the last day of my trial back in December 1998, in Houston, Texas. Before proceeding to trial I had inquired from my court-appointed attorney, “How can I be charged and tried to sell marijuana, when no weed, drugs or money were found during my arrest?

“This is the way the federal system works,” he had said. “All they need is the hearsay testimony from others to prove you were part of a conspiracy to sell marijuana.”