cannabisnews.com: Lassen Drug Convict Seeks New Trial!





Lassen Drug Convict Seeks New Trial!
Posted by FoM on July 24, 1999 at 18:29:44 PT
By Jane Braxton Little, Bee Correspondent 
Source: Sacramento Bee
SUSANVILLE -- A former Lassen Community College student convicted in a drug case is seeking a new trial, claiming misconduct by the jury foreman.
The foreman, Mike Beard, participated in a meeting of the county narcotics task force steering committee less than a month before he was selected as a juror in Paul Berry III's criminal trial.Beard's conduct denied Berry a fair trial, said Richard R. Murphy, Berry's attorney.The motion for a new trial is scheduled to be heard Wednesday in Lassen County Superior Court.Beard, director of the Lassen County Alcohol and Drug Department for more than a decade, committed "minor misconduct" that does not justify a new trial, said District Attorney Robert Burns.Beard did not disclose his attendance at the steering committee meeting because it "did not occur to him," Burns said. There is no evidence that attending the meeting created any bias for Beard in reaching a verdict, Burns said in court documents.Beard became a member of the county narcotics task force steering committee July 1 of this year. He attended an April 28 meeting of the committee.Beard said he forgot about the meeting when he was questioned during jury selection for Berry's trial. County officials said the steering committee has no role in the operations of the narcotics task force.Beard presided over the jury that found Berry guilty of involvement in a $20 drug transaction involving one-half gram of marijuana. The jurors split over a second, similar charge. Berry turned down a plea agreement and is scheduled for a second trial Aug. 19 on a felony drug trafficking charge.Berry was one of 20 students at Lassen College and a high school arrested in December after a county Narcotics Task Force operation. The others reached plea agreements; Berry opted for a jury trial.Newshawk: Jean CowsertCopyright © The Sacramento Bee Published July 24, 1999http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local10_19990724.html
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