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Feb. 5, 00
Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Auburn Journal
Author: Patrick McCartney, Journal Staff Writer
****
Bookmark: This link brings up over 110 articles about Steve: MapInc AUBURN IN LIMELIGHT WITH HIGH-PROFILE MEDI-POT CASES Placer County's prosecution of medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby and his wife Michele is scheduled to resume a week from Tuesday, in what promises to be a train wreck of a trial. Headed for a collision are Placer County District Attorney Brad Fenocchio and Steve Kubby, the Libertarian Party's 1998 candidate for governor. What is not in dispute is the fact that the multi-agency North Tahoe Task Force raided the Kubbys' Olympic Valley home Jan. 19, 1999, and seized 265 marijuana plants, computer equipment and a small amount of cash. County prosecutors cited the large number of plants, as well as the presence of hallucinogenic mescaline, psychedelic mushrooms and drug paraphernalia, in charging the couple with 19 criminal counts. To prosecutors, the case is a simple matter of the Kubbys growing pot to sell, and the facts speak to a criminal drug operation, said senior Deputy District Attorney Gene Gini, who will co-prosecute the case with Deputy District Attorney Chris Cattran. "The goal is that the truth comes forward and justice gets served," Gini said on Friday. The raid came as no surprise to the Kubbys, who were tipped off after the task force launched an investigation when it received an unsigned letter claiming Kubby was selling pot to finance his campaign for governor. Indeed, the Kubbys placed fliers in their household trash for police to find, announcing that the Kubbys were growing marijuana for medical purposes and possessed an amount consistent with federal guidelines. After their arrest, Steve Kubby underwent a battery of medical tests at the University of Southern California under the supervision of Dr. Vincent DeQuattro, the oncologist who diagnosed Kubby's rare adrenal cancer 20 years earlier. The tests included a hair drug-residue test that showed the Kubbys did not take any other illicit drug in at least 18 months. Now the politically astute Kubbys will face their accusers in a Placer County courtroom in a trial that pits prosecutors against the decision by California voters in 1996 to approve Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act that legalizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes. What is clear is that Steve Kubby acts like no other criminal defendant I've ever seen. Listening to him, as I did in a phone conversation Friday, you get the sense that authorities may be in store for more than they bargained for. "We didn't ask for this, but have had it thrust on us," Kubby said about what he refers to as the "Scopes Monkey Trial" of medical marijuana. "This issue is not about marijuana, but about my indignation. All we're asking for is our elected officials and law enforcement to uphold the law as it was passed by the voters. It's an American tradition to uphold the rights of others even if we find those rights repugnant." With the aid of the Libertarian Party and other medical marijuana activists, the Kubbys have raised more than $100,000 for their defense. They have also conducted a nonstop lobbying campaign, seeking intervention in their case by state and local officials. Most has gone unanswered. Over the past year, the Kubbys have filed a petition of grievance with the Placer County Board of Supervisors, a civil rights complaint with Attorney General Bill Lockyer, an internal affairs complaint with the Placer County Sheriff's Office over their treatment in jail, an 85-page complaint with the Placer County grand jury and a complaint with Secretary of State Bill Jones over what they say were misleading ballot statements by law-enforcement officials opposing Prop. 215. "We've charged election fraud in that [former Attorney General and Placer County resident] Dan Lungren, with the full authority of his office, said patients would have access to medical marijuana," Kubby said about the 1996 ballot statement. "Either that's fraud, entrapment or both." The problem, as both sides recognize, is that state legislators were unable to adopt guidelines for implementing the Compassionate Use Act. Lockyer convened a task force to hammer out a set of rules, which were translated into legislation, but Gov. Gray Davis announced that he would not sign the bill and it died. Since then, the same clash over medical marijuana has been repeated in one county after another, with some counties throwing in the towel after prosecutors lost test cases. Most recently, Calaveras County supervisors named a panel last week to come up with rules to implement Prop. 215 after the acquittal of a popular local artist who grew pot to smoke for medical reasons. On Friday, Fenocchio said local guidelines do not make a lot of sense. "It would be helpful for every prosecutor in the state to have statewide guidelines, rather than two, three, four or more counties promulgating their own," Fenocchio told me during a visit to his office. "One would not want to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles, traveling through several counties, and not have the same standards apply for arrest." With the political will lacking in the Legislature to implement the voter-approved medical marijuana bill, Placer County residents will be witness to one of the highest-profile tests so far of the will of California voters. Once the publisher of a popular online adventure magazine, Steve Kubby now applies his computer and political skills full-time on securing his right to the only medicine that has controlled his usually fatal cancer. "Just give me a computer, the Internet and a search engine, and a regular citizen like me can navigate through a huge government beast and find new checks and balances," Kubby said of his incessant politicking. "All we're asking is for our elected officials and law enforcement to uphold the law as it was passed by voters." Fenocchio points out that his office has not contributed to the waves of publicity the Kubby case has received. "If there's any political whirlwind being created, we're not the ones creating it," Fenocchio said on Friday. If the Kubby case is not enough to capture the attention of Placer residents, another high-profile medical pot case will follow on its heels. Former Rocklin dentist Michael Baldwin and his wife Georgia Baldwin in March will stand trial for a second time on charges of cultivating marijuana to sell. A jury deadlocked on charges of cultivation for sale against Michael Baldwin, and voted 7-5 for acquittal of Georgia Baldwin after Superior Court Judge James D. Garbolino cited Prop. 215 in tossing out simple cultivation charges against the couple, who later separated. So it looks like the medical marijuana controversy will dominate headline in the county for the next few months.
Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Auburn Journal
Author: Patrick McCartney, Journal Staff Writer
****
Bookmark: This link brings up over 110 articles about Steve: MapInc AUBURN IN LIMELIGHT WITH HIGH-PROFILE MEDI-POT CASES Placer County's prosecution of medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby and his wife Michele is scheduled to resume a week from Tuesday, in what promises to be a train wreck of a trial. Headed for a collision are Placer County District Attorney Brad Fenocchio and Steve Kubby, the Libertarian Party's 1998 candidate for governor. What is not in dispute is the fact that the multi-agency North Tahoe Task Force raided the Kubbys' Olympic Valley home Jan. 19, 1999, and seized 265 marijuana plants, computer equipment and a small amount of cash. County prosecutors cited the large number of plants, as well as the presence of hallucinogenic mescaline, psychedelic mushrooms and drug paraphernalia, in charging the couple with 19 criminal counts. To prosecutors, the case is a simple matter of the Kubbys growing pot to sell, and the facts speak to a criminal drug operation, said senior Deputy District Attorney Gene Gini, who will co-prosecute the case with Deputy District Attorney Chris Cattran. "The goal is that the truth comes forward and justice gets served," Gini said on Friday. The raid came as no surprise to the Kubbys, who were tipped off after the task force launched an investigation when it received an unsigned letter claiming Kubby was selling pot to finance his campaign for governor. Indeed, the Kubbys placed fliers in their household trash for police to find, announcing that the Kubbys were growing marijuana for medical purposes and possessed an amount consistent with federal guidelines. After their arrest, Steve Kubby underwent a battery of medical tests at the University of Southern California under the supervision of Dr. Vincent DeQuattro, the oncologist who diagnosed Kubby's rare adrenal cancer 20 years earlier. The tests included a hair drug-residue test that showed the Kubbys did not take any other illicit drug in at least 18 months. Now the politically astute Kubbys will face their accusers in a Placer County courtroom in a trial that pits prosecutors against the decision by California voters in 1996 to approve Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act that legalizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes. What is clear is that Steve Kubby acts like no other criminal defendant I've ever seen. Listening to him, as I did in a phone conversation Friday, you get the sense that authorities may be in store for more than they bargained for. "We didn't ask for this, but have had it thrust on us," Kubby said about what he refers to as the "Scopes Monkey Trial" of medical marijuana. "This issue is not about marijuana, but about my indignation. All we're asking for is our elected officials and law enforcement to uphold the law as it was passed by the voters. It's an American tradition to uphold the rights of others even if we find those rights repugnant." With the aid of the Libertarian Party and other medical marijuana activists, the Kubbys have raised more than $100,000 for their defense. They have also conducted a nonstop lobbying campaign, seeking intervention in their case by state and local officials. Most has gone unanswered. Over the past year, the Kubbys have filed a petition of grievance with the Placer County Board of Supervisors, a civil rights complaint with Attorney General Bill Lockyer, an internal affairs complaint with the Placer County Sheriff's Office over their treatment in jail, an 85-page complaint with the Placer County grand jury and a complaint with Secretary of State Bill Jones over what they say were misleading ballot statements by law-enforcement officials opposing Prop. 215. "We've charged election fraud in that [former Attorney General and Placer County resident] Dan Lungren, with the full authority of his office, said patients would have access to medical marijuana," Kubby said about the 1996 ballot statement. "Either that's fraud, entrapment or both." The problem, as both sides recognize, is that state legislators were unable to adopt guidelines for implementing the Compassionate Use Act. Lockyer convened a task force to hammer out a set of rules, which were translated into legislation, but Gov. Gray Davis announced that he would not sign the bill and it died. Since then, the same clash over medical marijuana has been repeated in one county after another, with some counties throwing in the towel after prosecutors lost test cases. Most recently, Calaveras County supervisors named a panel last week to come up with rules to implement Prop. 215 after the acquittal of a popular local artist who grew pot to smoke for medical reasons. On Friday, Fenocchio said local guidelines do not make a lot of sense. "It would be helpful for every prosecutor in the state to have statewide guidelines, rather than two, three, four or more counties promulgating their own," Fenocchio told me during a visit to his office. "One would not want to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles, traveling through several counties, and not have the same standards apply for arrest." With the political will lacking in the Legislature to implement the voter-approved medical marijuana bill, Placer County residents will be witness to one of the highest-profile tests so far of the will of California voters. Once the publisher of a popular online adventure magazine, Steve Kubby now applies his computer and political skills full-time on securing his right to the only medicine that has controlled his usually fatal cancer. "Just give me a computer, the Internet and a search engine, and a regular citizen like me can navigate through a huge government beast and find new checks and balances," Kubby said of his incessant politicking. "All we're asking is for our elected officials and law enforcement to uphold the law as it was passed by voters." Fenocchio points out that his office has not contributed to the waves of publicity the Kubby case has received. "If there's any political whirlwind being created, we're not the ones creating it," Fenocchio said on Friday. If the Kubby case is not enough to capture the attention of Placer residents, another high-profile medical pot case will follow on its heels. Former Rocklin dentist Michael Baldwin and his wife Georgia Baldwin in March will stand trial for a second time on charges of cultivating marijuana to sell. A jury deadlocked on charges of cultivation for sale against Michael Baldwin, and voted 7-5 for acquittal of Georgia Baldwin after Superior Court Judge James D. Garbolino cited Prop. 215 in tossing out simple cultivation charges against the couple, who later separated. So it looks like the medical marijuana controversy will dominate headline in the county for the next few months.