This is Sharon Tracy, who suffers chronic pain from congenital hip deformities and migraines, with her public defender David Shultz in front of Stevenson’s Skamania County Courthouse, where she faced up to 90 days in jail yesterday for growing a few medical marijuana plants. You can read Slog’s coverage of her case here and here. A crowd of supporters, who had just packed the courtroom, stand outside the picture’s frame.

From the Associated Press…

A medical marijuana patient who lost her case before the state Supreme Court last fall was sentenced today to 60 days home confinement, after her lawyers argued that she was too sick to spend any time in jail.

Sharon Tracy, 53, said she was “overjoyed” with the sentence handed down by Skamania County Superior Court Judge E. Thompson Reynolds. She also must perform 30 days of community service and pay $3,000 to help cover the cost of her appeal.

“He could have gone ahead and let me go, but it’s the best I could have gotten in a bad situation,” Tracy said.

The judge, who could have issued no penalty at all under current sentencing guidelines, had never been sympathetic to Tracy’s condition - even chastising her once for just wanting to see the doctor a lot. At a previous hearing, he insisted that Tracy must serve a 90-day jail term. Despite being more lenient at this hearing, Judge Reynolds announced that, in addition to paying the state’s cost of her appeal, she must also pay roughly $500 for her electronic home detention. Taking the cue, supporters in the courtroom dug though their pockets and came up with bills and change to cover her tab.

As recommended in the Washington State Supreme Court’s ruling, the state legislature is considering amending the Medical Use of Marijuana Act this session to protect qualifying patients with a doctor’s authorization from getting prosecuted under technical loopholes in the law.

Co-counsel Douglas Hiatt addressed the crowd in the courthouse parking lot, “If you hadn’t been down here today, she probably would be in jail right now.”