INDEX:
• Armstrong
• Bogue
• Campbell
• Early Cases
• Gage 3/25/10
• Garzini
• Krause
• Laino & Burrell
• Lipmanson Cases
• Lockhart
• Marino
• MendoHealing
• Mount
• Nelson 3/25/10
• Parker
• Rule
• Shun
• Smith
• Sutherland, Henderson
• Trembly
• Wuerfel
• Zachary

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Mark Wuerfel
    Mark Wuerfel is a 59 year old attorney with a law office in San Bruno who has sued the county over its marijuana nuisance law. On June 17, 2010 he was arrested for the third time for growing marijuana on his property north of Laytonville.  He was out on bail from his previous busts and was arrested on suspicion of cultivation and possession for sale, committing a felony while on bail and possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony. His bail was set at $75 thousand. At least 400 plants were found and eradicated.
    The first bust was three years ago. On Friday, July 13, 2007 neighbors reported hearing explosions and seeing fireballs on the horizon in the direction of Twin Rocks Ranch, a gated community off Registered Guest Road about 7 miles up Spyrock Road. When the Laytonville fire department arrived, they found a large  two-story barn nearly 90% destroyed and the fire was spreading to the wildland. Air attack was called in from Cal Fire and numerous other agencies participated in extinguishing the blaze.
    While the cause of  the explosions was never determined due to the extent of the damage, it is thought a generator exploded, setting off two nearby 500 gallon tanks of propane which in turn ignited a 3,000 gallon diesel tank. When the diesel tank exploded, it cartwheeled across the yard spilling its contents.
    Nearby, another barn, 100 yards in length and identical to the one that burned, was found to contain 3,000 marijuana plants that were eradicated by CAMP and COMMET. Wuerfel was arrested the next day as he tried to leave the mountain. He was charged with cultivation and  possession for sale and illegal possession of a firearm.
    Eighteen months later under orders from the county environmental health department, some 150 tons of soil were excavated and removed at the landowner's insurance company's expense. Wuerfel paid environmental health $9,000 for its investigative costs. Wuefel says the indoor grows belonged to a tenant, and were not his.
    On August 6, 2008 agents serving a search warrant arrested Wuerfel and his wife, Dana, at Twin Rocks Ranch for cultivation and possession for sale, as well as possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. There were more than 600 plants.  The DEA, the DOJ, MCSO and COMMET were all involved in that action. Under the authority of his release to submit to search and siezure, they removed two laptops that contained his defense files.
    Wuerful is representing himself in both cases. There has not been a preliminary hearing in either case.
      He filed a  motion to prevent the DA from accessing the documents about his first bust siezed in the second bust on the basis they are covered by attorney-client privilege. In May, the case was before judge Brown who had appointed attorney Chris Neary of Willits as a special master to review the files to determine which could and could not be viewed by the prosecution. Neary told judge Brown that many of the files had been corrupted and could not be read. Neary was only allowed to view a hard drive copy of the files made by a police computer forensics unit in Napa County, not the originals. Those copies have been provided to Wuerfel.
    Mark is an attorney for and member of Mendocino Pride, a cultivating cooperative organized under California law according to the attorney general's guidelines. Unlike dispensing coops, a cultivating coop can be organized "on a statewide basis," according to the guidelines. Mendocino Pride serves over 1,300 patient members through the Theraputic Healing Corporation in southern California, a dispensing coop.
       Mendocino Pride leases various legal parcels contiguous with Twin Rocks Ranch from the Wuerfel family in order to grow medical cannabis for its members.
    On behalf of Mendocino Pride, Wuerfel filed a lawsuit against the county over its medical marijuana cultivation nuisance law. The suit contains allegations of police misconduct such as diversion of marijuana and cash by deputies, as well as accusations that deputies are complicent in illegal water shipments to growers. Mark said the sheriff has targeted his family and the coop for destruction in retaliation for their release of this information.
    The suit, never served on the parties or scheduled for hearing, was filed on May 20. Mark told MEDOCINO COUNTRY he filed the suit in order to get the DA's office, the sheriff department, and the county counsel's office to negotiate new policies with him under the supervision of a judge. This request has been ignored by all agencies.
    From that day until the bust, Mark "knew they were coming," and attempted unsuccessfully to communicate with the DA's office in order to lay out the evidence showing it was a medical grow.
     Finally on June 17 of this year, DEA agents, along with county deputy sheriffs who respresent COMMET and  the Major Crimes Task Force entered another Wuerfel family-owned parcel on foot through a locked gate on Spyrock Road without a warrant. The gate was posted with detailed warnings that law enforcement must have a warrant or communicate with a judge before entering. After walking a mile on a dirt road, the agents lay in wait in the grass for most of the day. Finally, Mark and another member of the coop arrived at the location where there were several greenhouses. Mark's duty as attorney and member was to daily check the fences, signage and greenhouse security. The greenhouses contained 2-gallon tubs with seedlings that were to be planted outdoors on the other parcels.
    The members were ordered to sit on the ground outside while the police attempted by telephone to get a warrant. They remained there for 3 and a half hours in the mid day heat, and finally judge Mayfield refused to issue a search warrant based on litigation Mark had filed with the courts asking for protection. His OR release in November of 2007 only permits search and siezure on the main ranch property, not on the lands leased by Mendocino Pride.
    Penal code section 1524 requires that privileged documents cannot be seized by police in a raid, but must be delivered to a court appointed special master by a defendant. In spite of that, Mark and other coop employees were removed under detention from the green house and taken to the main residence on Registered Guest Road where he was ordered to open his legal office safe in the presence task force special agent Bruce Smith who wrote down the combination. While the supposed reason to open the safe was to deliver the cooperative's formation papers, Mark said the real reason was to take other files which detailed Mendocino County police misconduct. A total of 4 bankers boxes were siezed by deputies and taken to the sheriff's office, according to Wuerfel.
    During this procedure, Smith ordered Mark outside, handcuffed him behind his back, and repeatedly jerked his wrists upward causing him to cry out in pain in front of witnesses.
    As of this writing, the district attorney still does not have jurisdiction of the documents taken June 17, meaning they are being copied and analized by sheriff's department and the DEA.
 
  



Nelson and Ahern 3/27/10
        On January 22, Judge Ronald Brown rejected the right to privacy argument of James Nelson and Rosemary Ahern of Willits in their marijuana cultivation for sale case.  Defense attorney had requested that motions be combined with the preliminary hearing which was to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.  
    Issues in the prelim were whether the couple had an expectation of privacy on their land, whether that privacy was violated by COMMET deputies sponaneously searching for evidence without a warrant, whether there were false or misleading statements in the search warrant affadavit, and whether the results of the search were necessary to probable cause.
    In March of 2009, officers entered into the couple's 12 acre property southwest of Willits near the junction of Walker Road, Highway 101 and the railroad tracks.
    The warrantless entry was made in the dead of night from the tracks through a hog wire fence topped with barbed wire and adorned with no trespassing signs. The team penetrated some 440 feet uphill through dense woods into the couples’ sanctuary and approached the garage where Jimmie had a grow room they probably already knew was there.
    Failing to see lights, hear fans or smell marijuana, they nonetheless retreated and filed an affidavit for a search warrant stating they did. They returned a a week later and allegedly eradicated some 400 plants, only 90 of which were mature. Nine were mother plants, 109 were said to be from 1-2 feet tall, 89 were less than 1 foot tall, and 165 were unrooted clippings. Most of these were in a nursery in the basement of the house.
    They  also said they found evidence of cultivation for sale, including sums of money.
    Jimmie and Rosie declare the grow was for a medical coop with 5 members, including themselves. The per patient plant limit in effect at the time was 12 immature and 6 mature.
    Jimmie is a burly taciturn redneck dude who drives water tender for CalFire. In contrast, Rosie is a beautiful blonde Jewish American woman whose emotions are always on the surface. In their 40’s, they wear grower chic and obviously love each other beyond measure.
    They denied making self-incriminating statements to the raiders without benefit of attorney, but some of the conversations were  apparently recorded.
    What is at stake here is that if the search warrant affidavit contained evidence that was obtained only by violating the defendants’ curtilage, and the evidence was proven false or misleading, and that evidence was necessary to determine probable cause, then the results of the search authorized by that warrant could be suppressed,  probably leading to a dismissal of the case.
    The court stated, "I am not satisfied officers breached the curtilage, which is the leveled off portion of the hill on which the house and driveway are situated. The surrounding wooded area is open field where they had no expectation of privacy under the fourth amendment." Arraignment is set in Judge Henderson's courtroom A at 8:30am on April 1.
   
Midnight Creep
    The prosecution's case rests on testimony of deputies Bruce Smith and James Wells of the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team, COMMET, now funded directly by the feds.
    They testified they were walking west on the railroad tracks from Walker Road toward another address  at 11pm on March 4 when they smelled marijuana coming from the Nelson Ahern property to the south. After coming back from the other address, they decided to "creep" uphill onto the defendants' land, stopping short of the residence situated on a hilltop and circling to the northwest.
    Jimmie affirmed in the hearing that his garage was hermetically sealed and he only ran fans during the day. There was an elaborate fan and duct system in the garage grow room that did not allow inside air to escape, but sucked in fresh air for cooling his 12 1,000 Watt grow lights.
    He brought a ballast, a grow light and a fan to court to butress his case. On January 14, Peterson plugged the ballast into a socket and the bulb into the ballast during the hearing and it made no sound, thereby blasting a hole in police testimony they could hear them.
    This was the third day of the prelim. Defense attorney Justin Peterson at first established the couple had an expectation of privacy using around 70 printed photographs and blowup aerial shots and testimony of Jimmie, Rosie and a private investigator.
    They testified that the entire north face of the property was a steep wooded hillside where the couple engaged in gardening, tree planting, brush clearing, meditation, picnicing, barbequeing, showering and romantic activities.  Thus, the privilege of kurtilege extended throughout the area where deputies entered for their initial late-night "open field" warrantless search.
    On the subsequent days of the hearing, Peterson took his time making both deputies go through all 70 of his photographs of little shrines and work sites on the property's north slope to see if the deputies would admit to seeing  any of them. They said they had not.
   During the prelim in rainy February, Judge Brown conducted a site visit with both parties present, including precisely where the deputies had claimed they accessed the property without crossing a fence or seeing a no-tresspassing sign. The fence was there for all to see.

