A Cadillac man has learned his punishment after being convicted on a number of drug charges.
Don Koshmider is sentenced to one to 15 years in prison.
A jury found him guilty of seven drug charges in July including maintaining a drug house and delivering marijuana.
Koshmider was arrested after undercover officers raided a mobile home last summer and found he was illegally running a medical marijuana dispensary.
Things were very tense inside the courtroom.
We spoke with Koshmider right before he was sentenced.
He was upset and in disbelief.
“It’s a sad day for me, it’s a sad day for the community, it’s a sad day for Michigan because I am such an enemy of the state,” says Koshmider.
Koshmider told us the trail was unfair and he was only trying to help people.
“Everybody came to me. They came to me for medicine. I shared my medicine with them, I was only allowed to have two and half ounces at a time and if only had two and a half ounces. I wasn’t outside the scope of the law,” says Koshmider.
Wexford County Prosecutor Jason Elmore and Koshmider’s defense attorney Joshua Covert went back and forth, debating sentencing guidelines based on Koshmiders charges.
The judge ultimately handed Koshmider a one to 15 year prison sentence.
“Giving him a prison sentence was important and I respected the judge’s decision. This case was never truly a medical marijuana case because the medical marijuana law did not apply. This case has always been about a particular individual who knew what the law said and intentionally violated the law. People who have medical marijuana cards have a lawful way to get medical marijuana. They can either grow their own or they can get it through a caregiver. In this particular case, the defendant could never be a caregiver and the law is very clear,” says Elmore.
Friends and family of Koshmider were inside and outside of the courtroom. Many left in tears.
“I think it’s really bad. Don wouldn’t hurt anybody and I think this is not right,” says Lois, friend of Koshmider.
Koshmider tells us he plans to appeal his sentence.
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