T
The420Guy
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Feb 17, 00
Redding Record Searchlight (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Redding Record Searchlight
Author: Maline Hazle
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A Redding mother and son were growing too much marijuana for their own medical use, otherwise Shasta County wouldn't have put them on trial, Deputy District Attorney Tim Kam told jurors Wednesday. ''No one here is disagreeing with the Compassionate Use Act -- it's the law,'' and people with doctor's recommendations have ''an absolute right'' to grow and use marijuana under that 1996 law, Kam said in closing arguments in the 3-week-old trial. But Kam contends that Jim Hall, 38, and his mother, Lydia Hall, 62, abused that law and should be convicted of cultivation and conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. Jim Hall also is charged of possession of marijuana for sale. ''This entire case is based on lies -- lies under oath,'' countered the Halls' attorney, Eric Berg of Redding. He went on to argue that Shasta County sheriff's Detective Jerry Shearman, the prosecution's chief witness, ''told lie upon lie upon lie'' in his testimony. Jurors began their deliberations in the case late Wednesday afternoon, but left the courthouse about 45 minutes later without having reached a verdict. Deliberations are scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. today. Prosecutor Kam opened the day's arguments, followed by Berg. Kam then got to argue briefly again before Superior Court Judge Bradley Boeckman handed the case to jurors. As Berg argued he placed three charts in front of the 10-woman, two-man jury: one outlining arguments that Jim Hall had no intent to sell marijuana; a second headed ''Shearman's Lies;'' and a third quoting Bible verses about herbs and lies. Kam's prosecution of the Halls relied heavily on calculations by Shearman, a sheriff's Marijuana Eradication Team member, that the two marijuana gardens at the Halls' house would have yielded 24 pounds of pot a year. ''He was growing way too much for his use. ... That is the simple truth of this case,'' Kam told jurors. The prosecutor went on to say the Halls' ''sophisticated'' growing techniques and supplies, including grow lights, a hydroponic garden, a venting system, fertilizers and bug sprays, showed that Jim Hall knew what he was doing and meant to produce a huge crop. Over and over Kam mentioned Shearman's 24-pound-a-year crop yield estimate -- a figure Shearman based on four crops a year. Over and over he referred to pictures of the gardens and the 244 seedlings sheriff's deputies confiscated from the Halls on March 16. ''By his own statements the defendant uses less than two pounds of marijuana a year,'' Kam said, later asking, ''what's he going to do with the excess?'' Lydia Hall testified that she didn't particularly like marijuana, Kam argued, going on to suggest that she sought a doctor's marijuana recommendation for glaucoma and migraines only to provide her son with another excuse for growing pot. ''Money is tight for Mr. Hall -- his mom is paying all the expenses. He knows the street value of marijuana,'' and the six small bags of processed marijuana confiscated by deputies were packaged for sale, Kam said. ''Don't let him hide behind the law to grow more marijuana than he needs,'' Kam urged jurors. ''That's not fair'' to patients who are growing pot for their medical needs. Berg, his voice sometimes booming, sometimes dripping outrage, moved around the courtroom as he talked -- standing in the witness box when he mentioned testimony, placing a hand on Jim Hall's shoulder as he talked of his clients' maladies, dipping into a shoe box full of the tiny, and now dry, plants uprooted from the Halls' gardens. He contended that Shearman misled the jury on several counts, including plant yield, number of potential productive plants confiscated, and growing conditions in the uninsulated garage. ''He thinks you're going to believe him because he's been a policeman for 14 years,'' Berg told jurors, going on to attack Shearman's expertise. ''If he says it, that don't make it true.'' Kam's ''entire case is based on 'ifs' and 'buts,''' suggestions about crops that might have been, Berg continued. ''I have never heard of or seen two people charged for plants that didn't exist, for plants that exist only in the mind of a police officer,'' Berg said, reminding jurors that Shearman's 24-pound-a-year figure was based on future crops. But the law puts no limit on the number of plants the Halls could grow because they had doctors' recommendations, Berg added. And Kam produced no evidence -- no money, no traffic, no accurate scales, no calls from would-be buyers during the eight hours investigators were at the Hall house, Berg argued. ''Some of you may be persuaded by the argument that Mr. Hall is a poor man. ... He's poor, so he just wanted to get rich by selling marijuana,'' Berg acknowledged. ''It's not a crime to be poor ... but if he had $5,000 in cash Mr. Kam would argue, 'Look, he got $5,000 from selling drugs ...' ''If Mr. Hall was a millionaire he wouldn't have to spend time nursing plants -- he'd buy it.'' Reporter Maline Hazle can be reached at 225-8266 or at mhazle@redding.com MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson
