cannabisnews.com: Mixed Ruling in Pot Raid Suit





Mixed Ruling in Pot Raid Suit
Posted by CN Staff on January 07, 2004 at 18:58:15 PT
By Ryan McCarthy, Journal Staff Writer
Source: Auburn Journal 
A federal court dismissed part of a lawsuit against four Placer County Sheriff’s deputies over a marijuana search of a Citrus Heights home while ruling an excessive force issue can go before a jury.“The court basically split the baby,” attorney David Huskey with the county Counsel’s Office said of the mixed ruling Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.
Sheriff’s deputies sought dismissal of a suit filed by Chris, Penny and Corinne Miller contending the search involved excessive force and unreasonable seizure. A federal district court had denied the deputies motion for summary judgement.The three-judge federal appeals court dismissed Chris Miller’s claim that deputies acted unreasonably in their restraint of him during the search and that they used excessive force.“Chris Miller was a suspect, whom deputies had probable cause to arrest for cultivation of marijuana, and they had a warrant to search his home,” the federal court ruling states. “While Miller alleges that he was a chronic pain patient, he does not allege that deputies had any reason to know he suffered from any medical condition that made his need to eat, drink or use the bathroom more urgent than that of any other person. It was not unreasonable to detain him during the search and the force was not excessive.”Penny Miller contended deputies pointed guns at her and her 10-year-old child Corinne Miller for about a dozen minutes.If officers did so, the jury could find their actions constituted an excessive force issue violating the Fourth Amendment, the federal court ruled.Attorney Huskey representing Placer County said that such federal court rulings decide on the law after assuming asserted facts are true. “The officers deny pointing the weapons,” Huskey said. “The court didn’t rule that the officers did anything wrong.”Undersheriff Steve D’Arcy said Tuesday that deputies never pointed a gun at any children.“Officers acted within the law and within our polices,” D’Arcy said. “We’re fully prepared to defend them in a civil case.”Placer County has won every case filed over the marijuana-related searches, the undersheriff said.“Nobody does articles about us winning civil suits,” he added. “When they’re resolved in the Sheriff’s Department’s favor you never hear about it.”No date has been set for a hearing in federal court on the Millers’ lawsuit. Charges against them were dropped after it was determined Chris Miller may have been eligible to grow marijuana under Prop. 215, the medicinal marijuana measure passed by California voters in 1996.Dennis Roberts and Paul Turley, Oakland attorneys representing the Millers, could not be reached for comment on the federal court rulings.Bill Panzer, an attorney who co-authored Prop. 215, said Tuesday that the Miller lawsuit is one of several stemming from actions by a marijuana eradication effort of the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies took down license plate numbers of customers of a store selling indoor lighting to grow marijuana plants and then searched through their garbage for the drug, Panzer said. “Driving to Sacramento looking for garbage is a lot less dangerous than looking for criminals,” the attorney said.Overtime pay officers received also helped spur the searches of Sacramento County homes by deputies from Placer County, Panzer contends.Most officers in the state enforcing drug laws are trained through the California Narcotics Officers’ Association, Panzer said. Position papers on drugs by the CNOA are out of the 1930’s “Reefer Madness” era, the attorney said. Officers believe that Prop. 215 was passed because “some rich people conned the voters” and law enforcement’s job is “to save the public from itself,” Panzer said.Chris Miller appeared before Placer County supervisors in March 2001 and during the public comment portion of the meeting said officials should “reel in your Sheriff’s Department.”“Make them stay in their own county,” he said.Source: Auburn Journal (CA)Author: Ryan McCarthy, Journal Staff WriterPublished: Wednesday, January 07, 2004Copyright: 2004 Auburn JournalContact: dericr goldcountrymedia.comWebsite: http://www.auburnjournal.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmLawsuit Allowed in Drug Raid Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18080.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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