No.

22-35647

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JAMES K. SHELTON, BEN SHELTON III AND SAMI SAAD

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

LIQUOR AND CANNABIS BOARD

OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON ET AL.,

Defendants-Appellees.

SUPPLEMENTAL FOURTH SUPPLEMENTAL REPLY BRIEF SHOWING

PROOF OF SELECTIVE CRITERIA NOT APPLIED EQUALLY IN
BOGUS DENIALS OF SOCIAL EQUITY APPLICATIONS

On Appeal from the United States District Court

Western District of Washington
No. C22-5135 BHS

______________________________
James Kevin Shelton et al.
22832 26th Ave S.
Des Moines WA 98198

APPELLANTS PRO SE

1
 NOW COME PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS to remind the Court that not
only has the non Black-owned rat-plagued Vincere’s been allowed to continue
operations as a Medical Dispensary, we now have confirmed proof that
Attorney Aaron Pelley and the Cultiva Law benefitted from state funds and had
a long-standing relationship with Peter Manning.
It is well known that Manning, Plaintiffs, Aaron Barfield and journalist
Christopher King, JD were all united in purpose just two (2) years ago in
Manning’s living room in fact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUHPahv9exI&t

But since that time Manning has been involved in criticizing the other
men and vice versa as Manning started making apologies for the WSLCB, and it
is well-known in this litigation that Brionne Corbray told Plaintiffs-Appellants
that Paula Sardinas told Mr. Corbray anyone associated with Mr. King would
not get a license so this case needs re-opened for full evidentiary hearing at this
point.
There is simply no other way to approach this given the fact that we now
have proof of Whitman County Court case 14-1-00086-8, State v. Manning in
which Aaron Pelley represented Manning.

2
 Therefore given the fact that Attorney Pelley has issued a Statement
Against Interest that State money was going to his office we need to know
again;
a) How were the Cannabis Equity Mentors selected;
b) Was there an RFP involved;
c) What were they paid and from what fund;
d) How was this mentorship program broadcast to applicants;
e) How did the Mentors decide who the Mentees would be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwum9Staa84
WSLCB Board Meeting: Caught Violating HIPAA, Open Records and More

3
APPENDIX A

4
 CONCLUSION: THE SHELL GAME
It is now more than ever patently clear that the Defendants have always
been playing the shell game with Black People and their friends and the whites
who are not part of their clique to keep the money away and ruin possibilities
of generational wealth whilst parading as PNW progressive liberals. But this
Court is here to tell them that sort of willful misconduct carries consequences,
and those consequences commence with a Remand and appropriate
instruction to the Lower Court to actually listen to us Negroes and address the
wrongs if that is too much to ask.

5
 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I served a true and accurate copy of this Memorandum to;

Jessica Leiser, WSBA# 49349

Ghazal Sharifi, WSBA# 47750

Assistant City Attorney

Jessica.Leiser@seattle.gov
Ghazal.Sharifi@seattle.gov

Leah E. Harris, WSBA# 40815

Jonathan E. Pitel, WSBA# 47516
Assistant Attorney General
1125 Washington St. SE
Olympia, WA 988504-0110
Leah.harris@atg.wa.gov
Jonathan.pitel@atg.wa.gov

6
On this 8th Day of January, 2024

_________________________________
James Kevin Shelton

7
 No. 22-35647

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JAMES K. SHELTON, BEN SHELTON III AND SAMI SAAD

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

LIQUOR AND CANNABIS BOARD

OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON ET AL.,

Defendants-Appellees.