Redding Record Searchlight (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Redding Record Searchlight
Author: Maline Hazle
****
A Redding mother and son were growing too much marijuana for their own medical use, otherwise Shasta County wouldn't have put them on trial, Deputy District Attorney Tim Kam told jurors Wednesday. ''No one here is disagreeing with the Compassionate Use Act -- it's the law,'' and people with doctor's recommendations have ''an absolute right'' to grow and use marijuana under that 1996 law, Kam said in closing arguments in the 3-week-old trial. But Kam contends that Jim Hall, 38, and his mother, Lydia Hall, 62, abused that law and should be convicted of cultivation and conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. Jim Hall also is charged of possession of marijuana for sale. ''This entire case is based on lies -- lies under oath,'' countered the Halls' attorney, Eric Berg of Redding. He went on to argue that Shasta County sheriff's Detective Jerry Shearman, the prosecution's chief witness, ''told lie upon lie upon lie'' in his testimony. Jurors began their deliberations in the case late Wednesday afternoon, but left the courthouse about 45 minutes later without having reached a verdict. Deliberations are scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. today. Prosecutor Kam opened the day's arguments, followed by Berg. Kam then got to argue briefly again before Superior Court Judge Bradley Boeckman handed the case to jurors. As Berg argued he placed three charts in front of the 10-woman, two-man jury: one outlining arguments that Jim Hall had no intent to sell marijuana; a second headed ''Shearman's Lies;'' and a third quoting Bible verses about herbs and lies. Kam's prosecution of the Halls relied heavily on calculations by Shearman, a sheriff's Marijuana Eradication Team member, that the two marijuana gardens at the Halls' house would have yielded 24 pounds of pot a year. ''He was growing way too much for his use. ... That is the simple truth of this case,'' Kam told jurors. The prosecutor went on to say the Halls' ''sophisticated'' growing techniques and supplies, including grow lights, a hydroponic garden, a venting system, fertilizers and bug sprays, showed that Jim Hall knew what he was doing and meant to produce a huge crop. Over and over Kam mentioned Shearman's 24-pound-a-year crop yield estimate -- a figure Shearman based on four crops a year. Over and over he referred to pictures of the gardens and the 244 seedlings sheriff's deputies confiscated from the Halls on March 16. ''By his own statements the defendant uses less than two pounds of marijuana a year,'' Kam said, later asking, ''what's he going to do with the excess?'' Lydia Hall testified that she didn't particularly like marijuana, Kam argued, going on to suggest that she sought a doctor's marijuana recommendation for glaucoma and migraines only to provide her son with another excuse for growing pot. ''Money is tight for Mr. Hall -- his mom is paying all the expenses. He knows the street value of marijuana,'' and the six small bags of processed marijuana confiscated by deputies were packaged for sale, Kam said. ''Don't let him hide behind the law to grow more marijuana than he needs,'' Kam urged jurors. ''That's not fair'' to patients who are growing pot for their medical needs. Berg, his voice sometimes booming, sometimes dripping outrage, moved around the courtroom as he talked -- standing in the witness box when he mentioned testimony, placing a hand on Jim Hall's shoulder as he talked of his clients' maladies, dipping into a shoe box full of the tiny, and now dry, plants uprooted from the Halls' gardens. He contended that Shearman misled the jury on several counts, including plant yield, number of potential productive plants confiscated, and growing conditions in the uninsulated garage. ''He thinks you're going to believe him because he's been a policeman for 14 years,'' Berg told jurors, going on to attack Shearman's expertise. ''If he says it, that don't make it true.'' Kam's ''entire case is based on 'ifs' and 'buts,''' suggestions about crops that might have been, Berg continued. ''I have never heard of or seen two people charged for plants that didn't exist, for plants that exist only in the mind of a police officer,'' Berg said, reminding jurors that Shearman's 24-pound-a-year figure was based on future crops. But the law puts no limit on the number of plants the Halls could grow because they had doctors' recommendations, Berg added. And Kam produced no evidence -- no money, no traffic, no accurate scales, no calls from would-be buyers during the eight hours investigators were at the Hall house, Berg argued. ''Some of you may be persuaded by the argument that Mr. Hall is a poor man. ... He's poor, so he just wanted to get rich by selling marijuana,'' Berg acknowledged. ''It's not a crime to be poor ... but if he had $5,000 in cash Mr. Kam would argue, 'Look, he got $5,000 from selling drugs ...' ''If Mr. Hall was a millionaire he wouldn't have to spend time nursing plants -- he'd buy it.'' Reporter Maline Hazle can be reached at 225-8266 or at mhazle@redding.com MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson
