cannabisnews.com: With Kubby Case Over, Focus Shifts To Baldwins





With Kubby Case Over, Focus Shifts To Baldwins
Posted by FoM on December 25, 2000 at 11:21:09 PT
By Patrick McCartney, Journal City Editor
Source: Auburn Journal 
Eleven jurors gave Steve and Michele Kubby an early Christmas present this week, rejecting the prosecution's charge that the former Olympic Valley couple grew marijuana for sale. While the jury convicted Steve Kubby, the 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor of California, of two unrelated drug charges, only time will tell whether or not Placer County law enforcement has had its fill of arresting sick people for growing marijuana under the 1996 Compassionate Use Act. 
On Thursday, Superior Court Judge John L. Cosgrove declared a mistrial in the five principal counts against the Kubbys, after one juror held out for conviction following five days of deliberation. The jury acquitted Michele Kubby of possession of a psilocyben mushroom stem and peyote buttons - the same charges they found her husband guilty of. (Unless Cosgrove reduces the two felony convictions to misdemeanors, Steve Kubby would be prohibited from ever again seeking public office.) Now it will be up to Placer County District Attorney Brad Fenocchio whether to try the Kubbys again on the cultivation-for-sale and conspiracy-to-cultivate charges that were the heart of the prosecution case. Fenocchio took the afternoon off Friday and was unavailable for comment. But most people in the legal community expect the district attorney to throw in the towel in light of the jury's 11-1 vote for acquittal. Far less clear, but potentially more important, is whether Fenocchio will choose to retry Michael and Georgia Baldwin, the Rocklin dentist and his wife whose case closely paralleled the Kubbys. Both were Libertarian Party officers who possessed medical recommendations for using pot under the auspices of Proposition 215. Authorities raided both homes and seized all plants under cultivation. And later, both the Kubbys and Baldwins filed bankruptcy. Last year, a Placer County jury deadlocked 6-6 in the case against Michael Baldwin, and voted 7-5 to acquit Georgia Baldwin. Afterward, county prosecutors announced they would retry the couple, but the case has been delayed pending the outcome of the Kubbys' trial. The Kubbys became subjects of a 6-month investigation by the now-defunct Lake Tahoe Drug Task Force in 1998 when an anonymous letter sent to authorities claimed Steve Kubby was selling marijuana to finance his gubernatorial campaign. "A utility worker has stated to expect to find 1,500 to 2,000 plants," falsely claimed the anonymous letter, which was mailed from Marina del Rey during the governor's race. When investigators searched the Kubbys' trash they found a notice to law enforcement that invited officers to knock on the door and inspect their garden. The notice stated that Steve Kubby was a terminal cancer patient growing his own medicine and warned police, "If you destroy the garden, I will hold you financially and morally responsible." Instead of paying the Kubbys a visit, investigators conducted 10 acts of surveillance and raided the Kubbys' rental home on Jan. 19, 1999. The evidence prosecutors used to try the Kubbys largely came from financial and other records seized from the couple's home computer - plus 265 plants in varying stages of growth. Once Cosgrove declared the case a mistrial, jurors explained their reasoning to journalists and attorneys. One juror said the difference in caliber of expert witnesses weighed in favor of the Kubbys. While prosecutors relied on narcotic officers, who said the Kubbys would harvest 25 pounds of pot, the defense referred to peer-reviewed studies by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the actual weight of the seized marijuana. No law-enforcement or prosecution expert bothered to weight the plants taken from the Kubbys. ( Heck, even the Kubbys' friends and character witnesses who testified were physicians and scientists, in conspicuous contrast to the less-educated prosecution "experts." ) "Hopefully this will send a message that ( the issue of medical marijuana ) needs to be dealt with," said juror Jan Halbern. "My mind was opened up to the Compassionate Use Act." Another juror, Robert Pineschi, said Gov. Gray Davis and the California Legislature need to set clear guidelines on how Prop. 215 is implemented. "One statement by defense attorney J. David Nick stuck with me," Pineschi said. "They ( prosecutors ) did this all backward. They arrested first and then tried to figure out if there was a crime." As far as the Kubbys are concerned, the 11-1 vote by a Placer County jury was a ringing endorsement of the Oakland guidelines, which allow a medical marijuana patient to grow up to 144 plants in different states of maturity. Relaxing afterward at their borrowed Meadow Vista residence, Michele Kubby expressed relief that the case had come to an apparent end nearly two years after police knocked on their door. "At first I thought that fighting the charges would be easy, since we were innocent," she said. "But it proved to be a lot bigger ordeal than I could have imagined. I feel like I've surfaced after diving through a series of waves." As the Kubbys discussed their case, Mike Baldwin called and Steve Kubby filled him in on the jury's decision. Kubby told Baldwin he hoped the mistrial would