Sutherland Henderson    8/6/09
    On July 23, 09 Mendocino County superior court judge Ronald Brown dismissed all charges at the preliminary hearing phase in a case involving two young landowners in Redwood Valley. The home of John Bennet Henderson and Shelton Rain Sutherland was raided by sheriff deputies in August of last year in what they testified was a "compliance check" based on neighbors complaints, (a technique that is actually called a "service call." A compliance check is an inspection requested by a grower).
    The team was led by then deputy, now "special agent" Ray Derrick Hendry who had been repeatedly urged to investigate the property by MCSO sergeant Scott Poma who lives about a mile and a half up Tomki Road from the site.
    Poma testified he drove by the property several times a day on his way to and from Ukiah and last summer noticed a new redwood board fence put up along the road.
    He then said he had been called by a neighbor across the creek from the property to eradicate some plants she said were growing on her property without her permission. While on that mission, Poma testified he observed people tending large marijuana plants on the subject property on the other side of the creek.
    This was the basis of his urging Hendry to investigate Henderson and Sutherland. On the morning in question, Hendry gathered a team on the grounds of Eagle Peak Middle School and proceeded to the site on the 1400 block of Tomki Road, taking a hard right down a dirt driveway.
    The convoy of four sheriff vehicles proceeded east on the driveway for some 150 feet before parking around a residence and encountering Ms. Sutherland behind the house.
    Against her interest, and surrendering her right to defend her property, she agreed to show deputy Hendry the greenhouse where some 80 marijuana plants were allegedly growing.    Subsequently, Hendry telephoned deputy Peter Hoyle who filed an affadavit requesting a search warrant. The warrant did not reveal that the residents were alleging the plants were covered by four medical marijuana recommendations.
    In his testimony, Hendry revealed he did not request to see the recommendations prior to requesting the search warrant and did not mention them in his telephone conversation with Hoyle. In response to questioning by defense attorney Tony Serra, Hendry testified he "never" follows up to verify claims of medically recommended marijuana before obtaining search warrants and eradicating.
    During the so-called compliance check which turned into an eradication of all marijuana plants on the property, Hendry refused to allow the residents to enter the house to produce the recommendations. After obtaining the search warrants and tossing the house, he found two recommendations on the kitchen counter covering JB and Shelton, dated August, 2007 which at the time had not expired.
    Hendry was the deputy who obtained a warrant to extirpate Laura Hamburg's garden in October of 2007 which was later thrown out by a judge because he supressed her allegation and offer to prove medical cultivation. His father grew marijuana on Locust Ave. in Willits all last year and was never busted. Derrick has been promoted to the Major Crimes Task Force. The defense dream team of Omar Figueroa and Tony Serra of San Francisco concentrated on what they said was a "Franks Motion" to supress the search as trespassory. While Hoyle's affadavit claimed Hendry had knocked on the front door and was given permission to enter by the residents, testimony showed that deputies ignored the front door and were on a beeline to the greenhouse in the back yard when Shelton first encountered them.
    To them, the fourth amendment is meaningless. Mendocino County Sheriff deputies claim the right to enter private property and search for marijuana based on secret, uncorroborated information, according to testimony in this case.
    Calling it a "compliance check" is a mockery. The term was coined by sheriff Allman in April to designate a service call originated by a property owner or resident who voluntarily invites deputies to inspect a presumed medical grow to determine if it is in compliance. The current standard is 6 mature plants or 12 immature plants and 8 ounces of bud per patient. County nuisance law limits each legal parcel to 25 plants, with conditions that are available on the sheriff's website.     Hendry testified he was following a written sheriff department policy on compliance checks in entering the property without a warrant or permission, but the prosecution was unable to produce a copy and had to admit the "policy" was verbal only, and that it changes.
    Serra and and co-counsel Omar Figueroa alleged that deputies broke a lock on the front gate to enter the property, but were unable to get prosecution witnesses to admit that happened. Poma claimed the gate was customarily left open, and the defendants allege they customarily locked it.
'    The attorneys are also to present a Mower motion concurrent with the preliminary hearing based on the improper destruction of some of the plants. Prosecution has already stipulated the plants will not come into evidence, and will not even be mentioned at trial. Remaining evidence were 160 1-ounce patties of "bubble-hash," a low-THC medicinal product derived from shake.
    In dismissing the charges on motion of defense, Brown cited the entry deep into the defendants' private property without warrant or consent, and the failure to inform the magistrate the defendants were claiming they had medical recommendations.
    The fourth amendment to the US constitution protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. The police needed corroboration for Poma's suspicion the residents were growing marijuana which could have been obtained from an overflight, a neighbor or admission of the cultivators, and they could have used that to obtain a search warrant before entering. Whether the lock was broken is immaterial. The residents did not consent to the entry, which they had a right to refuse but did not after the fact.
    The refusal to inform the magistrate who issued the warrant is called suppression of exculpatory evidence and is a violation of the evidence code. These particular officers should be sanctioned from testifying in court for a prolonged period. They included captain Smallcomb, Poma, Van Patten as well as Hendry.
    According to Figueroa, the former defendants will sue to recover what remains of their medicine.

Laino and Burrell 6/1/10
     Steven Laino and Jeff Burrel were suspected of growing 142 plants in a commercial style indoor grow in a former machine shop on North State Street in Ukiah, raided on April 23, 2008. Laino gave a sworn statement that Burrell -- a Ukiah school teacher -- was not involved in the operation although he had a plumbing shop adjoining the grow and was paying the rent on the building.
  Both were arrested. Laino was originally charged with cultivation and possession for sale. On April 15, 2008, he was allowed to plead only to misdemeanor violation of H&S 11366.5 maintaining a place for the manufacture of marijuana and took a West Plea which is a deferred entry of judgment for one year and on successful completion the plea can be changed to not guilty and the charges dropped and the record expunged.
    He has 3 years summary probation and cannot cultivate marijuana but may possess what he medically needs. He will do 60 days in county jail and pay a fine of $2,400 plus various fees.
   After his arrest, Burrell was placed on paid administrative leave. But when no charges were filed he was allowed to resume teaching in the Ukiah Unified School District.
    Just this month, DA Meredith Lintott suddenly decided to forge ahead with felony prosecution against Burrell, knowing his public defender would by her opponent in the June race for DA. In a letter to the defendant dated Feb. 25, under the signature of prosecutor McConnell, Jeff was informed of the new charges.
    Burrell’s most recent teaching assignment was working with students who needed extra academic help. A Humboldt State University graduate, Burrell is a former girls’ basketball coach at Ukiah High School. Burrell is a former standout athlete at Mendocino College and Humboldt State. He was inducted into the Mendocino College Hall of Fame in 2006.
     David Eyster, Burrell’s attorney, accused Lintott of making an “extreme decision for political gain."
     During his campaign, Eyster has criticized the DA’s office for confusing and ineffective marijuana prosecution policies.
   On June 1, the prosecution admitted it did not have sufficient evidence against Burrell and dismissedhis case.


Josey Shun
    A marijuana cultivation for sale and conspiracy case with East Bay connections is headed for trial in Mendocino County Superior Court. The defendants are Phat Ngoc Nguyen, Tuananh Pham Nguyen, Eugene Shun, Josey Jo-Heui Shun, Tony Wang, Nam Hoang Nguyen,  and Hung Randy Mau Gip.  
     Josey is a popular realtor lady active in local Buddhist charities and outspoken critic of marijuana prohibition. She was scooped up in a major crimes Task Force raid in May of 2009 against what they claim was a network of indoor grows in Talmage and Ukiah run from San Jose.
    At the outset of the hearing on April 2, defendant Wang was missing and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He is still in the wind.
    Defense attorneys are Keith Faulder, Robert Boyd, Al Kubanis, Jan Cole Wilson, Simmons and Ferris Prevais.
    On April 19, Mendocino County superior court judge David Nelson held the six present defendants to answer to all charges after a second day of preliminary examination. The prosecution's case appeared flimsy and circumstantial in that no evidence was presented in court that any specific defendant had been observed at the major grow house where two copies of  one medical marijuana recommendation was found, and at another, there were two medical recommendations.     Only one defendant was observed fleeing the third with grow equipment leaving a consderable number of plants behind. Linking the defendants were family ties, random reciepts, rental agreements and shared use of vehicles.
    The matter is set for arrainment,

The Complaint:
    The counts of the complaint are:
    1) and 2) Phat Ngoc Ngyuyen, Tuananh Pham Nguyen and Eugene Shun violated Health and Safety Code 11358 and 11359 by cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale at 888 Watson Road.
    3) That the same three defendants stole electricity in violation of Sectin 498(b) and (d) of the California Penal code at 888 Watson Road;
    4) and 5)That Josey, along with Eugene Shun, Tony Wang and Nam Hoang Nguyen cultivated and possessed marijuana at her home on Guidiville Road in violation of state Health and Safety Code 11358 and 11359.
    6) and 7) Josey is also charged with Hung Randy Mau Gip of cutivation and possession for sale of marijuana at 379 Empire Drive in violation of the same statutes.
    8) Josey is also charged with Phat Ngoc Nguyen, Tuananh Pham Nguyen, Eugene Shun, Tony Wang, Nam Hoang Nguyen and Hung Randy Mau Gip with conspiracy, a felony violation of section 182(a)(1) of the California Penal Code to cultivate marijuana on May 21, 2009 with the following overt acts alleged in furtherance of the conspiracy:
    1) Phat Ngoc Ngyuen and Josey Shun acquired real property in Mendocino County. Josey bought 379 Empire Drive while Nguyen bought 888 Watson in October of 2006 with Josey being the realtor on the deal. She also represents Ngyuen as that property is once again listed for sale on the market.
    2) All or some of the defendants may have modified the houses (unspecified) to grow marijuana within.
    3) All the defendants except for Josey and Tony Wang allegedly visited "the grow houses," which therefore don't include the Guidiville home where they both live. 

