A Tulare County Superior Court judge will hear arguments today on whether a man convicted of illegally possessing and transporting marijuana should get back a portion of the pot seized by Exeter police.
Roger A. Southfield, 55, said that for about the past decade, he has had a doctor's recommendation to smoke and ingest medicinal marijuana to ease chronic pain in his back and knee.
And, he said, he grows marijuana plants at his home outside Exeter for himself and as part of a collective to provide plants for others with medical conditions who can't grow it on their own.
In fact, Southfield said, only about 4 of the 15 pounds that Exeter police found in the motel room he had rented on Dec. 12, 2007, belonged to him.
During a court hearing scheduled for today, Southfield said he plans to ask for the return of his 4 pounds of marijuana and for the rest to be given to the three people for whom he grew it.
D.A.: Possession illegal
But the Tulare County District Attorney's office is challenging Southfield's motion.
"Our position is it's illegal for him to have it," said Assistant District Attorney Don Gallian, because a jury convicted Southfield July 10 on a felony count of illegally transporting marijuana and a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana.
Judge Kathryn Montejano sentenced him to 100 days in jail and three years probation. Southfield is scheduled to begin serving his sentence in November.
He was arrested after police went to the Best Western motel in Exeter to investigate a report of somebody being held against his will at gunpoint.
Officers entered the room where the incident was reported to have occurred. While they found nobody inside, the officers reported that they could smell marijuana.
Southfield later returned, and during a search of the room, the officers reported finding several bags, jars and boxes containing dry marijuana, according to Superior Court records.
"Southfield stated that the marijuana belongs to him and several other subjects," but he wouldn't provide names, according to a report from Exeter Police Officer David Diaz.
At one point, the report states, Southfield who told police he used medical marijuana and provided documentation to prove it ' reportedly said, "If I tell you, they will kill me."
Southfield said he didn't disclose names because he felt obligated to maintain confidentiality for the people in his collective.
As for why he was at the motel with all that marijuana, he said he and his girlfriend had reserved the room a couple of days earlier because they planned to finish processing and packaging the marijuana for himself and the collective members after running out of room at his home because he had several new marijuana plants drying there.
He added that he rushed to get himself and his dry plants into the room because one of the cooperative members claimed to have received phone calls from somebody threatening to kill them and take their marijuana.
Southfield claims that he was railroaded to a conviction because the judge wouldn't allow testimony about the collective during his trial.
"She hasn't heard the testimony that I'm a caregiver and growing for a collective," he said. "If that was brought up in trial, the jury would have found me not guilty."
As for the marijuana he wants returned, Southfield said he still needs it to manage pain.
In his motion for return of property, Southfield notes that he has medical authorization to have 4 pounds of marijuana in his possession and that "the evidence held by law enforcement is ... no longer required to remain in their possession."
He also has asked the court to allow him to sort through the marijuana and select the buds he wants returned because "There are several types of marijuana currently being held, and I would like to select my own."
Efforts to contact Southfield's lawyer were unsuccessful Thursday.
In April, another Superior Court judge ordered the return of 12 pounds of confiscated marijuana to another medical marijuana patient, Richard Daleman.
Tulare County sheriff's investigators had raided his home and confiscated both dry and growing plants, despite his having a doctor's recommendation to use the plants for pain control.
Daleman was charged with growing and selling marijuana, but a jury acquitted him March 27.
But there's a big difference between the two cases, Gallian said. Daleman wasn't convicted as Southfield was.
Normally, pot is held as evidence until a criminal suspect is tried, and then it's destroyed, he said.
"And that's what we're recommending here – that it be destroyed" because a jury determined Southfield illegally possessed it, Gallian explained. "And illegal marijuana is destroyed."
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register
Author: DAVID CASTELLON
Contact: Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register
Copyright: 2009 Visalia Times-Delta | Tulare Advance-Register
Website: Exeter-Area Man Convicted On Drug Charges Wants His Marijuana Returned
Roger A. Southfield, 55, said that for about the past decade, he has had a doctor's recommendation to smoke and ingest medicinal marijuana to ease chronic pain in his back and knee.
And, he said, he grows marijuana plants at his home outside Exeter for himself and as part of a collective to provide plants for others with medical conditions who can't grow it on their own.
In fact, Southfield said, only about 4 of the 15 pounds that Exeter police found in the motel room he had rented on Dec. 12, 2007, belonged to him.
During a court hearing scheduled for today, Southfield said he plans to ask for the return of his 4 pounds of marijuana and for the rest to be given to the three people for whom he grew it.
D.A.: Possession illegal
But the Tulare County District Attorney's office is challenging Southfield's motion.
"Our position is it's illegal for him to have it," said Assistant District Attorney Don Gallian, because a jury convicted Southfield July 10 on a felony count of illegally transporting marijuana and a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana.
Judge Kathryn Montejano sentenced him to 100 days in jail and three years probation. Southfield is scheduled to begin serving his sentence in November.
He was arrested after police went to the Best Western motel in Exeter to investigate a report of somebody being held against his will at gunpoint.
Officers entered the room where the incident was reported to have occurred. While they found nobody inside, the officers reported that they could smell marijuana.
Southfield later returned, and during a search of the room, the officers reported finding several bags, jars and boxes containing dry marijuana, according to Superior Court records.
"Southfield stated that the marijuana belongs to him and several other subjects," but he wouldn't provide names, according to a report from Exeter Police Officer David Diaz.
At one point, the report states, Southfield who told police he used medical marijuana and provided documentation to prove it ' reportedly said, "If I tell you, they will kill me."
Southfield said he didn't disclose names because he felt obligated to maintain confidentiality for the people in his collective.
As for why he was at the motel with all that marijuana, he said he and his girlfriend had reserved the room a couple of days earlier because they planned to finish processing and packaging the marijuana for himself and the collective members after running out of room at his home because he had several new marijuana plants drying there.
He added that he rushed to get himself and his dry plants into the room because one of the cooperative members claimed to have received phone calls from somebody threatening to kill them and take their marijuana.
Southfield claims that he was railroaded to a conviction because the judge wouldn't allow testimony about the collective during his trial.
"She hasn't heard the testimony that I'm a caregiver and growing for a collective," he said. "If that was brought up in trial, the jury would have found me not guilty."
As for the marijuana he wants returned, Southfield said he still needs it to manage pain.
In his motion for return of property, Southfield notes that he has medical authorization to have 4 pounds of marijuana in his possession and that "the evidence held by law enforcement is ... no longer required to remain in their possession."
He also has asked the court to allow him to sort through the marijuana and select the buds he wants returned because "There are several types of marijuana currently being held, and I would like to select my own."
Efforts to contact Southfield's lawyer were unsuccessful Thursday.
In April, another Superior Court judge ordered the return of 12 pounds of confiscated marijuana to another medical marijuana patient, Richard Daleman.
Tulare County sheriff's investigators had raided his home and confiscated both dry and growing plants, despite his having a doctor's recommendation to use the plants for pain control.
Daleman was charged with growing and selling marijuana, but a jury acquitted him March 27.
But there's a big difference between the two cases, Gallian said. Daleman wasn't convicted as Southfield was.
Normally, pot is held as evidence until a criminal suspect is tried, and then it's destroyed, he said.
"And that's what we're recommending here – that it be destroyed" because a jury determined Southfield illegally possessed it, Gallian explained. "And illegal marijuana is destroyed."
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register
Author: DAVID CASTELLON
Contact: Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register
Copyright: 2009 Visalia Times-Delta | Tulare Advance-Register
Website: Exeter-Area Man Convicted On Drug Charges Wants His Marijuana Returned