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE

FIFTH SUPPLEMENTAL REPLY BRIEF SHOWING
STATE INVOLVEMENT IN SELECTIVE MENTORING
AND LAWYERS ACTING UNDER COLOR OF LAW

On Appeal from the United States District Court

Western District of Washington
No. C22-5135 BHS

______________________________
James Kevin Shelton et al.
22832 26th Ave S.
Des Moines WA 98198

APPELLANTS PRO SE

1
 NOW COME PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS to note that in addition to the
selective enforcement issues with Vincere’s they have recently uncovered, they
now have concrete proof that State money was given to lawyers in a mentoring
program that was not evenly provided to everyone:
The Department of Commerce and other State agencies provided money
and resources to at least one law firm, Cultiva Law, as a “selected” firm to
provide legal assistance to selected cannabis equity applicants.
The problems here are obviously several fold, and best illustrated by the
indisputable facts that;
1. Plaintiffs Shelton had already written Cultiva Law for help but were
rejected for no stated reason even though they were one of the earliest
and strongest Dispensaries in the community; and
2. Plaintiffs Shelton were invited and quickly [dis]invited to a community
forum co-sponsored by the State Department of Commerce and Paula
Sardinas, who has already stated that people affiliated with Christopher
King, JD ‘are not getting any licenses.’
All of this is witnessed below by way of a Christmas Day Public Records
Request to the WSLCB and the State AG’s office but on these facts alone – newly
discovered by accident and despite prior due diligence with respect to para. 1,
supra – a Remand must occur. These actions cloak anyone receiving State
money as acting under Color of Law, and this is doubly true for Sardinas who
has a history of appointed government work that she has publicly posted on
her linked-in and other pages and she has discussed freely in her interviews.
The Court can clearly see signs of Arbitrary and Capricious misconduct
here, and Arbitrary and Capricious misconduct is generally a Civil Rights
violation. Arbitrary and Capricious malfeasance provides a sustainable Cause
of Action under 42 USC §1983. See Robinson v. Seattle, 119 Wn.2d 34 (1992)
830 P.2d 318; Hayes v. City of Seattle, 131 Wn.2d 706, 712-713, 934 P.2d 1179

2
(1997). This is more than negligence or recklessness in the air, there is a real
and palpable impact because the facts will reveal that the application process
contained ambiguities that Learned Counsel would have counseled Applicant
Shelton on but without that advice his social equity application was denied.

The Ninth Circuit recognizes at least four different criteria or tests to

evaluate whether a private actor has engaged in “significant” state
action: (1) public function, (2) joint action, (3) compulsion or
coercion, and (4) governmental nexus. Kirtley
v.Rainey,326F.3d1088,1092 ;see also Sutton, 192F.3dat 835-36;
Johnson v. Knowles, 113F.3d1114, 118, (9th Cir. 1996); Howerton,
708F.2d at 382-83. In Brunette v. Humane Society of Ventura County,
294F.3d1205 (9thCir. 2002), the court potentially expanded those
criteria by applying what it called the symbiotic relationship test.

Satisfaction of any one of the tests is sufficient to find state action by a

private actor. Lee v. Katz, 276 F.3d 550, at 554 (9t h Cir. 2002). The
Ninth Circuit also stressed that although it has recognized these tests to
determine where state action lies, the central question still remains
whether the alleged infringement of federal rights is fairly attributable
to the government. Kirtley, 326 F.3d at 1096.

There is no question that the people involved in this scenario are acting
Under Color of Law. Everyone respected the Shelton Dispensary; this is why
Ollie Garrett’s pal Nate Miles initially picked them to be their 51% mule, ab
initio but for some reason they can’t get any traction and are ignored and
disinvited from activities that involve State money and people acting Under
Color of Law.

3
 CONCLUSION: THE SHELL GAME
It is now more than ever patently clear that the Defendants have always
been playing the shell game with most Black People and their friends and the
whites who are not part of their clique to keep the money away and ruin
possibilities of generational wealth whilst parading as PNW progressive
liberals. But this Court is here to tell them that sort of willful misconduct carries
consequences, and those consequences commence with a Remand and
appropriate instruction to the Lower Court to actually listen to us Negroes and
address the wrongs if that is too much to ask.

4
 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I served a true and accurate copy of this Motion and Memorandum to;

Jessica Leiser, WSBA# 49349

Ghazal Sharifi, WSBA# 47750

Assistant City Attorney

Jessica.Leiser@seattle.gov
Ghazal.Sharifi@seattle.gov

Leah E. Harris, WSBA# 40815

Jonathan E. Pitel, WSBA# 47516
Assistant Attorney General
1125 Washington St. SE
Olympia, WA 988504-0110
Leah.harris@atg.wa.gov
Jonathan.pitel@atg.wa.gov

On this 26th Day of November, 2023

_________________________________
James Kevin Shelton

5
 APPENDIX A
RCW §42.56 Cannabis Equity Mentorship Public Document Request Issued
Via Email Only as Required by Law: I am not playing that portal game that
Seattle Tried when I schooled them on MERS bullshit some time ago:
https://www.scribd.com/document/388270809/City-of-Seattle-Sued-for-
Withholding-MERS-Lawsuit-Information-Homeless-Suffer

Good Day Attorney Pelley et al.,

We have become aware by way of Attorney Aaron Pelley that Captiva Law
provided pro bono services to Washington Cannabis Equity applicants, to wit:
https://cultivalaw.com/cultiva-laws-pro-bono-program-for-social-equity-
applicants/

Cultiva Law’s Pro Bono Program for Social Equity

Applicants
BY AARON PELLEY ● MARCH 01, 2023

“Cultiva Law has announced that it will be offering pro bono legal
services to qualified Social Equity Applicants in the Washington state
cannabis market. The State of Washington has chosen to hand-select
“mentors” and allocate funding to pay for those mentors….’