Circumstantial Evidence
    Major Crimes Task Force special agent Derrick Hendry was qualified as an expert witness on possession for sale. He testfied that on May 1, 2009 a citizen informant had tipped off law enforcement that a residence at 888 Watson Road in the east Ukiah Valley had probably been turned into a grow shell house. The task force then conducted a perfunctory surveillance of the dwelling over a period of ten days without observing anyone on the property, but taking notes of the vehicles parked there.
     One of three vehicles observed parked there was registered to Eugene Shung with an address at his aunt Josey's Guideville Road address.
     Josey as real estate broker had sold the Watson Road property to its current owner, Phat Nguyen. In turn, Phat had rented the property to Daniel Le for $2,500 per month. Another vehicle was a burgundy colored Toyota pickup whose owner was never identified in court. The third vehicle was a Honda sedan identified as registered to Nam Nguyen.
    On May 21, police agents served a warrant on the Watson Road house and searched it for contraband. Inside, they claimed to have found a total 1,034 marijuana plants between 2 and 4 feet in height as well as 75 starts in pots, 247 clone starts between 2-3" and six mother plants under the house as well as 75 grow lights and 75 flourescent ballasts. There were additional plants growing in two bedrooms. There was marijuana hanging in drying room, and a pound of processed bud.
    In a detached garage there were 110 plants from 2-3' in full bloom.
    The PG&E electric meter on the house had been bypassed.
    There was indicia from Eugene Shun in the kitchen.
         There were two medical marijuana recommendations made out to Tuananh Pham Nguyen. An investigator for PG&E testified that the electric account was in his name as well.
    Jason Cox now a Task Force special agent testified that he was involved in a search warrant execution  of Josey Shun's home at 3010 Guidiville Road, also in the hills east of Ukiah on May 21. He was accompanied by a number of other sheriff deputies. They found Josey in a detached building they called a shop where her living quarters were apparently upstairs and downstairs contained an office and a grow operation. She had a picture of drying marijuana in the shop dated in December of 2007. There was an elaborate compost tea system which fed the indoor hydroponic grow consting of 226 budding plants some 5' tall.
    In her purse, the deputies found a rental agreement with Randy Gip for a house she owned at 375 Empire Drive in Ukiah for $2,600 per month, as well as a lease 2.25 acres of vineyard property behind the house to Tony Wang for $3,500 per month.
    Tony Wang was in the process of trying to escape out a bedroom window when he was detained by a deputy at gunpoint.
    The raiders found indicia from Eugene Shun in another bedroom related to his blue BMW, as well as bank statements.
    In yet another bedroom, the police found PG&E bills to Nam Nguyen at 3010 Guidiville Road, and in the kitchen a pink slip in his name with an address in Santa Clara County.  The meter at the address had not been bypassed.
    In the living room there was 5lbs of trimmed bud and a bong on the coffee table.
    Cox interviewed Josey after advising her of her Miranda rights. He testified that she understood her rights although she has a Chinese accent and her native language is Mandarin.
        Josey reportedly told Cox she is employed as a real estate agent and she and Wang had medical recommendations. She stated there were between 50 and 100 plants on the property and did not specify her level of consumption. She denied any knowlege of the Watson Road grow, according to Cox's testimony, but did say she owned 375 Empire Drive.
    As he spoke, and the prosecutor displayed pictures of Josey's sanctuary, the defendant remained rigidly erect seated next to a court-appointed interpreter with eyes closed as if she were meditating. She is known to be a devout Buddhist.
    Wang also agreed to speak without benefit of council after being mirandized. He denied he was growing and admitted owning the processed marijuana, according to Cox.
    While this was going on, a white Toyota sedan arrived at the scene carrying two males, Randy Gip and Lan Mac who stated they were intending to visit, having just been at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. They were sent away.
    Three hours later, Cox and Task Force commander Bob Nishyama  with a contingent of UPD arrived with a search warrant at the Empire Drive location where they saw a U-Haul truck being loaded from the garage with grow equipment. When the occupants refused to come to the door, the police left and waited around the block. Eventually, the U-Haul van  was located fleeing the scene, pulled over and searched. Randy Gip was driving. The truck's rental papers in his name indicated he  had obtained it around 1:00pm.
    According to Cox, a search inside the building revealed 360 marijuana plants in intricate hydroponic towers located in three separate bedrooms. The white Toyota escaped a BOLO broadcast Cox had requested.
    Special agent Robert Simas testified that on May 21,  he executed a search warrant at 2641 Monticello Way in Santa Clara, the home of Viet and Joseph Nguyen and found about 6 ounces of marijuana, scales, baggies and $1,296 in cash belonging to Nam Nguyen who arrived and made a spontaneous statement he occasionally sold 8ths, valued at $30-$50 each. In a vehicle associated with him they found receipts for construction materials and growing equipment as well as some placing him in the Ukiah area. His relatives stated he spent most of his time away at school in Sacramento.
    Ukiah policeman Peter Hoyle testified he was a member of the Major Crimes Task Force and served a search warrant on Canyon Drive in San Jose on May 21, 2009 along with BNE agents and San Jose police and found the burgandy colored Toyota pickup he recognized had been present at 888 Watson. A witness identified as Phat's brother Quan told Hoyle the 888 Watson Road operation was Phat's and that Phat went to Ukiah weekly to oversee it.
   Hoyle testified he found 3/4 lbs of shake at the residence, along with a medical recommendation card in Phat's name.
    Phat was found with keys to the burgundy Toyota pickup as well as to the Watson address in Ukiah. The pickup also contained a U-Haul reciept for rental of a vehicle made out to Randy Gip.


Dennis Gage 6/30/10
    On June 25,  defense attorney Ed Denson presented a Pitchess motion to judge David Nelson on behalf of defendant Dennis Gage. Gage is accused of bribing a police officer, cultivation and possession for sale two years ago. The purpose of a Pitchess motion is to impeach the testimony or question probable cause in a case that depends on the testimony of a police officer who may have violated the law by lying, racially profiling, using violence or other offense related to the case at hand. It provides legal authority for the court to review the officer's personnel file with only a department representative and the department's attorney present.
     After reviewing the motion and an answer from deputy county counsel David Lozak, the court ageed to review the personnel file of Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force special agent Derrick Hendry in camera, and afterwards issued an order that certain of its contents were to be provided to defense counsel under a protective order.
    Dennis had been arrested in September of 2008 after signing over and delivering a tricked out Ford F560 pickup truck to Hendry in the parking lot of the Willits Burger King. Hendry and a passel of deputies staked out in the area to bust him for bribing the officer, while Gage thought he was trapping Hendry with the cooperation of the sheriff's department for extortion. He believed Lake County deputies would arrest the special agent on the spot. How could he be so wrong?
    In 2008, Gage had five distinct garden garden plots on a parcel he owns near  Covelo where two live-in employees were engaged. They were marked by a large plywood sign facing up stating "PROP 215" and featuring a green cross. The grower intended to operate a legal medical garden with enough recommendations to cover the eventual crop.
    But he had made a series of errors. The most basic was that two people he he had hired to grow his marijuana and vegetables were connected to Hendry. The female, Bonnie Quinliven, is Hendry's cousin, and the male half, Kevin Mullen, is a heavy methamphetamine user.
    In the background, Hendry's father, Ray "Bo" Hendry had a small marijuana garden behind his house on Della Avenue in Willits and Derrick's brother Bobby Glen was using and dealing meth out of the location, which had been visited, but not busted by the Task Force at that time. I revealed that to Sheriff Allman's Media Workshop the day before Gage was arrested, but the information was ignored by local reporters in the room.
      At the time, special agent Hendry only had two years on the Task Force. And to get seniority and earn points on the team, as well as to possibly save his father and brother, he was under pressure to deliver major meth operations. But his father reminded him that his cousin Bonnie's boyfriend Kevin worked on a successful marijuana grow out of Covelo. He had Bonnie contact Kevin in an attempt to determine its location in order to bust it, as well as to ask about meth labs. When Kevin did contact special agent Hendry, he was asked about "white dope, not green." But this was a ruse to get Kevin to reveal the location of Dennis's garden.
    But Kevin and Bonnie realized that unless they could convince Hendry to allow Gage's crop to be sold before his arrest,  they would not be able to collect the share that the defendant had promised them. Being low income people, they were greatly concerned and apparently alleged to Hendry that Dennis could give up some meth labs.
    Then they pitched it to Dennis that the garden had been spotted from the air (it hadn't even been located at that time),  but he could save it by giving special agent Hendry some meth information.  Kevin also related that in addition to the meth information,  Hendry also wanted some material renumeration from Gage in order to continue ignoring his garden.
    According to Hendry's testimony in March of this year, Gage suddenly called him on his cellphone early one evening in August while the officer was at Pop Warner football practice in Ukiah, and was willing to finger a house in Brooktrails for meth and discuss other favors in return for not being busted. Hendry testified he was standing next to an off-duty CHP officer who later wrote a report of the incident as related to him by Hendry. Hendry testified Gage had called him numerous times to negotiate the agreement.
    Gage's defense attorney Ed Denson argued it was Hendry who had first asked Gage for a bribe by way of Kevin.
  In the March, 2010 prelim, deputy Troy Furman testified that acting as a Major Crimes Task Force agent under the direction of commander Nishyama,  Hendry was ordered to set up two meetings with Gage in the Willits Burger King parking lot, first to discuss a deal, then to carry it out.  In return for not being busted that season, Gage was to pay Hendry 10% of the net proceeds from the garden after it was sold, estimated to be $1 million, according to Hendry's testimony. In order to show good faith, Gage was to sign over a Ford pickup truck and pay Hendry $10 thousand in cash immediately
    In an initial meeting between Gage and Hendry in the parking lot, they discussed outlines of the deal face to face. But none of the devices employed by police to record the event did so.
    At any rate, Hendry made a low altitude helicopter flight over Gage's Bauer Subdivision plot off Highway 101 outside Covelo on September 5 and took photos. He apparently also entered the property surruptitiously and took more photos.
    In reaction to the overflight and Hendry's insistent demands for money, Gage retained San Francisco attorney Bill McPike to advise him about the overflight and the extortion matter.  
     McPike had already advised the defendant that his medical marijuana farm, the number of plants, the number of physician recommendations appeared to be legal. He had received a check and a letter from Dennis stating what he wanted McPike to do for him.  At the time, the per patient limit was 25 because Measure B had been stayed in the Mendocino County courts.
    McPike consulted various local attorneys as to whom to contact in the SO to report Hendry's extortion. He was advised by Keith Faulder to go directly to sherrif Tom Allman, who suggested the defendant meet with internal affairs, but delayed a meeting on the matter until the next week.
    In the intervening period, the entire sheriff department was acting on the assumption that Gage was trying to bribe Hendry, and the grower was to be entrapped. After the first Burger King meeting, the police had obtained search warrants for Gage's property in the Bauer subdivision in Round Valley and his home in a Willits trailer park.
    Finally, on September 15,  the day of the media workshop and one day before his arrest, Dennis met in person with internal affairs officer Kirk Mason and his counselor McPike concerning his contacts with Hendry, hoping that his garden would be spared and charges would be brought against Hendry for soliciting a bribe.
    Allman told Mason that he was to conduct the interview as a normal citizen complaint, but there was an underlying criminal investigation into Gage offering a bribe to Hendry. This led Mason to understand the sheriff had already made up his mind that Hendry was telling the truth and Gage was lying.
    Mason told Dennis that the department had already started an internal affairs investigation of the officer. It was not true. Undersheriff Gary Hudson eventually dismissed Gage's complaint as unfounded. Mason never interviewed Hendry in connection with his phoney investigation.
    In the September 15 meeting, Mason told Gage he could help him snare Hendry by agreeing to a bribe.  There were multiple recording devices in the room.
      Dennis was reportedy scared at this time, and although McPike advised him not to report to Burger King with the Ford truck the next day, Dennis apparently disregarded his advice and showed up. During that second meeting, Hendry showed the defendant photographs of his garden asking him to identify the various plots. Hendry testified the purpose of this was to collect recorded evidence showing Gage identifying his garden.
    After signing over the truck, Dennis was arrested, handcuffed and transported to his trailer in Willits where he was photographed, and then to the Mendocino County jail in Ukiah. The pickup was seized as evidence.
    McPike then ended his relationship with Dennis after Allman telephoned him to say that his client, and not the deputy, had been arrested.
    Gage's bail was set at $1 million, but two days later he was released after the DA's office decided there was insufficient evidence to convict. A month later, he began to file a series of motions in civil court for the return of the Ford pickup and a John Deere tractor. Finally, the DA filed charges against him for bribery, cultivation and possession for sale. He was re-arrested in March of 2009 and made $50,000 bail. He pled not guilty in May.
    According to deputy Troy Furman's testimony in the March prelim, the Covelo farm contained 5 grow areas with a total of 301 mature plants, plus two motor homes, three camps, a teepee, scales, and a 22 caliber rifle with ammunition, At the site,  two male employees made mirandized statements to the raiding police that implicated Gage in growing twice as many plants, then cutting back. They said they were being paid $100 a day for their work.
    The raiders seized 10 medical marijuana recommendations, including for Gage and the employees. At the time the limit was 25 plants per patient because judge Behnke had stayed Measure B. There were no trimming tools found.
    In Gage's trailer in Willits police allegedly found 4 lbs. of shake and packing materials. His former girlfriend Carrie Dillon told police that Dennis was growing pot at the Covelo location that she had left about a month before after an argument in which Dennis had dumped a smoothie over her head. Carrie and her brother were staying at the location but were not arrested. She told police they did not pay any rent, that all expenses were being paid by Gage.
    Furman listed the amount of the grow, the recent nature of the scripts relative to the age of the plants, the scales, the sophistication of the operation, and the fact the employees had were getting more than $100 a day. as evidence of cultivation for sale. The court bound the defendant over for trial.
    At the same time, judge Nelson put it on the record, "A jury, I think, would have difficulty determining beyond a reasonable doubt that it was a bribe when so quickly it looks like extortion and because of the deputy's efforts to confirm the bribe."
    As Hendry's testimony is crucial to the determination as to whether he or the defendant offered what to the other first, the information about Hendry's truthfulness yet to be revealed to the defense may provide incentive for the prosecution to drop the bribery charge.
    One wonders why the defendant after obtaining medical recommendations from ten people and painting signs about Prop 215 to adorn the property should be  concerned about being busted to the point that he was so quick to negotiate a truce with a task force special agent. Perhaps paranoia clouded his judgment.
    Counselor McPike warned him that the exchange of a vehicle would create a DMV record of the transaction, something that a sworn officer would want to avoid as it would give Dennis a way to blackmail him in the future. Those are two more errors the grower made.
    This is a warning about bribery in marijuana cases. For a healthy young male football player with a high school education, there is no more lucrative or secure job in Mendocino County than Task Force special agent or COMMET deputy. Not only do you get to thrash around the woods in camo gear and night vision goggles, you get overtime night and weekend pay, as well as the opportunity to intimidate and perhaps shake down marijuana growers. When you come upon piles of cash worth tens of thousands of dollars, who knows what will happen to it? You can make more money in one weekend than your schoolmates make in a month of Sundays. Why would you risk it? Dennis's next appearance is scheduled for July 30 at 1:30pm in Department F.

