By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A pair of brothers jailed earlier this year for growing lots of marijuana in a home they rented on Seminary Hill Road in Centralia pleaded guilty today.
Zeshawn H. Hasnani, 27, and Sohail Hasnani, 24, went before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court where their lawyers and the prosecutor recommended they be sentenced to one year and one day.
When they were charged, police said they had seized 90 plants in various stages of growth and prosecutors suggested the men were supplying product to medical marijuana dispensaries around the state, alleging also that one of their businesses was nothing more than a post office box in Florida.
A money laundering charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Seattle attorney David Arganian said they both had medical marijuana authorizations, and had taken steps to get legal counsel but some advice they got was not the best.
“They weren’t running a cartel or anything like that,” Arganian said. “They were growing marijuana; they did a couple things, like I say, they shouldn’t have.”
While Initiative 502 passed by Washington voters in November has somewhat decriminalized recreational use of marijuana, no licenses have yet been issued to growers, distributors or retailers.
And local governments have kept at bay any legitimate cultivation of medical cannabis in the county via collective gardens through moratoriums and other means.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke asked a judge to accept the plea agreement, noting it was because of the facts of the case and the risks of going to trial.
The Hasnanis pleaded guilty to manufacture of a controlled substance, marijuana and also to possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, with intent to deliver.
The standard sentencing range for their offenses is zero to six months, but both sides agreed to ask for a higher sentence so they could serve their time with the state Department of Corrections instead of in the local jail.
Judge Richard Brosey agreed.
Other charges which were dismissed included possession of marijuana and maintaining a premises for using controlled substances, as well as the special allegations of doing it near a school bus stop and committing the crimes while armed with a firearm.
Arganian said the college educated pair from Florida were shocked to have found themselves locked up on $250,000 bail, as was their family.
“They learned a lot,” he said. “Unfortunately, the hard way.”
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For background, read “Police: Centralia home a hub for marijuana for regional dispensaries” from Friday January 11, 2013, here [1]