Marijuana Selling License Denied Due to Spouse’s Criminal Background
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“WSLCB”) rejected a woman’s application for a retail marijuana license because her husband is serving a 44-year sentence for homicide.
Libby Haines-Marchel, a mother of four, saw Washington State’s 2012 legalization of recreational marijuana as a means to financial security. She was one of six applicants to seek two at-large allotments in Douglas County. She topped the list with a lottery pick.
That led to the establishment of Rock Island Chronics, LLC. She asked a developer to lay out plans for a storefront near the highway, and she reached out to growers and investors as she planned to move her family to run the business.
Things came to a screeching halt when the WSLCB rejected her application because her husband, Brock Marchel, whom she met at a prison function in 2006 and married in 2010, was considered under law a party “of interest.” With a criminal background, WSLCB usually denies applications where the parties’ background check score exceeds eight points Haines-Marchel scored no points, but her husband scored 12 points.
To obtain a license, “she would have to get a divorce,” said WSCLB spokesman Brain Smith.
Haines-Marchel, however, decided to fight rather than separate from her husband. She lost appeals with an administrative law judge and in King County Superior Court. She has taken the case to the Washington Court of Appeals.
Upon forming the business, Marchel signed a notarized agreement that he will “irrevocably deny and renounce any and ‘all’ ownership interest and management decisions in Rock Island Chronics.” Haines-Marchel is arguing that the WSCLB is violating her marital right under state law to separate her properly from her husband.
“It is placing on Libby the criminality of her husband. That is a violation of the Constitution,” said Robert Stevenson, her pro bono lawyer.
“I want to own a marijuana business to be financially free,” Haines-Marchel told thestranger.com. “This is a part of history for me. I am a black woman exercising my right to be married and the state has to uphold my marriage contract. This is another form of discrimination.”
Source: thestranger.com
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