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Kent Lockhart CASE CLOSED
   Tall, dark haired thirtyish Kent Lockhart is a well mannered geologist charged with cultivation in connection with an October, 2007 raid on a cooperative grow in case #8057.
    On March 30, 2009 he pled guilty to one count of cultivation, §11358 in exchange for dismissal of the second count, and opted for a PC 1,000 program: deferred entry of  judgement which the defendant undergoes the usual humiliating series of classes and reporting to probation for a period of three years. If he succeeds, the judgment is dismissed and his record could be expunged. If he fails to satisfy all the requirements, judgement of guilty will be entered and he could be sentenced to 16 months to 3 years in state prison plus three years parole. In addition he is banned for life from owning a firearm, and submit to search and seizure by any law enforcement officer.
    Lockhart, who appeared agitated and chagrined was under he illusion he could plead No Contest and repeatedly tried to do so even as his attorney Don Lipmanson  tried to calm him down and get him to say he was guilty. The final time, Judge Henderson leaned forward and raised his voice, "You have to plead guilty!"
   In April of last year there was a Mower motion hearing in which 8 witnesses testified they were members of a collective grow.  To no avail. Henderson said he believed the operation was intended to make a profit.
     Lipmanson tried unsuccessfully to get Judge Henderson to condition the requirement for classes on the availability in the various states in which Lockhart is employed. "It's probation's call," said Henderson, rocking back in his chair.

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MendoHealing Coop 6/3/09 case closed
    On June 1, judge David Nelson sentenced David Moore to 6 months in county jail with credit for 111 days served for cultivation for  sale and another 6 months for violating his probation.  Probation department had also asked for $10,000 penal fine. Alternate defender  David Eyster argued vociferously and at length that Moore is penniless and would not have his job in the city upon release. Judge Nelson remembered however that defense lawyers had "nickel and dimed" him on Moore's previous conviction fine with the same argument, but then $100,000 had been found in the convict's appartment in San Francisco in February. Nelson set the fine at $75,000, imposed felony probation of  3  years, fees,  a prohibition on growing marijuana, owning firearms and an obligation to register as a narcotics offender. If he violates the terms of his probation again, he faces up to three years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
     On May 12, the long awaited plea bargain to dismis all charges against David Moore's co-defendants was finall culminated as he pled no contest (a People v. West plea) to onc eount of violation Health and Safety Code 11359, possession with intent to sell in Judge Nelson's courtroom H. He had been in custody since February
    The deal to dismiss the others from the case was made in exchange for Moore's plea and in the interest of  justice. In addition, a charge of possession for sale against Moore was also dismissed.
    For weeks, defense attorney David Eyster has been responding to prosecutor's behind the scenes questions about incorporation papers which had been prepared for the second incarnation of MendoHealing by Keith Faulder. The purpose was to establish a medical motive for the Fort Bragg marijuana farm where police allegedly seized 200 pounds of dried product earlier this year.
    Prosecutor Beth Norman said that while the papers showed the operation was "headed in the  direction of legality," the evidence showed Moore had been diverting some of the product for sale. Eyester emphasized that the DA had little or no evidence to show Moore's partner Jeanmarie Todd, and farm employees Ronay Gonzalez, Martin Moreno, and Joaquin Moreno all of Fort Bragg had any responsibility for  any diversion for sale, the evidence of which was in Moore's San Francisco appartment. This was their fourth trip to Ukiah to appear on the charges against them.
    In a direct blow to the concept that cooperatives are the answer to legal cultivation under Prop 215 in the post-Mentch era and the new Obama administration, the cannabis farm of the MendoHealing Cooperative on Mitchell Creek Road south of Fort Brag was raided again February 11 of this year by a dozen agents led by the USDEA.
    They arrived mid-morning, smashed doors, broke locks and trashed private belongings.
    Arrested were operators Moore, 55 of San Francisco and Todd, 52 of Fort Bragg along with the three employees. The pair admits they had about 700 plants plus clones, the product destined for a dispensary in Los Angeles with 600 patients. They and three Mexican employees were charged with 11358 and 11359.
    Moore owns the land. At the time of the bust, he was on probation in connection with a conviction for cultivation for sale on that same property only three years ago. That raid, in November of 2005' was famous for revealing that some 65 Mexican nationals were engaged in trimming in the operation, drinking beer and smoking weed.
    In that bust, law enforcement found 1,707 drying plants and 1,000 pounds of processed, trimmed marijuana.
At the time, Moore was operating a dispensary in San Francisco that had come under fire from city officials for charging such low prices that long lines formed disrupting the Lafayette Street neighborhood.
    Sheriff's captain Kevin Broin conducted that raid, keeping it a secret from Sheriff Craver who was to retire before the end of the year. Moore had coordinated his operation with Craver who had more or less given him tacit permission. In that case, Michael Schneider, Christopher Holland, Frank Kemper, Monica Kemper,  and Jesse Lebus were charged along with Moore.
    In October, 2006, Moore and Schneider were threatened with a possible federal indictment and so pled guilty on January 31, 2007. Moore's attorney Keith Faulder argued for reduction of sentence on August 28 of that year.  On September 12, his probation was modified to allow him to cultivate medicine for himself within state guidelines, but not to be a caretaker.
   At the sentencing of Moore and Schneider, prosecutor Lee Nerli went over the top with an emotional tirade prompted by MendoHealing's use of Mexican workers, on the somewhat plausible assumption that it could lead to an armed invasion robbery, of which there have been too many, including the fatal Laytonville shooting of Les Crane in December, '07. Nerli was trying to convince judge Nelson to impose a suspended prison term, which did not happen.
    "This defendant may be a crusader for providing all these people throughout Northern California, but unfortunately what he has done here goes way beyond the pale. What he is involved with here is a huge operation commercially producing marijuana that puts in jeopardy the safety and security of every citizen of Mendocino County.
    "He may laugh. I hear people chuckling behind me. But let's see them chuckle when they've got a gun screwed in their face at two o'clock in the morning and somebody's here to steal their marijuana."
       But Moore and Todd were determined to get it right this time, hiring an attorney to draft articles of incorporation as a cooperative last winter, taking care to conform with state guidelines and again informing local law enforcement of the cooperative's presence.
    Todd apparently asked them to determine if it was legal. "They never got back to me," she said.
    On the way to jail Jeanmarie commented, "I thought Obama had called off these raids." A deputy responded, "We haven't gotten the message. ##

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Tim and Christa Marino  6/3/09 CASE CLOSED
  The Marinos pled not guilty on April 30 and their preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 9.  1:30pm  in Department B represented by Keith Faulder. This couple living in a quiet neighborhood in Redwood Valley were interrupted by a knock on the door on February 10. Deputies told them they smelled marijuana while driving by and if they didn't let them in, they would call Child Protective Services and take their six children. They had no warrant.  Deputies knew right where to go in the house, implying they had been tipped by someone in close contact with the family.    Reportedly 30 plants were found in a grow room, and the couple had 2 medical marijuana cards.
    At the prelim the attorneys announced they had agreed on a one year deferred sentence on both defendants for maintaining a place.
   

