Kathleen Hopkins

@Khopkinsapp

TOMS RIVER – Activists smoked marijuana out of a water pipe in front of the Ocean County Courthouse Friday without repercussions, but they couldn’t save a Mays Landing man from an eight-year prison term for growing 17 cannabis plants in the Pinelands.

Still, the prison term Jon Peditto received for operating a marijuana production facility is lower than the 10-year minimum term for the crime he was convicted of in October.

Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney gave 54-year-old Jon Peditto a break, sentencing him for a less serious crime.

The judge said that despite Peditto’s rudeness to him and prosecutors during his trial last year, he found enough mitigating factors to cut him a break.

“The man I saw was a man who admitted smoking marijuana since he was 15 years old,’’ Blaney said of Peditto. “Some of his cognitive brain functions seem to be affected."

Louis Esposito, the attorney who represented Peditto at the sentencing, said Peditto was a fool for acting as his own defense lawyer at his trial last year, but not just because Peditto doesn’t have a law degree.

“He was toked up during the whole trial," Esposito said to the judge.

Peditto disputed that.

“I wasn’t stoned at all," he said.

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Peditto also disputed what the judge said about him, saying he started smoking marijuana at age 19, not 15.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to correct me while I’m sentencing you?" Blaney said.

“It’s not like I was playing the French horn since I was 15," Peditto retorted.

Earlier, Peditto told the judge he went to trial in the case to represent pot smokers.

“I did not come in here to win," he said. “I just wanted to show you who marijuana people are. I’m proud to be an activist. … If everyone in this country had led the life myself and my girlfriend have led, we wouldn’t even need law enforcement or judges or prosecutors anymore."

About 20 supporters of Peditto filed in the courtroom for his sentencing. Some of them were medical marijuana patients who legally smoked out of a bong – a water pipe typically used to smoke cannabis – in front of the courthouse before the court proceeding. Some carried signs that said, "Legalize,'' and "Free Jon Peditto.''

After the sentencing, marijuana legalization activist Edward Forchion of Trenton, better known as NJ Weedman, said of the punishment Peditto received, “It’s way too long.

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“Eight days for marijuana is too long," Forchion said. “He got eight years for 17 plants – 17 scrawny plants."

Peditto's father, Jon Peditto, Sr. earlier had addressed the judge, reminding him of the days of Prohibition.

"In the 1920s, when alcohol was prohibited, there were a lot of so-called gangsters who ran rum through this state,'' Peditto Sr. said.

After the laws changed, the gangsters became influential people, he said.

"Jonny today is part of a generation when, 10 or 20 years from now, when this country has legalized marijuana, could very well be an entrepreneur and be respected and do great things, but he has engaged in illegality and is paying the price for it,'' Peditto Sr. said.

Peditto was arrested on Aug. 7, 2012, after authorities discovered the 17 marijuana plants he was tending to in the Pinelands in Little Egg Harbor. They later confiscated three more pounds of marijuana from his home.

Michael Abatemarco, senior assistant Ocean County prosecutor, said the marijuana was worth between $21,700 and $47,250. He said the plants, at up to 7 feet high, “were taller than me."

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At his trial, Peditto admitted growing the plants, smoking the marijuana and also selling some of it to his friends, Abatemarco said.

“And that’s drug dealing, plain and simple," Abatemarco said. “This is not someone who had one plant in the backyard."

Peditto presented a “jury nullification" defense at his trial, meaning that he told the jury that although what he did was against the law, the law is outdated and needs to be changed.

The jury disregarded the defense and convicted Peditto of operating a marijuana production facility, which is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison, as well as possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it.

“The defendant represented himself poorly during his trial," Blaney said. “He engaged in a defense of jury nullification which he personally rode to its doom."

Blaney ordered that Peditto serve one-third of the eight-year prison term before he can be considered for release on parole.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com