10th Circuit Refuses Release Pending Appeal of Marijuana Church Founders

In United States v. Quaintance, (10th Cir., March 3, 2009), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Mary and Danuel Quaintance-- founders of the Church of Cognizance-- for release from prison pending appeal of their convictions for allegedly religious use of marijuana. The Church teaches the use of marijuana as a central tenet. The trial court concluded that defendants' beliefs did not qualify as a religion and were not sincere. At that point, the Quaintances plead guilty, conditioned on the right to appeal their Religious Freedom Restoration Act defense. (See prior posting.) 18 U.S.C. § 3143(b)(1)(B) calls for defendants' release only if their appeal raises a substantial question of law or fact on which they are likely to prevail. The Court of Appeals concluded that this standard was not met.