Interestingly enough, my friend James Kevin Shelton and his brother had long
since written Captiva and specifically asked for help in the so-called cannabis
equity movement when the #ACLU lied and said they don’t do work in the
subject area and referred Mr. Shelton to Captiva, to wit:

From: James s <jameskshelton@yahoo.com>

Subject: ACLU referral
Date: February 22, 2022 at 4:59:46 PM PST
To: "aaron@cultivalaw.com" <aaron@cultivalaw.com>
Cc: Ben Shelton <bshelton500@hotmail.com>, Sami Sami
<sa615615615@gmail.com>, Christopher King <kingcast955@icloud.com>

Greetings Aaron,

My name is J. Kevin Shelton. I was referred to you by the ACLU. We're seeking
some legal counsel on a case that we have against the liquor cannabis board.

6
Attached is the referral letter from the ACLU and a copy of our pending case
against the liquor cannabis board. Please feel free to contact me and let me
know if there is anything further that you need from us.

I look forward to working with you.

Thanks for your time and attention.

J. Kevin Shelton

…..But apparently for some reason, in a system involving WA government

money and (in)disrection, the Sheltons did not receive any assistance and
whereupon made a tactical error in their application that resulted in a
pending Appeal.

Meanwhile, Christopher King, JD “KingCast” and Politico have noted to be

universal failures, to wit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJwmZWBAxNU
WSLCB and Vicki Christopherson Remain Cannabis Anti Nigger Machines

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/23/marijuana-legalization-inner-
cities-00121185
Broken promises: How marijuana legalization failed communities hit
hardest by the drug war

States vowed that cannabis licenses would bring equity to places that suffered
most in the drug war. Instead, most license holders are wealthy and white.

***********

WHEREFORE I DEMAND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION FROM the

#WSLCB and #WASHINGTONAG on behalf of itself and the
#WASHINGTONDEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

1. Provide an accounting for each and every red cent spent by the
government to Cultiva Law relative to the mentoring project referenced
above by Attorney Pelley to date.

7
2. Provide an accounting for each and every red cent spent by the government
to all entities, inclusive of Cultiva Law, relative to the mentoring project
referenced above by Attorney Pelley to date.

3. Provide a copy of the criteria used to determine who the mentors would be,
inclusive of any and all notes, emails and other communication between the
mentors and any and all state offices to date, relative to the mentoring project
referenced above by Attorney Pelley.

4 Provide a copy of any and all communications that indicate the presence or
lack of any Attorney-Client privilege between any mentors and social equity
applicants.

5. Provide a copy of any and all documents or communications that notified

the mentee pool of the services available relative to the mentoring project
referenced above by Attorney Pelley.

6. Provide a copy of the criteria used to determine who the social equity
applicant mentees would be, inclusive of any and all notes, emails and other
communication preceding any written mentor/mentee agreement.

7. Provide any and all documents pertaining to why James Kevin Shelton was
invited from any cannabis mentoring programs in which the State
Department of Commerce was involved.

8. Provide any and all documents pertaining to why James Kevin Shelton was
[un]invited from any cannabis mentoring programs in which the State
Department of Commerce was involved.

9. Provide a copy of any and all promotional materials for any and all
programs in which the State Department of Commerce was involved,
including copies of all email lists used to circulate said promotional materials.

Thanks! I love transparency in government and so does #GreenWallStreet

Producer #AnneContinelli

Christopher King, JD

8
 No. 22-35647

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

JAMES K. SHELTON, BEN SHELTON III AND SAMI SAAD

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

LIQUOR AND CANNABIS BOARD

OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON ET AL.,

Defendants-Appellees.

REPLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE
FOURTH SUPPLEMENTAL REPLY BRIEF SHOWING
WITHHELD PROOF OF CONTINUED EQUAL PROTECTION VIOLATIONS