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Mitchel Mount  3/2/09  Case Closed
   On February 26, Mitchel Mount pled guilty to maintaining a place for manufacture of a controlled substance, 11366.5a, a misdemeanor in exchange for dismissal of other counts including felony possession and cultivation for sale of marijuana for an October, 2007 bust at two locations in Potter Valley. He was sentenced by Judge Nelson to 10 days in jail, 24 months probation, $500 fine, 50 hours of community service, other fees and fines and a requirement to register as a narcotics offender.
    He was represented by Keith Faulder who presented the grow as being covered by medical marijuana recommendations for Mitchel, his wife Victoria and his son.
    Details of the case against Mount are contained in a transcript of the preliminary hearing in February of last year when judge Ron Brown held him to answer after hearing the evidence against him and several arguments by Faulder concerning the medical nature of the grow.
    The raid on two properties in Potter Valley yielded ample quantities of both plants and processed bud, but ownership was complicated by the involvement of at least two other cultivators at one of the properties,  1190 Eastside Road, one an employee subtenant of Mr. Mount in his dog breeding business, another subtenant who apparently had a commercial operation in a separate house, one Maurizio DiMarco. In that house there were black plastic garbage bags containing turkey basting bags with a pound or less of bud in each one. Some had names of clients written on them, as did specific plants hanging to dry in the residence.
    The employee Chenin Bauer claimed ownership for a set of scales at the property.
    DiMarco was a designated caretaker for Victoria Mount, and had marked 25 plants for her with medical marijuana zip ties. Mitchel was growing 12 plants on that site, also with zip ties. In addition he claimed ownership of less than 6 lbs of processed bud found at the Eastside Road address and another address on Main Street in Potter Valley to which he was in the process of moving when the bust went down. At the Main Street address, evidence included $20,000 in cash, for which Mount accounted from legal sources.
    Faulder alluded to three cases during the hearing, Chako as to the qualifications of the police witness Darren Brewster which was ineffective in disqualifying him, Monson as to dominion and control of the place where marijuana was found, which eventually seemed to work on prosecutors as the case moved toward trial, and Mower, as to the criteria for medical possession which seemed to have little effect on Brown.

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Laurel Krause
    Laurel settled her case on November 4, 2009, deciding not to continue contesting prosecution. Despite her plucky challenges earlier this year. She caved in.
    Krause pled guilty to a misdemeanor lesser offense such as maintaining a place for manufacture of  a controlled substance and was ordered to undergo the West program including probation etc. for one year and will not serve jail or state prison time.
    She only had 25 or fewer plants. Deputies entered her property without a warrant and subsequently obtained a warrant and eradicated based on their smell.  Mendocino  County judges are giving out search warrants based on marijuana's distict odor. 
     Laurel might have won if she had gone to trial. She was probably snitched out by a neighbor who objected to the smell of her grow.

    Self-filed Monday Feb 23rd, 2009 8:58 AM
    On-going medical marijuana busts through-out Mendocino County have been arresting local residents daily. I was one of five busts made and charged with two felonies (cultivation and intent to sell/distribute) last Friday, February 20, 2009, even though I had my doctor recommendation and was growing with the guidelines published at the Mendocino county web site.
    My name is Laurel Krause. Last Friday (2/20/09) as I looked out my kitchen window I was shocked to see 25 Mendocino County Sheriffs/Deputies coming through my gate very quickly. The lead man, Sheriff (don't know deputy, or what class) Jonathan Martin, showed me a search warrant, hand cuffed me and read me my rights. I was cooperative (I actually cried and begged for mercy, but that didn't work) as they searched my home, my grow area on my five acres (behind my locked gate--so no probable cause) and seized all grow equipment related to 24 medical marijuana plants in full bloom. They chopped down the plants and hauled them away as I was being grilled and bullied in my home. This number is significant because if you google the Mendocino County Sheriff's web page on MedMari guidelines it says 25 plants. You are probably aware of the 'fuzziness' of these guidelines. I have a recommendation from my doctor to allow me to grow med marijuana. They charged me with two felony counts, one for marijuana cultivation and another for intent to sell/distribute, carted me to Ukiah, CA to jail in handcuffs.
  ß  It gets worse. I was the #4 bust of 5 that day (Friday, Feb 20) and the guys let us know that they had five more for Saturday (yesterday) and five more on Sunday (TODAY!). Not individuals, but actual grows that might arrest multiple people. And most of the growers are women with kids (so now the children are possibly being taken away and bank accounts frozen). Real emotional and economic despair.
    As I met others that were arrested in Ukiah, the county seat to jail (never before, first offense for everything for me) I learned they were my neighbors and not one had a 'commercial' size grow. So this Mendocino County Sheriff's dept sweep is coming up short as the take is not producing the kind of busts they claim they are after (i.e commercial, 500 plants & up), unenvironmental grows that scar the land (we all grow organic), we all have our recommendations that we paid for and actually care about the quality of medicine we are growing (it's in the past for me now).
    I am in shock, but then I started getting mad yesterday. What is motivating this gestapo situation all of the sudden? DA Meredith Lintott or Sheriff Allman? NeoCons?
    I keep to myself mostly so did not hear about this happening all over the county of Mendocino. Furthermore, most growers don't let others know their business so as not to get busted. I'm coming forth as I have nothing to loose and I'm not backing down. I am a little afraid that if this doesn't become a big story that I might be unsafe though..........so bust this story wide open. Help us in Mendo!!!
    Since getting busted, I've learned that they were up and down my street (just outside Fort Bragg city limit, so in Mendocino County) busting and getting this sweep in order over the last month and logging on the computer even (wish I had known!). That they have also had busting sweeps in the towns of Covelo, Ukiah, Willits.......all within Mendocino county.
    I'm sure you're asking what is motivating me to come to you. This is truly an American story of our time right now, a devestating economic massacre for us personally and it has county-wide ramifications as at least 70% of the Mendocino economy is based on growing marijuana. Maybe even California as it's the state's largest crop. During these times of extreme economic hardship and 10% unemployment in Ft. Bragg, it just doesn't make any sense to be busting and criminalizing tax-paying citizens, my neighbors and me operating within state and county guidelines.
    We are considering moving forward with a class-action suit. I have calls out.
    I am sounding this alarms as far and wide as I can. Please feel free to forward this to any of your interested colleagues. I hope to hear from you.
    Sincerely, Laurel Krause

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Elizabeth Armstrong  Case Closed
    On April 23, 2010 Elizabeth Armstrong after successfully completing a year of probation was allowed to withdraw her guilty plea and plead not guilty to her 2009 conviction for growing marijuana for sale in 2008.
      On April 24, 2009 judge Henderson reluctantly allowed Elizabeth Armstrong to plead no contest to one count of violating Health and Safety Code 11366.5(a)  a misdemeanor of  maintaining a place where marijuana was produced in exchange for all other counts being dismissed.
    Elizabeth further agreed to accept deferred entry of sentence of one year in jail, and probation during which she cannot cultivate on her property in Brooktrails, but may possess whatever her physician recommends, or the Measure B limit of 6-12-8. She was to receive all her property back except her arsenal, and the marijuana. The guns will be returned at the end of her deferred sentence if she can prove she owns them.
    The prosecution agreed to the plea in the interest of justice as Elizabeth has no priors. But if she commits the same offense again it will be a felony punishable with multiple years in county jail or the state pen.
    Elizabeth had only 3 recommendations, one for herself and two other patients. Henderson asked what were the plant limits at the time, and the answer was 25, as Measure B did not go into effect until late December of last year, a fact that Henderson had to obtain by asking Faulder in a separate question.
      On April 14, Faulder was unsuccessful in getting judge Henderson to allow a 955 motion or Mower motion to proceed. First of all ADA MeMenomee was unavailable because his wife had just given birth. Secondly, the judge declared a local court consensus was that Mower motions could only be brought at prelim or trial. Faulder said that her previous attorney Lipmanson had neglected to bring that motion at the prelim last September, so McMenomee had agreed it could be brought on April 14. Henderson refused four times as Faulder continued to insist on the Mower hearing, but to no avail. The matter was continued to April 24.
Marijuana activists were shocked to learn that Elizabeth Armstrong of Brooktrails was busted on August 28, 2008. The knew her as a former member of the No on Measure B committee and an Americans for Safe Access proponent. But on September 19  in the Willits courtroom of the Superior Courts of Mendocino Elizabeth was held to answer by judge Clay Brennan on all counts alleged in her bust which was precipitated by neighbor complaints of "large marijuana grows in the area."  
     The charges were:
   • Cultivation of marijuana
    • Possession for sale
    • Possession of a controlled substance: psylocibin mushrooms
    • Possession of concentrated cannabis
    • Possession of a firearm in commission of a felony, 2 counts
    • Maintaining a place for the manufacture of controlled substances
    She was represented by Don Lipmanson who did all one could to to shake the prosecution witness deputy Verbot who took part in the raid. Lipmanson did not, however file  a Mower motion for the prelim. In other words, he did not present a medical defense in that proceeding.
     In open court, the witness testified to 83 mature plants in two separate gardens on the property, two firearms with ammunition, electronic scales, a closed circuit video monitoring system, mushrooms, hashish, and packages of dried bud in identical plastic bags more or less 1/2 pound each in weight and an unused indoor growing room in the garage.
    Elizabeth's was the only medical marijuana recommendation mentioned in court that day. The defense produced no witnesses.
Elizabeth has been free on OR since September 3 and was present in the court, elegantly dressed and coiffed.. She was in a determined mood to prove her innocence.
    The good news is that her live-in gardener Adrian Carillo pled to a misdemeanor possession of false immigration papers and all other charges were dropped. He was sentenced to time served and ordered released, a free man. He had been in custody 22 days. In addition his wife Maribel who has fled the area and had their child. All charges against her dismissed in connection with these matters.
 