discourage Fenocchio from retrying Baldwin. "How much more money is the district attorney willing to waste on high-profile show trials that don't go anywhere?" Kubby asked Baldwin. For now, the Kubbys will wait to see if Placer County's district attorney re-files charges, or seeks to work with the medical marijuana community rather than pursue similar cases. "We want to give Mr. Fenocchio the benefit of the doubt before making any decisions of our own," Steve Kubby said at the end of the day. Complete Title: With Kubby Case Mostly Over, Focus Shifts To BaldwinsSource: Auburn Journal (CA)Author: Patrick McCartney, Journal City EditorPublished: December 24, 2000Phone: (530) 885-6585Copyright: 2000 The Auburn JournalAddress: 1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603Contact: ajournal foothill.netWebsite: http://www.auburnjournal.com/Related Articles & Web Site:The Kubby Fileshttp://www.kubby.org/Pair Claims Win in Pot Case Mistrialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8095.shtmlWith Jurors Deadlocked 11-1, Mistrial Declared http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8090.shtmlRocklin Couple Face Retrial on Pot Chargeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/1/thread1970.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Steve Kubbyhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=kubby
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on December 26, 2000 at 06:17:09 PT
hang on a minute
 I'm gonna have to do some research on this.If there is supposedly,no limits on number of plants,or amounts,according to 215,then why has it been a main issue in court? I'll bet it's because,medical possession is legal,but I believe they were trying to charge them with intent to sell,or distribute.That's what they will try to charge anyone with who has a large amount,and claims prop 215 as a defense.If they find a scale,or a couple of baggies,they will go after you for intent to distribute.dddd
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on December 26, 2000 at 05:24:14 PT:
Peter's Revenge, come round at last.
People, you all should read this. From the OCBC's own website: http://www.rxcbc.org/exa.htmlIt contains the Compassionate Use Act (Prop215) in its' entirety. Which is now California *law*.Read it. In no way, shape or form does it require limits on the amount a person may use, store, grow, etc. None. Goose egg. Nichivo. Zero. Zip. None. So why is this an issue?Here's one possibility:Since the de facto *murder* by judicial decree of Peter McWilliams, the Feds have been treading much more softly. They know that they have created a noted martyr, a famous author whose books have called attention to precisely the kind of things which they had hoped would stay 'decently buried'. Not only that, but when the next round of printings of McWilliams' books are made, the whole sordid story of how he was murdered by the *very forces he derided* will no doubt be part of the epilogues. Mainly, that he was killed by the governmental organizations he heaped literary scorn upon; killed for having the temerity to speak out against the government, will become clear to even the densest citizen.McWilliams was someone that caused unwanted attention to be focused upon their heretofore hidden war against sick people. Something that used to be conducted from the shadows has been dragged into the light. What used to be out of range of most people's radar screens has suddenly caused a blip to form, and people are asking questions. Questions the Feds know that their pat, stock (and rabidly, ridiculously reefer madness oriented) answers just won't square with the truth, anymore - not that they ever did.Here we have an interesting twist: the Feds have in essence tacitly concluded they lost the total prohibition argument. So, through their State cat's-paws, they are predicating their attack on the idea that the Kubby's have somehow *violated The Prop215 law!* They are trying to mcwilliams the Kubby's by another method; claiming that the Kubby's are racketeers abusing the law!Remember, the *law* mentions no limits. You think that was an oversight? A mistake? Nope, that seeming ommission was 'left out' for a precise reason: to short-circuit exactly this kind of nonsense. A nonsense the Feds are forced to stoop to using because they *know* that they have lost the *ideological* battle over cannabis: the hung jury proves that.What we are witnessing is the slow-motion unravelling of MJ prohibition. First, the Feds silently acknowledge that the never-truly-scientific foundation underpinning MJ prohibition has eroded. (I.E cannabis creating instant axe murderers, men growing women's breasts, and other such claptrap) Recent medical studies (such as the Abrams Durban Report) have blasted huge holes in the MJ toxicity argument. All the Feds are left with on that level are a rapidly shrinking arsenal of pseudoscientific 'studies' which can't survive peer-review. Losing the scientific battle, they are forced into Plan B: they try to use supposed violations of a State law they first *vociferously derided as being null-and-void* due to Federal suzerainity. This is a major step backwards for the Feds: first, they argue that Federal law trumps State law. When that doesn't work, they try to twist the State law into a rope to hang the Kubby's with. And the jury won't have it. Step by step, the Feds are being backed into a corner.You gotta love it. 
