A South Florida man charged with growing marijuana he claims he needs for a medical condition took the stand at his historic trial Thursday.
The defense rested its case Thursday as 50-year-old Jesse Teplicki took the stand to tell his side of the story.
The question for jurors is was Teplicki a drug dealer or was he growing large amounts of pot to help with his medical condition. The state wants him to be a convicted felon for growing large amounts of marijuana in his Hollywood home.
"I just want to live, I want to live and be a normal human being and vote and be on a jury maybe one day and raise my kids," Teplicki said Thursday.
"Do you feel like you can do that without cannabis?" his attorney asked.
"No," he replied. "Who would give up the right to sit on a jury in the future or give up the right to vote or give up the right to uphold the Constitution of the United States if they didn't feel something is important?"
Teplicki suffers from a severe case of anorexia which suppresses his appetite and makes him nauseous. Broward Sheriff's Office deputies arrested him last year for the cultivation and possession of 46 marijuana plants. For the first time in Florida history, a jury will get to decide if cannabis was medically necessary.
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"The thing is, orally you can't just take a medication when you have my condition. You vomit, so to take something orally like a pill, it doesn't work for me anyway," he said.
The state implied Teplicki's story doesn't add up and asked him to explain why he had so many plants at one time.
"I grew my plants once a year in January, December, February, in those months in which the sun started climbing until June 20th, the longest day of the year," he said.
The state also drilled Teplicki on his medical history, questioning him about his truthfulness with doctors and lack of medical records.
"If the jury wants to find me guilty based on the evidence I am willing to take my guilty, and that's it. That's why I'm here, that's why I'm here," he said.
The charge is manufacturing cannabis. If convicted, Teplicki could be spending up to five years behind bars.