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Brett W. Bogue 1/21/09
    In the Brent Bogue case,  SCUK-CNCR-06-74009-02, the defendant had a collective garden consisting of 22 patients.  In 2004, 2005, and 2006, he contacted both then Sheriff Tony Craver and Sgt. Rusty Noe of COMMET, about his location, patient numbers, and plant amounts.
     In September of 2006, sheriff’s deputies arrived at his property, came into his garden, took one photo, and left.  Brett harvested the following day, moving the crop to another location for processing.  Two  days later, deputies showed up at the second location on Ridge Road in Willits where Bogue was drying 367 pounds of the stuff. In another property nearby, he had over 435 growing plants.
    Brett immediately began a dialogue with deputy Derrick Hendry, admitting ownership of the marijuana and answering questions without benefit of attorney presence for  over four hours of mirandized taped confession with investigators without an attorney present, producing 16 doctor's  recommendations. After he was done, Agent Nishyama and Sgt. Noe seized everything.
    Six days later, two search warrants were issued, seizing 15 additional plants and 6 additional dr. recommendations.  Law enforcement did not find any scales, prepackaged marijuana, cash, pay-owe sheets, or any other indication of illegal sales. Bogue was charged with felony cultivation and possession for sale.
     During his court appearances, Bogue's attorneys Edie Lerman and David Nick presented a medical defense, saying Bogue possessed copies of 22 physician recommendations of patients Bogue was caregivng.
    They called expert witness Chris Conrad who argued that the 367 pounds would have amounted to only 22 lbs when dry. It occupied 45 cubic feet of space.
     The judge denied the Mower motion and Bret finally pled guilty in July of 2008 and sentenced to six months in jail.  But on September 10  he moved to withdraw the plea. The judge denied the motion and Bogue appealed that decision and he was released on $!5,000 bail. The appeal has not gone forward because his Palo Alto attorney is filing motions for augmentation of the record on appeal based on it not containing concerns that were raised at trial and subsequent pleadings.
    In order for Bogue to appeal, Judge Brown granted a certificate of good cause based on a filing by his then attorney  Edie  Lerman in November of last year. The request for certification was based on attorney ignorance of the law, specifically she did not know when he pled guilt in July  whether or not the judge would recognize the "collective defense" raised by herself on Bogue's behalf.. 
    When he pled guilty relying on her legal advice, the Kelly decision (S164830) was in effect, casting legal doubt on all of SB420, so there was a "change in the law" which left her "uncertain" as to the effect of the defense she was counting on. In essence, she accepted responsiblity and bowed out of the case.  When Kelly was accepted for Supreme Court review, its provisions were suspended and SB420 was once again "cloaked in the mantle of legality," in the words of Judge Behnke.
    A probation report dated February 13, 2009 alleges that Bogue is not a good candidate for probabion because he is in denial about his arrest, was belligerent and insulting during his probation appointments, calling the police and prosecutors liars, and in apparent momentary  need of physical restraint, denouncing Ukiah as a  "hick town" he "wanted out of." The court has denied his request for permission to travel to Europe.     (BRETT BOGUE, rj photo)

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Michael Lee, Bruce Mast, and Rebecca Campbell 10/14/09 Case Closed
     In February, 2008, the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force executed a search warrant at 2000 and 2100 Branscomb Road in Laytonville and allegedly found 609 mature marijuana plants, 120 starter plants, 27 lbs of processed marijuana, 64 grams of concentrated cannabis, and 308 grams of processed marijuana bud, 8 firearms including 2 shotguns, and over $72,600 in cash and money orders.
    Michael Lee  and Rebecca Campbell, as well as Michael's brother Bruce Mast Campbell were held to answer.
    The investigation was begun after Bruce's former wife Lorie apparently wrote a letter to the California Highway Patrol in 2006 fingering the operation alleging Bruce would sell marijuana from the grow to fellow employees including guards at Soledad State Prison in Monterrey County where he was a vocational counselor. This claim was rebutted in subsequent testimony.
    The tip was apparently motivated by a divorce between Bruce and Lorie filed in late 2007. The last time she had visited the site was in 2006.
    On the day of the raid, Michael and Rebecca were in one residence, and the marijuana was located in and around a detached garage and apartment structure in proximity to another, occupied by an invalide aunt. That structure was identified as allegedly occupied by who was not home when the raid was conducted.
    In the apartment above the garage were more growing plants, drying plants and a commercial trimming machine according to prosecution witness Matthew Badgely of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement who wore a gun in court.
  Badgely testified tha during service of the warrant he interviewed both Rebecca and Michael Campbell about the operation and their personal use of medical marijuana as each said they had a doctor's recommendation. These mirandized confessions were conducted without benefit of attorney presence,
    Each confessed to using about 8 ounces per month of cannabis incorporated in home baked bread or mixed with butter for medicinal purposes. They also said they were selling 2 ounces of cannabis per month at about $200 per ounce to 8 patients. 
       They also confessed to selling to a medical marijuana dispensary in Fort Bragg for $3,400 per pound for a period of 2 years. They said they were getting 3 cycles per year from an indoor grow located in the garage below the apartment occupied by Bruce, at the rate of 1 ounce per plant.
    In July, Bruce's attorney Don Lipmanson arranged a field hearing with Judge Henderson, the prosecutor and court reporters in Laytonville with his ailing aunt Gay Mast who suffers from cancer among other ailments. She testified Bruce and Becky supplied her with cannabis brownies which she uses to alleviate her symptoms. After that, prosecutor Katherine Houston was replaced by Heidi Larson who agreed with Lipmanson's motion to drop charges against Bruce. On September 9, Judge Henderson did so.
    Bruce met the standard of caretaking in the Mentch case in that Gay lives on the property where the marijuana was siezed
    Larson also agreed in November to dismiss all charges against Mike and Becky. Money in their bank account was returned. Defense attorney Keith Faulder is working on getting back the funds which were siezed from the house.
   

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Lester Smith et al 9/13/09 Case Closed
      The District Attorney has finally returned cash siezed from Lester Smith a year ago.
    On May 8, ADA Brian Newman insisted that the county would try to keep the $55,000 seized last September "because the granddaughters were growing marijuana on his property." Reportedly Newman had offered to return half of it, a deal which Lester refused.
    Defense attorney Keith Faulder was perennially optimistic that the money  would be returned, but he didn't count on Newman's perverse cruelty. The elderly Smiths' only income is social security and rent from his granddaughters who are raising families there. Smith denies that any of his funds came from drug sales and he can account for all of it from legitimate sources. Faulder told the judge his client would stipulate to  complete revelation of financial records to prove that affirmatively.
     Smitty told me that "nights are hell" for him due to hip pain and he has the shakes. He has an invalid son and wife he has to care for at home, The vinyards across the street and uphill from him cut off the spring he had been using, and now he must drill a well to have water.
    By dragging his feet up to, during, and after the trial, Newman may succeed in watching the Smiths die before they recover their life savings.
     Newman delayed acting on Keith's motions to get the money back as the granddaughters and their husbands were winding up their cases. Jose Ramirez Chiyoga turned himself in May 28 to county jail to serve a 30-day sentence, while his wfe Carla Ramirez's case was put over for sentencing until July 1.
    On March 4, all charges against Lester Smith of Philo were dismissed.  Faulder said it was a just offer in that the greandfather could not have participated in the cultivation because he's too weak. But the dismissal was just the prelude to the county's keeping Lester and Mary's money.
 On January 21, the preliminary hearing in the cultivation case against the defendants from the famous Anderson Valley cannabis case:  89 year old Lester Smith, his granddaughters Yolanda Gladys Mabery, and Carla Ramirez and their husbands Armando Rodriguez Gomez, and  Jose Ramirez Chiyoga did not go forward. Instead, the five attorneys and the DA met with the judge in chambers to discuss a plea offer from the prosecution.
    The deal -- ultimately accepted by defendants -- was the granddaughters would plead as accessories, their (Lantino) husbands would plead to felony cultivation, charges against the 90 year old Smith would be dropped and all other charges against the other defendants would be dropped. In order to save the elder Smith from the sress of prosecution, the defendants gave up their right to a jury trial.
    This is the case first reported by Pebbles Trippet and the subject of a long letter to the editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal published October 30, 2008 decrying how the elderly Lester and his wife were deprived of their medicine and two antique firearms. Some $55,000 in savings were confiscated. The children of the granddaughters were carried off by CPS.

     "The 90-year old couple, Lester ("Smitty") and Mary Smith -- who were raided at their Philo home Sept. 28 - with law enforcement seizing their life savings and all their plants in the process -- are qualified patients with doctors' approvals and did nothing wrong."

    . Trippet cast the case as one of abuse by deputies eradicating just under 100 medical marijuana plants which were authorized by multiple doctor recommendations.
    But according to police reports, defendants could not substantiate personal medical use. Four of the five defendants gave Mirandized confessions that they sold pounds on the street last year to pay bills and intended to do so again. Any medical recommendations they might have would be irrelevant under those facts if proven at trial. 
    What emerges is a DA strategy of placing unsustainable charges against Smith in order to force a settlement with the co-defendants. Having a criminal conviction against them, the county insisted  on keeping Lester's money for an entire year after the bust.
       As of  the end of January, all children had been returned to their parents.
    The civil  forfeiture  trial of  the People v. $55,460, Lester and Mary Smith  was to have gone forward September 21. 