On Appeal from the United States District Court

Western District of Washington
No. C22-5135 BHS

______________________________
James Kevin Shelton et al.
22832 26th Ave S.
Des Moines WA 98198

APPELLANTS PRO SE

1
 NOW COME PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS to note that now, after more
than a year, Defendant(s) by and through WSLCB finally admitted by way of an
RCW §42.56 Public Information Request that they had knowledge of Vincere’s
running operations on weekends back in 2018. Significantly, it is still in
operation as of November, 2023 and evidence will be shown to the Lower
Court on Remand.
Isn’t it true that Plaintiffs made this exact claim as we moved into the
Court of Appeals as this information became known to us and how it relates
back to the lawsuit that Art West settled for reasons previously and oft-noted?
Now, and finally on the eighth (8th) and ninth (9th) niggardly installments of
information responses they finally produce what we all knew all along, in
addition to the fact that the neighboring recreational store had also filed a
complaint. See below and at Attachments A and B, with A being responses from
the 9th Installment and B consisting of a catalogue of items with a few selected
items printed out behind it.
Not only that, we find it interesting as noted by this link;
https://komonews.com/news/local/states-last-known-medical-marijuana-
exchange-raided-in-parkland how:
a) WSLCB was aware of the exact same situation at this address in 2018
yet the facility at the same address opened right back up and is still
open in 2023 despite several well-publicized ‘raids’.
b) WSLCB did not mention the raid seen at the link and in the picture
below in any press releases.

2
 This is unfortunate because as noted in Attachment A, supra, not only
did Bloom Cannabis next door complain, so too did a medical patient who
wrote in two (2) years later in October, 2020:
My Story is about
Vincere’s Compassion Club located
10625 Pacific Ave
Tacoma, WA 98444

Reporting illegal medical marijuana sales

This business is doing illegal sales. As a medical client we suppose (sic)
to receive no more than 3 oz of medical marijuana at a time. This place
sales (sic) medical marijuana by the pound every Sat and Sun 10a.m. to
4p.m. and other things not due to regulations within the medical
standards and guidelines. The people running the building is runnit
under false names and identification. These action are very serious. This
place also have rats which can be a huge health concerns for patients.1
******
We move this Honorable Court for the sought relief because none of this
is our fault but it is clearly indicative of unlawful conduct: The Court can clearly
see how we and our associates try so hard to get any facts and any evidence
out of them only to be lied to, slow-walked, stonewalled and ridiculed for
allegedly attacking Board member Ollie Garrett.
Speaking of Ollie Garrett and one of the major premises of this case, may
the Court recall that Plaintiffs-Appellants Shelton never got *ANY* feedback or
information about what happened after they wrote that letter to her pursuant
to the directive from Nate Miles.

1
Interestingly, the WSLCB vigorously resisted when our friends John Novak and former AAG
Christopher King, J.D. sued them for being fake cops while not adequately policing cannabis
quality. See generally King and Novak v. WSLCB et al., 2:20-CV-01494 RAJ. Seems like that
pesky Negro and the pesky Cannabis Patient had a point there. So do we.
https://www.scribd.com/document/479408283/Taxpayers-Sue-Washington-Liquor-Cannabis-
Board-as-Fake-Cops-2-20-CV-01494-RAJ

3
 Here then is what is interesting about that in light of new developments
since the WSLCB has refused to identify anything about anything relating to
that letter, Appellants note that they can actually pull names in addition to the
‘CMS’ listing on delivered tracked mailings because all we have from the 2020
racketeering behind-the-scenes email is this:

4
 But alas….As you can see the information contained below has the name
of an individual who signed for the document. If we had that in this case we
might be able to figure out what happened next as we are entitled to know…
we were picked to take part of what we now know to be a completely illicit
campaign between private individuals and the WSLCB Board member(s) and
the World and this Court needs to know what happened next. Surely this Court
can’t just sit back and watch all accountability disappear right? Right.

5
 CONCLUSION: THE SHELL GAME
It is now more than ever patently clear that the Defendants have always
been playing the shell game with Black People and their friends and the whites
who are not part of their clique to keep the money away and ruin possibilities
of generational wealth whilst parading as PNW progressive liberals. But this
Court is here to tell them that sort of willful misconduct carries consequences,
and those consequences commence with a Remand and appropriate
instruction to the Lower Court to actually listen to us Negroes and address the
wrongs if that is too much to ask.

6
 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I served a true and accurate copy of this Motion and Memorandum to;

Jessica Leiser, WSBA# 49349

Ghazal Sharifi, WSBA# 47750

Assistant City Attorney

Jessica.Leiser@seattle.gov
Ghazal.Sharifi@seattle.gov

Leah E. Harris, WSBA# 40815

Jonathan E. Pitel, WSBA# 47516
Assistant Attorney General
1125 Washington St. SE
Olympia, WA 988504-0110
Leah.harris@atg.wa.gov
Jonathan.pitel@atg.wa.gov

On this 13th Day of November, 2023

_________________________________
James Kevin Shelton

7
 This bust was not in the WSLCB press releases:
https://komonews.com/news/local/states-last-known-medical-marijuana-exchange-raided-in-parkland

Shortly after the bust above in 2018 they open up Vincere:

Vincere's Compassion Club | Better Business Bureau® Profile