efficacy, I learned that there is no actual harm in using cannabis therapeutically. I also learned that many of the common myths, cannabis causing lung cancer for instance, were absolutely not true. This research was extensive, including:

· Marijuana and Medicine, Assessing the Science Base, Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr. and John A. Benson, Jr. , editors, Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health, Institute of Medicine. Copyright (c)1999 by National Academy of Sciences.

· DEA memorandum by Administrative Law Judge Young, In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition, Dkt. No. 86-22, Dept. of Justice, DEA, Sept. 6, 1988

· Trends in Neurosciences May 2005

· Marijuana use and the risk of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers: results of a population-based case-control study. Hashibe, M., Morgenstern, H., Cui, Y., Tashkin, D., Zhang, Z., Cozen, W., Mack, T., Greenland, S. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006; 15(10). October 2006.

· Emerging clinical applications for cannabis & cannabinoids, a review of the recent scientific literature. Armentano, P. 2000-2006.

· The Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding Commissioned by President Richard M. Nixon, March, 1972

· An Analysis of Marijuana Policy National Research Council of the National Academy of Science, 1982

· Federal Department of Transportation studies 1992 and 1993.

· History of Medical Marijuana by Dr. Lester Grinspoon, M.D. Harvard Professor

After I had confirmed that cannabis was safe and effective for a wide array of maladies, I wondered what my patient advocate duties were regarding the vast amount of misinformation (and downright lies), that are circulating in the mainstream media. I turned to The American Nurses Association, the governing body for all American nurses. The ANA’s Code of Ethics states:

The nurse participates in the profession's effort to protect the public from misinformation and misrepresentation and to maintain the integrity of nursing.

After graduating from nursing school in July 2006, I felt freer to "experiment" with the spirituality of cannabis. I found that it did help me to "rise up above it all," and I felt a connection to God that I had never felt before. This led to more research on the history of religious use.

I discovered that, according to ancient texts, cannabis has been used for millennia as a religious sacrament by many religions, including Christianity. Christ actually translates to "anointed one." Anointed with what? Holy Anointing Oil containing cannabis flowers. The recipe was given in The Old Testament, and Jesus showed us how to use it in The New Testament.

I can only speculate as to whether the mis-translation of Kaneh Bosm into calamus (a poison) was intentional or not. What I do know is that God would never have told us to pour poison onto our heads.

The sources for this knowledge were:

· Targum (Chaldean) Bible. The Bible in Aramaic: Based on Old Manuscripts and Printed Texts. Vol. 1, The Pentateuch according to.... O.T. Pentateuque (arameen). Onqelos by Alexander Sperber 1897, 1959, 1973, 1992. Leiden; New York; E.J. Brill

· Peshitta (Syriac) Syrian Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, Syriac Bible 63DC United Bible Societies 1979 UBS-EPF 1996-2M

· The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. International Bible Students Association Brooklyn New York, U.S.A.

· The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament, John R. Kohlenberger III,1979, 1980, 1982, 1985,1987, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids , Michigan

· The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Moznaim, Israel 1981

· English language Bible, Authorized King James Version, 1970, 2001, Thomas Nelson Inc., Belgium

· English language Bible, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1961, 1981, 1984, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc., International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York

· A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for readers of English by Rabbi Ernest Klein, Carta Jerusalem, University of Haifa 1987

· Ben Yehuda's Pocket English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English Dictionary, Ehud Ben-Yehuda/David Weinstein, 1947, 1951, Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

· Aramaic; A Syriac-English Glossary With Etymological Notes by M.H. Goshen-Gottstein Based on Brocklemann's Syriac Chrestomathy 1970 Otto Harrassowitz - Wiesbaden.

· Klugge Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache 1999 De Gruyter Berlin-New York (German)

· Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Winter 1950-1959 (in drei Bänden- in three books) (German study of the Russian language)

· Yad Avrohom Mishnah Series: Tractate KILAYIM (Seder Zeraim) (ISBN: 0899063322)

· Tracing One Word Through Different Languages by Sara Benetowa in The Book of Grass, Andrews&Vinkenoog 1968

· Konopie W Wierzeniach Izwyczajach Ludowych by Sara Benetowa in Prace Etnologiczne Instytutu Nauk Antropologicznych I Etnologicznych Nakladem Towazystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego 2. Warszawa 1936 (Polish)

· Swedish Article; Sumerna och deras Kultur (The Sumerians and their culture), föredragvid finska vetenskapsocietiens sammanträde den 13 December 1943 av(by) Knut Tallqvist in Societas Scientarium Fennica Årsbok- Vousikirja 22nd band No: 3, Helsingfors 1944

· Introduction to the Semitic Languages; Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches, Translated with Notes and Bibliography and an Appendix on the Scripts by Peter T. Daniels. (Translation and expansion of a German work by Gotthilf Bergsträsser) 1983 Eisenbrauns. 1995 Second Printing.

