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| Marijuana Arrest Challenged |
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Posted by FoM on July 05, 2001 at 08:36:33 PT By Maline Hazle, Record Searchlight Source: Record Searchlight 
Disabled trucker and medical marijuana user James Hall is promising a fight against Redding police, who confiscated his crop, food stamps and pictures and arrested him Sunday after searching his house without a warrant."They've got themselves a battle," Hall said Tuesday, less than 24 hours after a call from his attorney, Eric Berg of Redding, to Shasta County Assistant District Attorney Greg Gaul resulted in his release from jail without bail. Hall had been jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail since his arrest on suspicion of cultivating marijuana. Police said that they had arrested Hall, 40, after a probation search of the Tidmore Lane home where he lives with his mother yielded 20 potted marijuana plants in his back yard. Though police said Hall was arrested on suspicion of a probation violation and a marijuana cultivation allegation, a Shasta County Jail spokesman said Hall was booked only on suspicion of the cultivation charge. Hall and his mother, Lydia, 63, were convicted of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana in February 2000, but their sentences were stayed and their probation was inactivated pending an appeal of that conviction. The same jury acquitted the two of marijuana cultivation and James Hall also was acquitted of possession of marijuana for sale. Their defense was based on Proposition 215, the 1996 law that allows patients with doctors' recommendations to grow and use marijuana. Hall suffered severe back injuries in a 1993 on-the-job accident and his mother used marijuana for glaucoma symptoms. Both had doctors' recommendations for pot. Both James and Lydia Hall said they repeatedly told police Sunday night that they are not on probation. "I told them to get out of my house," Lydia Hall said Monday. "We did not give permission to search." Lydia Hall said "a bunch" of police officers searched the house and that five or six patrol cars were parked outside. "It got kind of wild," she said. "They walked in my room; I was in my nightshirt. I said, 'Is this really necessary, especially since I'm not on probation?' and he (an officer) said, 'Maybe you don't want to be, but you are.' " She said officers threatened to handcuff her as they later did her son. James Hall said he answered the door after 9 p.m. Sunday and faced several police officers. The officers told him that a neighbor had reported pot plants at the house and asked if he were James Hall. "I said, 'Yes, sir, I am, and as you know, I have a prescription' " for medical marijuana use, James Hall said. Hall said the officers asked to see his doctor's written recommendation and he asked them to wait at the door while he went to get it. "By the time I got back to the living room the house was full of cops," he said. "They had no warrant. They said it was a probation search." James Hall said he continued to argue that he is not on probation while officers searched. He said they removed the 20 plants outside and also took food stamps and some "very personal pictures" of a girlfriend from his room. He also contends that the officers took the personal pictures door to door, asking his neighbors if they recognized the woman in the pictures. Redding police did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday, but Assistant District Attorney Gaul said police reports of the incident indicate that Hall consented to the search, which would have made it legal. Meanwhile, the Shasta Patients' Alliance released a statement saying that the search was "an example of the continued medical marijuana patient harassment that is rampant in Shasta County." The alliance was formed to advocate medical marijuana users' rights under Proposition 215. A class action suit filed by several alliance members last year names Shasta County District Attorney McGregor Scott, Sheriff Jim Pope and some of his deputies. The suit contends that Scott, Pope and the others are breaking the law and wasting taxpayer money when they arrest and prosecute medical pot users. Hall said his arrest was only his most recent contact with police, who came to his home and searched, with his permission, about three months ago after an anonymous tipster reportedly told police he was selling marijuana. "I'm the only one not on that suit," James Hall said. "I figured I don't need the grief — let it slide. "Now I'm not going to. "I'm a nobody. I'm not out there selling drugs. I don't have parties. I keep my stuff in my bedroom. . . . It's medicine and I keep it put away. "My big question is, who's next?" he asked. "I have children and it upsets them very much to have them come in like the Gestapo." Gaul said the case will be reviewed "just like any other case" and he hopes to decide by Friday whether Hall will be prosecuted. Note: Man suspected of cultivating pot plants vows he'll fight back. Reporter Maline Hazle can be reached at 225-8266 or at: mhazle@redding.com Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA) Related Article & Web Site: Medicinal Cannabis Research Links Medical Marijuana User Held CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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Comment #2 posted by lookinside on July 05, 2001 at 17:28:42 PT:
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| the cops infested our home without a warrant almost 3 years ago...they claimed my wife, who was here alone, gave them permission...her word against that of 6 criminals...they won that battle, but they will and i believe HAVE lost the war... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Geronimo on July 05, 2001 at 11:22:50 PT |
| Why won't the STUPID lawmakers help the STUPID cops understand the laws? We voted for medical pot and they should be dragged into court to make them uphold the laws the public voted for? I do understand that cops can't find real honest jobs. They lack the education! Still "PIGS "after all these years. Sad indeed! [ Post Comment ] |
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