U.S. v. Duval (2012): Michigan Patient Gets 10 Years Despite State Medical Law

By James Buddsey · Updated October 30, 2026

In 2012, U.S. District Judge David Lawson in Detroit sentenced Gerald “Jerry” Duval Jr., a 52-year-old Monroe County, Michigan, medical marijuana patient, to 10 years in federal prison for growing marijuana in greenhouses with his son Jeremy. The Duvals said they were following Michigan’s 2008 medical marijuana law, but federal law recognized no such defense, and the case became one of the starkest examples of the gap between state medical programs and federal prohibition.

What Happened

The Duvals ran a growing operation in two greenhouses, each about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, on a rural road in Monroe County, south of Detroit. After a federal raid in 2011, Gerald Duval was found guilty in April 2012 of manufacturing marijuana with intent to distribute, conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and maintaining a drug premises, according to a 2013 account of the case.

At sentencing, prosecutors argued that the family had “shamelessly exploited” Michigan’s medical marijuana law to get around the federal ban, and the DEA said that even if the Duvals were licensed caregivers, they far exceeded the state’s limits, the Associated Press reported. (Our original 2012 story attributed the “shamelessly exploited” line to the judge; the AP attributed it to the government.) Judge Lawson imposed 10 years, six years less than prosecutors sought. Jeremy Duval was sentenced separately and received five years.

Why It Mattered

Michigan voters approved medical marijuana in 2008, allowing registered caregivers to grow for up to five patients. Gerald Duval held a state card himself and said the plants were registered to his son and daughter as caregivers and kept in separate locked facilities. He told CBS Detroit that state inspectors had visited in June 2011 and found the operation in compliance, and that he was “one-hundred percent legal” under Michigan law.

None of that mattered in federal court, where marijuana was simply a Schedule I drug. Advocates said he was not allowed at trial to refer to his medical condition or to Michigan law. The case unfolded while the Justice Department’s Ogden and Cole memos were telling prosecutors not to target patients who complied with state law, which showed how little protection those memos gave in practice.

What Happened Next

Duval, who had received a kidney-pancreas transplant and had coronary artery disease, asked to serve his time in a federal medical center, and Judge Lawson recommended that. The Bureau of Prisons instead assigned him to the federal prison in Elkton, Ohio, and ordered him to report on June 11, 2013. The Marijuana Policy Project, citing a Huffington Post estimate, said his imprisonment could cost taxpayers more than $1.2 million, in part because of his transplant medications. We found no public record of a successful appeal or clemency, and his later status is not documented in sources we could verify.

Where It Stands in 2026

Michigan rebuilt its medical system with licensed businesses in 2016 and legalized adult use in 2018; current rules are in our Michigan marijuana laws guide. Since 2014, a congressional spending rider has barred the Justice Department from using funds to prosecute people who comply with state medical marijuana laws, and the April 2026 federal order moved state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III. Marijuana grown outside a state license remains Schedule I. Our federal laws page has the details.

Gerald Duval Medical Marijuana Case FAQ

Originally reported by The Weed Street Journal; rewritten and updated in October 2026 with what happened next.