· Etymological Lexicon of Classical Greek: Etyma Graeca by E. R. Wharton, Ares publishing Inc. Chicago, Unchanged Reprint of the Edition: London 1882, paperback ISBN# 0-89005-447-9

· The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, LL.D., S.T.D., Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 1995, 1996. ISBN# 0-7852-5055-7

· Cannabis etymology articles by Reverend Joshua Snider.

· Prayers of the Cosmos; Meditations on the Aramaic words of Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klots 1990, Harper San Francisco, an Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers

· Booklet of article on "The Oil of the Spirit" artifacts www.yourarmstoisrael.org/Articles_new/notes/AncientSymbol.php

· Let My People Grow, witness Booklet

· Marijuana and the Bible http://www.fcda.org/pdf/bible.00.pdf

· Entire website www.freeanointing.org

· Modern Israeli Hebrew bisamin prayer

Using the fact that cannabis played an integral part in my increased spirituality, I sought out other like-minded individuals for fellowship. I found that The Religion of Jesus Church was the perfect fit for me. It was through this fellowship with like-minded individuals, and the knowledge that they shared, that I was able to find the faith, love, and sense of belonging that I have been seeking since I was a little girl.

Due to my Baptist upbringing, I had certain ideas about who God was and what He was all about. I was taught that God was watching everything I did, just waiting for me to “sin” so he could swat me. I now see my God as a loving, forgiving Father who gently guides me through life, all the while loving me and only wanting the best for me. I KNOW this because cannabis allowed me to turn off the “chatter” in my head long enough to actually “hear” Him and feel His presence within myself. And because of this very personal relationship I have found with God through the consumption of sacramental cannabis, I am more sincere in my faith now than I have ever been. 398 U.S. 333, at 339-340 (1970), 322 U.S. 78, at 86 (1944)

In fact, because of the unconditional love that I feel from God through the use of cannabis, I feel that I am able to be a better mother to my children. I have developed more patience, more compassion, and a higher understanding of my role in giving that same unconditional love to them. I also feel that I am in a better place with regards to counseling them on their own moral issues. I have a better relationship with my children than I have ever had before, simply because of the increased spiritual strength I have gained through my relationship with God through cannabis.

I also feel more connected to the Earth. I have become an organic gardener, spending hours with my hands in the soil, appreciating all the gifts that the Father has set before me. I am healthier because I don’t want to defile “God’s temple.” I shy away from foods with preservatives, genetically modified foods, and processed foods of all kinds.

I feel more love and compassion for my fellow man, offering assistance to anyone who seems in distress. Now that I am not the one in distress any more, I feel blessed to be able to share God’s love with all people I encounter.

This truly has been a life-altering experience for me.

Now, on to the business of founding our ministry....

My husband and I founded The Green Earth Ministries (GEM) with the sole purpose of teaching the truth about God and exposing the real and true teachings of Jesus.
This is accomplished by the ministering that we do through our website, GreenEarthMinistries.org.

Because of the increased love and compassion for my fellow man, and all the other reasons listed above, I truly believe that I am mandated by God and my faith in Him as my Father to consume and cultivate cannabis. The products of this cultivation are used to manufacture Holy Anointing Oil as well as Holy Incense and Holy Communion. (Recipes for communion were also confiscated by the officers.)

These are the Holy Sacraments of our faith. We believe that cannabis is the "flesh and blood of the Son of man." Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53. We believe this to be the absolute truth, and mandated by God Himself.

We used the model of the Catholic Church's production and distribution of Sacramental Wine and Holy Communion to guide us in our endeavors. However, unlike the Catholic Church, there was never to be any outright sale of these sacraments. Our ministry was founded solely to rely on donations from like-minded believers.

I HEREBY SOLEMNLY AFFIRM, under penalty of perjury, that the aforesaid statements are true and complete to the best of my ability, and are presented in good faith and not for purposes of delay, as indicated by my signature below on the date indicated.

Dated this 16th day of October, 2007

AFFIANT: ____________________________________

Reverend Brenda S. Williams

This instrument was subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before
me this 16th day of October, 2007

______________________________________
Notary Public

STATE OF ALABAMA

County of Baldwin
My Commission will expire: __________________