Pot Firefighter Endangered Children With Grow House

An example of a marijuana "grow house"

Opening arguments were heard yesterday in the Brooklyn federal court trial of Patrick Murray, the firefighter who was caught last year operating a marijuana grow house in Queens Village. Murray is charged with tending more than 100 pot plants, worth upwards of $5,000 each. But the firefighter might have damned himself with the location of the operation.

According to prosecutors, three children were living above the basement that served as Murray's drug den. They were exposed to harmful fumes from powerful chemical fertilizers and carbon dioxide gas used to maintain the plants. "While most firefighters enter a house to save lives, the defendant entered this house to take care of business," said Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Soumya Dayananda.

Murray, a seven-year FDNY veteran, will have to contend with the testimony of another firefighter, Matthew Cody, who owned the house and allowed him to grow there. Defense lawyer Lee Ginsberg told jurors that Cody is testifying to avoid a five-year sentence, "Matthew Cody, if he tells any truth on the witness stand...will tell you that Patrick Murray was helping him for months and months to build an apartment in the basement... Patrick Murray had nothing to do with this marijuana operation."

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By Ben Yakas in News on August 24, 2010 11:28 AM

Comments [rss]

John L

Legalize Weed already!

In NYC we'd save millions in bogus arrests instantly and free up the courts for real criminals.

henryhamilton

Will somebody PLEASE think of the children? Those children are going to want to get high someday. Somebody PLEASE think of the dope!

hotstepper

the law causes situations like this.

the law enables vicious drug cartels around the world, as we see in mexico.

intoxicants have been a part of life throughout human history, and marijuana is the most harmless of them all.

alcohol (god bless it) is much more damaging to our society than any other drug.

stop wasting my tax dollars with your inquisition-style war on drugs.

the puritans have failed over and over again.

kazubes

Yes the law forced these poor men to grow pot, its not like they had good jobs in the FDNY...these poor angels

hotstepper

way to get a handle on the issue with an obtuse analysis of one case among all of the cannabis growers throughout the world. you're obviously a deep thinker.

the point was, if the law did not villainize cannabis it would be grown outdoors or in greenhouses like every other commercial plant.

but then again, you're not really open to sincere analysis of the war on drugs are you?

kazubes

I really don't care about the issues around cannabis and its growers so you're right my analysis is a response only to to your comment which noted this situation is a result of its illegality, which it is not. Sorry, these guys were growing pot to make money as a result of the fact that it is illegal and thus profitable, not as some silent protest so I'll save my tears