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Rob Garzini 4/20/09 Case Closed.
    Three years ago, Rob Garzini, 53,  of Ukiah was a medical marijuana compassionate caregiver. Today, he is a convicted felon. This was a classic case of "card stacking" complicated by meth and concentrated cannabis possession, along with souvenir assault weapons.
     On April 20, he was sentenced by judge Nelson to six months in county jail, 3 years probation, a fine of $3,000 and suspended execution of a state prison sentence of 4 years and 4 months.  He is allowed to possess medical marijuana with a valid card, but not to grow it.
    Prosecutor Lee Nerli agreed with the judge that Garzini's age, longstanding ties to the community and his service to the medical marijuana community did not warrant prison time, but noted the defendant's use of methamphetamine could lead him back to illegal cultivation if he did not get counseling. Nerli once again used the phrase "attractive nuisance" to describe extensive outdoor grows, in that they can be targeted by violent invasion robbers.
    He was busted in October of 2006 and again in the spring of 2008. February 11 was to be the preliminary hearing on the second case, but instead was occasion for Rob to come to terms with his situation and accept a plea bargain that left him facing up to four years and four months in prison.
    In exchange for the dismissal of his 2008 case, and dismissal on gun charges, Rob had to plead guilty to one count of manufacturing a controlled substance, honey oil, one count of possession of marijuana for sale, and one count of possession of methamphetamine in the prior case.
    In the first case he was represented by David Nick and Edie Lerman. Then Keith Faulder took over the case after the preliminary hearing, but the prosecution challenged him because "his fingerprints were all over the case file." Keith was acting DA until the special election of 2007. Finally, Rob engaged William McPike of San Francisco.
    Prosecutor Lee Nerli complained at one appearance that "Mr. Garzini is going from one attorney to another looking for one who will tell him what he wants to hear."
    The file on his first case contains the preliminary hearing transcript which forms the information on which he pled. In it, one can read that officers arrived with a warrant at his family farmland near Lake Mendocino and proceeded to question him.
    Feeling secure in his status as a card-carrying patient and caregiver, Rob waived his Miranda rights and readily answered their questions. He said he was caring for 16 patients, and the care would consist of furnishing marijuana and allowing them to stay on his property and use the medicine.
    According to the transcript, Rob admitted he had 11 beds outdoors and an indoor grow room on a 90 day cycle, which together would yield up to 120 pounds per year. When confronted with the fact that quantity far exceeded what 16 patients could consume, he admitted selling 70-90 pounds of it to "out of state" or alternatively "Southern California" medical marijuana dispensaries.
    Under the SB420 minimum maximum guidelines, patients may possess no more than a half pound of processed marijuana.
    In addition, Rob admitted to having methamphetamine on the property as well as weapons. There were 732 plants, the meth turned out to be 3.3 grams, and there were 8 guns in a bedroom closet including a WWII vintage assault rifle, as well as $9,600 in cash.
    Rob admitted to being unemployed at the time.
    The February 2009 preliminary hearing was to be on the afternoon calendar starting at 1:30pm. In the fifth floor lobby outside Department H where superior court judge David Nelson was presiding, Rob could be seen in intense conversation with attorney McPike. Waiting their turn as the hour approached 3:00pm, they repeatedly went in and out of the courtroom to continue their consultation. At one point, McPike and prosecutor Nerli went into chambers with Nelson to discuss the plea deal. When they emerged, McPike and Garzini were again huddling, with Rob appearing more and more agitated.
    When the judge finally called the case, he began to recite the plea agreement. When he got to the part about an open charge with a possible prison sentence, Rob said, "If it means I'm looking at prison, I want to go to trial," much to the chagrin of his attorney.
    "It does mean you are facing prison and so, if that's your decision we can begin the preliminary hearing!"
    At that point additional prosecutors and witnesses marched swiftly to the government table and Nelson began to read the procedure for the on hour hearing which would lay out the evidence the state had in the second bust. At that point, McPike asked for a break to consult with his client. This time, the conference lasted 35 minutes, with Nelson emerging from chambers to ask the bailiff to go find the defense. There were  some awkward moments as the bailiffs reported back Garzini and McPike could not be found.
    Finally, they did appear, the scene was set again and the defense lawyer said that Garzini had reversed himself a second time and would accept the plea.
    In the recitation of the admonishment, Nelson asked Garzini if he would give up the right to a speedy trial, the right to defend himself, offer evidence in his own behalf and so on, Rob answered yes to each one but his voice got lower and lower each time. The final question was whether anyone had offered him anything in exchange for the plea other that what was said in open court, Rob balked. He was silent. Nelson asked him again, and finally answered "No" in a muted and reluctant voice as if the word were being pulled from his gut.
    In the recitation of the charges, to which Rob was to answer "How do you plead?" with "Guilty," Rob's voice again dropped lower and lower until at one point he answered, "Yeah," to which Nelson replied, "Guilty or not guilty, sir?" He said it with eyes lowered to his desk. Rob had to answer Guilty, and he did.
    Nelson as a former marijuana defense lawyer is probably the best judge one could have for this type of case, but the court system was fed up with persistent delays in this almost three year old case.
    Garzini is banned forever from owning firearms, faces fines of $10,000 and up, and will have to register as a drug offender. His sentencing will take place April 20 at 1:30 in Department H, and depends on a probation report. His future is bleak.
    Rob is a subscriber to the MENDOCINO COUNTRY Independent and donated to the Green Party's No on Measure G campaign. He sincerely believes he had a right to grow under Prop 215 and showed me his sweat-stained ID card from the county health department designating him both a medical marijuana patient and caregiver.
     "When they see this, they are supposed to back off and evaluate," he said, "But instead they went ahead and eradicated. They didn't follow the procedure." He was convinced a jury would exonerate him.  •

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Robert Bevan Trembly, Deputy Goss  
BUSTED FOR ONE PLANT IN MENDOCINO COUNTY 11/4/2008
special to Mendocino COUNTRY Independent by David Sheridan and Richard Johnson
         On October 22 at around 10:30 PM in the 6000 block of North State Street in Calpella, Sheriff's Deputy Timothy Goss pulled over a vehicle being driven by Robert Trembly. The reason given for the stop was a burned out license plate light.
    Deputy Goss made contact with the driver, ordered him to exit the vehicle and go stand by the patrol car.  He then said he smelled the odor of marijuana and asked the driver for permission to search the vehicle.  Mr. Trembly, who has a physician's recommendation for therapeutic cannabis, consented to the search, which turned up one small marijuana plant in a black garbage bag.
    Mr. Trembly, during interrogation, told the deputy he had grown the plant and had the necessary medical recommendation to do so.   Returning to his patrol car, Deputy Goss contacted dispatch for a check on wants and warrants and was told Mr. Trembly was on probation for a prior cultivation charge and had failed to register as a substance offender for that offense.
    In fact, Mr. Trembly was not on probation.  He had been, but Judge Nelson had signed an order of termination of probation on August 18, some 9 weeks prior.  Apparently the Sheriff's Dept. had either not been told or had not kept their records current.
    Deputy Goss was soon joined by his watch commander and a patrol officer of the CHP.   After approximately another half hour of interrogation while the search of the vehicle continued, Mr. Trembly was placed under arrest and transported to the jail, charged with three felonies: violating probation, transportation of marijuana, and failure to register as a substance offender.
    After spending Wednesday night, all day Thursday, and Thursday night in a holding cell at the jail, Mr. Trembly was finally booked for the above cited charges on Friday morning, October 24, at 7:45.
    Later that morning, Mr. Trembly with his attorney Don Lipmanson appeared in Judge Nelson's court.  The erroneous charge of a probation violation was noted and dropped. Bail on the remaining charges was set at $15,000 and arraignment was calendared for the following Wednesday.  Mr. Trembly was able to post bond and was released.
    On Wednesday October 29, prior to the arraignment hearing, Attorney Lipmanson was approached by the deputy district attorney with an offer of plea bargain. In exchange for a guilty plea to a reduced charge of misdemeanor failure to register with a sentence of time served and no demand for the return of the medical marijuana plant, the felony transportation charge would be dropped.  Mr. Trembly, through his attorney, accepted the offer.
    In court the deputy DA, acknowledging it was somewhat unusual at arraignment, presented the offer to Judge Brown, who accepted the plea agreement and gaveled the case closed.
    The reason became clear the following Friday when it was published in newspapers that Deputy Goss, 34, had been cited for DUI on October 28 after an off duty single vehicle collision.
    Goss apparently lost control of his pickup and rolled it around 8:30 pm on Highway 101 south of Willits. California Highway Patrol  cited and released him to the custody of another person.
    Sheriff Tom Allman said he would not comment on the incident other than to say Goss, who’s been with the department since December 2004, is on paid leave.

The Stigma, the Smells, The Cost of my One Plant Bust
by Bevan Trembly
    After the UDJ incorrectly printing in the police log that I was arrested for "failure to register as a sex offender," a neighbor warned the other Black Bart Trail committee members about me.
    I had to go to my neighbors with children telling them that I was not a sex offender but a "substance offender", namely that about six years ago I had been convicted of "cultivation", i.e., gardening with cannabis. Of course the charge was dropped and eventually the UDJ published a correction but the first impression lingers on.
    The most unpleasant part of my little misadventure was spending 3 days and 2 nights (sounds like an ad for a Las Vegas vacation) in the Mendocino Country Jail's "drunk tank" waiting to be booked.
    Men and women were being arrested a dozen at a time during this period so there was a traffic jam. Also, since I was arrested for "violation of probation" there was no bail amount. At times there were as many as a dozen men in this 8 by 10' cell with only the clothes they were arrested in--minus their shoes and belt, of course.
    There's a steel bench to sleep on if you're lucky enough to get there first, otherwise its the concrete floor. Don't even think about a blanket or pillow. We did get a meager meal 3 times a day. For furniture there's a sink/drinking fountain and a toilet. The ventilation was poor but the worst part of it was when someone had to take a dump.
    I began counting the different sounds the human body can make--snoring being the most obnoxious.
    Although I'm legally clear now, the entire incident still cost me over $4,500 ($1,500 bail bond fee, $500 attorney, $320 tow from Calpella to Ukiah, $200 repair to van door damaged by cops).
    My sentence for "failure to register" included $870 in "fees/fines" including $170 Criminalistic Lab Fund, $510 Drug Program Fee, $25 Screening Fee, $20 Security Fee, $100 restitution fine, $35 administrative fee is $10.
    Most importantly, they stole my back pack with my laptop and my digital camera, about $2k plus 3 years of writing and picts.
    For pleading "no contest" to "failure to register" I was sentenced to "time served" and placed on summary probation until I registered with the sheriff.
    Unfortunately, the clerk responsible for registering me was unable to do so without a form from Adult Probation. Adult Probation refused to get involved because I was on "summary probation."
    I bounced back and forth between these two offices a couple of days until finally a sympathetic probation officer called the Sheriff's office and talked the clerk through the process. So now I'm registered, off of probation, trying to regain my composure, resign myself to loosing my computer and serve the members of my collective who need medicine. •