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on December 25, 2000 at 15:19:21 PT
a first
 By gum Kap,I think this is the first time reality has prevailed in court. But let's not forget that we are out here in the wild west.California is the place where voters approved prop 215,yet they still havnt figured out how to make it work....This is where the guys who used Rodney King for a pinata,got a slap in the hand.This is where O.J. butchered some people,and was found not guilty.And recently,a jury verdict was voided by a judge,with some absurd,twisted explanation,that has apparently gone unnoticed by the public. It is most encouraging that the stool has lost a leg;and the exposure in a court of law you mentioned,is gonna make passin' peach pits seem enjoyable.I hope they are passing horse chestnuts,or belt sanders. I'll bet the reason they couldnt be reached for comment,was because they were tryin' to get a hold of that LA judge,to see if there's some way they can say the jury was deciding on the wrong question and issue.Seasoned Greetings....................dddd
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on December 25, 2000 at 12:44:09 PT:
Smacked on their porcine little snouts
'Now it will be up to Placer County District Attorney Brad Fenocchio whether to try the Kubbys again on the cultivation-for-sale and conspiracy-to-cultivate charges that were the heart of the prosecution case. Fenocchio took the afternoon off Friday and was unavailable for comment. But most people in the legal community expect the district attorney to throw in the towel in light of the jury's 11-1 vote for acquittal.'Something to consider: this is the first time, to my knowledge, where the '(pseudo!)scientific' basis for MJ prohibition was both raised as a defense for the prosecution's actions...and used by the Defense to shoot down those same faulty precepts. The antis must be shaking like a dog passing peach pits; the one thing that they could not afford to have happen finally has. Namely, their dependance upon pseudoscientific claptrap about cannabis, fostered by biased government studies, has been exposed. In a court of law, no less. This can't do anything but help the Baldwin case. For the first time, a major leg of the stool holding up the anti contention that a valid reason exists for MJ prohibition has been sawed in two. Both the anti's self-proclaimed 'experts' and their equally dubious 'expertise' have been effectively challenged. Once those jurors became aware of the disparity of the government's position vis-a-vis the facts, it was all over. Those 11 jurors came to the *only* sensible conclusion. The antis have lost quite a degree of credibility...hence their silence. (No doubt conferring with their buddies in Washington DC to come up with a way to spin a failure into a victory. Perhaps they'll contend, as they did in 1996 after Prop215 passed, that California jurors, like the electorate at large, are stupid?) If another trial is attempted, the outcome might be even more swiftly decided...in the Kubby's favor. Which will signal the death-knell of MJ prohibiton in California. Which in turn will reverberate throughout the rest of the country.At the end of an earlier post, I suggested to the narks reading this that it might be a good time to cut their losses by dropping their prosecution of the Kubby case in particular and MJ prohibition in general. They obviously didn't listen.They'll have to, now. They've just received the first of what will no doubt be a series of punishing legal lessons. The landslide has started; short of martial law, nothing can stop its' progress.
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