cannabisnews.com: Ex-Lassen Student Wins New Trial in Drug Case





Ex-Lassen Student Wins New Trial in Drug Case
Posted by FoM on July 29, 1999 at 13:06:02 PT
By Jane Braxton Little, Bee Correspondent 
Source: Sacramento Bee
SUSANVILLE -- Former Lassen Community College student Paul Berry III, convicted of selling marijuana to a narcotics task force undercover agent, has won the right to a new trial.
Lassen County Superior Court Judge Stephen D. Bradbury ruled Wednesday that misconduct by jury foreman Mike Beard denied Berry a fair hearing during his three-day trial in May.Bradbury threw out a drug trafficking conviction and scheduled a new trial for Sept. 29. He also released Berry from the Lassen County jail, where he has been held without bail since his conviction May 20.Berry, 21, said he was glad to be free and confident that a new jury would find him innocent of all charges."I still face a long uphill battle, but I hope I can get a fair jury the next time around," he said.While awaiting a new trial, he plans to stay in St. Louis, the city he left in 1996 to enter Lassen College as a wrestler.Berry was one of 30 Lassen college and high school students arrested in December following an undercover operation conducted by the Lassen County Narcotics Task Force. The others plea-bargained settlements, but Berry opted for a jury trial.Beard, director of the Lassen County Alcohol and Drug Department, participated in a meeting of the county narcotics task force steering committee less than a month before he was selected as a juror in Berry's criminal trial.Beard was on vacation Wednesday and not available for comment. He said previously that it did not occur to him to disclose his attendance at the meeting during jury selection because the committee has no role in the operations of the narcotics task force.Berry's case has generated local controversy over the task force and its use of Cherokee Miranda, a female undercover agent who posed as a high school student. Berry claimed Miranda came to his room in the college dormitory and asked for marijuana.Despite 30 arrests, the entire narcotics task force undercover operation netted $649 worth of drugs, according to court records.It was during a radio talk show prompted by a series of articles in a local newspaper that Beard's misconduct became public knowledge. Sheriff Ron Jarrell mentioned that Beard had been appointed to the task force steering committee to comply with a new state law requiring that county Drug and Alcohol Department directors participate.In anticipation of his appointment, Beard was invited to attend a meeting April 28 -- 20 days before Berry's trial began.A radio listener recognized Beard as foreman of the jury that convicted Berry and made the connection public.District Attorney Robert M. Burns, who was on the radio panel with Jarrell, said he immediately notified Bradbury and Richard Murphy, Berry's Susanville attorney. Although he called Beard's behavior "minor misconduct," Burns said he welcomed Bradbury's ruling for a new trial."The perception of the community needs to be that the system of justice is a fair one," Burns said Wednesday.Bradbury referred the issue of whether Beard's misconduct was deliberate or unintentional to the state Department of Justice for an independent review.Murphy called the court rulings a vindication for Berry."We are completely happy and completely hopeful that it will all be settled soon," Murphy said.Berry faces two separate trials on three charges. In addition to the new trial on one felony count of selling a half-gram of marijuana, the Sept. 29 trial will include a second similar charge of drug trafficking. After the jury split in May on the second charge, Berry opted to face trial rather than accept a plea agreement.He is also scheduled for trial Sept. 1 on charges of felony theft and misdemeanor filing a false report that stem from a 1996 incident in the Lassen College dorm.By Jane Braxton LittleBee Correspondent (Published July 29, 1999)Copyright © The Sacramento Beehttp://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local09_19990729.html New Trial Granted in Drug Case - 7/29/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2257.shtml
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