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Zachary, Zachary and Zachary 10/14/09
   
    On Thursday, April 29, the DA's office dropped all charges against defendants Melvin and Rachell Zachary for marijuana possession and cultivation for sale. The court approved. Defense attorney Mark Kalina stated to this reporter that the reason was that his clients were innocent, despite having made separate confessions to law enforcement the day of the raid.
    On Monday October 20, 2008 at around 1:30 pm, Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies armed with a warrant for suspected marijuana cultivation raided a property on Old Caspar Road in Fort Bragg.
    Arrested were Melvin and Rachelle Zachary. The next day, Melvin's brother Gary "Zac" Zachary was also arrested. Melvin and Rachelle posted $75,000 bond and were released.  Zac sat in jail for 8 days until released on OR.
    Zac is a long time volunteer activist on the North Coast. A couple of pounds of  old shake was alleged to be found in his house, along with a 22 rifle.
    Allegedly, 2 CONNEX 10’x30’ shipping boxes were found on the property near Melvin and Rachelle’s house, some 75’ away from Zac’s. One allegedly contained 262 clones, another 47 mature plants, and a greenhouse contained two 8’ tall plants. In addition, the cops claimed to have found 20 lbs of processed marijuana packaged in bags of 1 pound or less, and 1.5 lbs of processed hashish.
    In Melvin and Rachelle’s house, the police claimed to find $39,000 in American money and over $2 million in foreign currency, as well as 11 guns.
The three were charged with cultivation and possession for sale, two felonies, but Melvin also has an enhancement for the guns.
       Mel and Rachelle Zachary are due at 1:30 in Department B on April 29 for a pretrial conference. A resolution at that time may be possible.

Zac Zachary
   On December 15, assistant DA Dan McConnell announced that his office had reached a disposition in Zac’s case that would allow him to plead no contest to a misdemeanor possession of more than one ounce in return for a suspended sentence of up to 6 months in jail pending successful completion of probation for one year under People v. West.  The deal is contingent on Zac paying hundreds of dollars in fines and fees, as well as forfeiting the shake found in his house and his cash in excess of $10,000. He will get that amount back.   
 Included is an understanding that probation will be over on successful completion of 6 months. All other charges against Zac were dismissed.
 On December 4, defense attorney Lipmanson appeared to have won a motion to suppress evidence gathered against  Gary “Zac” Zachary.
    In the now closed Willits courtroom, Lipmanson argued that evidence gathered against his client should be suppressed because the warrant under which the search was conducted was overbroad in that it did not spell out a search for Zac’s house as distinct from his brother’s.
    The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law.
    Citing several cases, Lipmanson argued that the warrant as written did not show probable cause to specifically implicate Zac’s residence which has a distinct address and mail box and located some 75 feet away from his brother’s. The two houses share a driveway and are on the same 3.9 acre parcel on rural land east of Highway One south of Fort Bragg. 
    Judge Brennan at first agreed that the warrant was overbroad and evidence with respect to Zac was to be surpressed.  But at the last minute, prosecutor Scott McMenomee asked the court  to reconsider under the Leon exception.
    In United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), a search warrant was found to be invalid because the police lacked the probable cause for a warrant to be issued in the first place. The evidence obtained in the search was upheld anyway, because the police performed the search in reliance on the warrant, meaning they acted in good faith. This became known as the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule.
    All this became moot when the deal to let Zac plead out was ratified by Judge Brennan.

The Raid:
    Four days before the raid, MCSO deputy John Martin conducted an investigation from a public right of way after midnight and allegedly smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the property and heard the humming of grow light ballasts coming from a 10’x30’ white steel shipping container observable from Old Caspar Railroad Road.
    He then filed an affidavit for a search warrant, which was later executed by himself and 10 other officers. Marijuana was found growing in two storage containers located nearer to Melvin’s house than Zac’s.
    In the courtroom hall on December 4, this reporter heard Melvin complain that he had told raiding deputies his grow was medical, and was dismayed they had not called off their search at that point. Many growers, including Rob Garzini, believe a doctor’s recommendation or a state ID card is a permit to grow marijuana.
    Prosecutor Dan McConnell asked Martin what evidence he looked for to establish criminal cultivation. He answered: quantity, processsing, indidividual packages, large amounts of currency and weapons. When asked if any of these elements were present, Marin answered they all were.
    At the time of the raid, the per patient plant limit was 25 because Measure B had been stayed by judge Behnke. That stay was removed at the end of 2008 and the current limit in the county is mature or 12 immature plants and 8 ounces of trimmed bud.
    On December 15, the preliminary examination of evidence against Melvin and Rachelle proceeded with deputy Martin testifying on the stand.
Melvin had a valid doctor’s recommendation from Dr. William Courtney for medical marijuana with no mention of extra doses. Rachelle is alleged to have been in the process of obtaining a medical recommendation, but did not have one at the time of the bust. If she had, the total mature plants on the property would have been within the legal limits in effect at the time of the bust.
    Against interest, both Melvin and Rachelle made recorded statements to Martin at the time of the raid after having been mirandized. They should not have done so.
    Most of Kalina’s cross examination of Martin was intended to establish that the money found at the residence belonged to Rachelle and originated either with her “Sacred Woods” import business or from an inheritance.
    He elicited from deputy Martin that Melvin had testified about his role in Sacred Woods as an employee, and had added his opinions about the profitability and operations of Sacred Woods in the absence of Rachelle, legal owner of the business.
    He also elicited the fact that deputies had arrived at the property with drawn sidearms and had menaced the pair with their guns prior to their mirandized statements.
    The cash had been found in a safe which Melvin voluntarily opened for the raiders. He also declared that he was not as knowlegeable as his wife about the Sacred Woods business or the origens or purpose of the money as Rachelle, who owned the business and hired him as an employee.
    Rachelle drove up as the raid was in progress, having just arrived from Southeast Asia on a business trip the day before. She was overwhelmed by the situation and made conflicting statements to Martin about her knowledge of the grow.
    Kalina established that Sacred Woods had a distinct address in Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg that had not been searched by law enforcement in connection with this case. He introduced photos of envelopes in which cash in the safe was stored in $5,000 increments marked as belonging to Sacred Woods.

John Rule and Jason Dominguez 10/14/09
    In a preliminary hearing and motion hearing, Judge Ronald Brown ordered both defendants to stand trial for three counts of marijuana related felonies. The arraignment is set for December 17 at 8:30am in Courtroom B.
    On May 29, 2008 deputy Tim Goss knocked at the front door of an East Road Redwood Valley residence and was met by two people. When he asked to see the marijuana, he was told the marijuana was medical, they only had 50 plants and one person showed Goss a medical recommendation. They refused to show him the plants or provide more information.
    When Goss came back later with a team of deputies, he convinced a Ms. Joan Thomas, Rule's wife who apparently owns the property to sign a consent form and searched the property and discovered a structure behind the house which had been a grow room. The plants were gone, however.
    Goss then convinced defendant Rule to show him where the marijuana went. Rule guided deputies to a remote Webb Ranch Road location where the harvested plants were lying on a tarp inside a tent. There were also marijuana plants growing on the property.
    Goss then obtained a search warrant for the Webb Ranch Road property and searched it and eradicated the plants.
    Police claimed to find 8 large boxes full of marijuana including buds totalling 53 lbs, plus 115 plants from the grow house. The defendants were not arrested. Goss claimed he was convinced Ms. Thomas was unaware of the marijuana operation.
    Rule is represented by David Nick of San Francisco, and Dominguez by Edie Lerman of Mendocino. This formidable defense team attacked the integrity of deputy Goss, challenged the warrant and raised the absolute right to grow and sell marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act.
    Nick charged that both Thomas and Rule were convinced to allow the search after Goss threatening that their grandchildren would be taken away if they did not. "If you don't give me permission to search, I will get a warrant and arrest you. If I arrest you, CPS will take your children," was the exact language. Nick called this coersion, the judge ruled it was a true statement, and found the consents were voluntary.
    Nick spent some time offering to prove that Goss was intoxicated at the time of the raid, and thus the evidence he seized should be ruled out. He offered to produce witnesses who would testify Goss showed up at a marijuana investigation on October 19, 2008 and bragged he had just been drinking at a barbecue. He threatened to call CPS if the landowners did not show him the marijuana.
    A few days later, Goss busted a motorist for possessing one medical marijuana plant and not registering as a narcotics offender from a previous bust.
    But the following Monday, the motorist learned charges would not be filed. The reason: Goss had rolled his pickup on the Willits grade and had been arrested for DUI.
    Defendants had made a Pitchess motion for Goss's personnel file and Judge Nelson had ruled last June that there was nothing relevant in it.
    Judge Brown declined to hear all that, ruling it irrelevant, but did allow the testimony of Judge Mayfield that Goss appeared to be sober when he came to her office to pick up the warrant. Ukiah police sergeant Peter Hoyle who works on the Major Crimes Task Force with Goss also testified that Goss appeared sober the entire day of the raid, and so did deputy sergeant Scott Poma, Goss's supervisor.
    What was remarkable is that Nick asserted to the judge that it was reprehensible that local deputies do not recognize that sick people were "entitled to sell marijuana," noting that what  his client did not use himself he sold to Herban Legend in Fort Bragg. Rule had apparently confessed this to the deputies the day of the raid.
    Brown ruled that Nick could not challenge the warrant because he had not filed a noticed motion to do so. The defendant had been read his Miranda rights and the consent was voluntary. He also found that Rule did not have a right to sell marijuana, that the connection with Herban Legend was informal, that the attempt to hide the marijuana from the grow house was evidence of knowlege of guilt, that keeping his wife in the dark was evidence of knowlege of guilt, that despite being disabled with a bad back, Rule was able to pay $4,000 a month rent and $4,000 a month PG&E bill and maintained another property in Willits, and by inference the money was coming from the marijuana operation.
    The defendants were bound over for trial for violation of H&S Code §§ 11358, 11359, and 11366.5(a). Arraignment is in Dept B on December 17, 8:30am.