Judge rules police must return 39 (medicinal) marijuana plants to couple

[babylonsister]

Judge rules police must return 39 marijuana plants to couple
By John Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007


A Fort Collins couple and their lawyer plan to visit the Larimer County sheriff's office Wednesday in hopes of recovering 39 marijuana plants seized by narcotics officers during a raid at their home in August 2006.

A Larimer County District Court Judge ruled Monday that authorities must return the plants and growing equipment taken from James and Lisa Masters. Their lawyer described them as medical marijuana providers for themselves and about 8 to 10 other people.

Brian Vincente, lawyer for the couple, hopes authorities have taken care of the plants as provided by the state's medical marijuana law, which was approved by voters in 2000.

"If they've allowed these plants to die, they've broken the law," said Vincente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, a non-profit advocacy group of medical marijuana patients.

He described the ruling as the largest return of medical marijuana to a grower since the law went into effect.

If the plants were destroyed, Vincente said his clients will seek compensation for the plants, which he estimated to be about $100,000.

Representatives of the Sheriff Department and the Larimer County Drug Task Force could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

more...

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/27/judge...

[AX10]

1. K/R!

They murder us with their guns, with their pepper spray, with their tasers, now they want to murder us by denying us our medicine.

This judge must be commended for serving the ideals and purpose of justice.

[catmandu57]

2. Good

but I bet they let them die, now they'll sic the fucking feds on them. I hate amerika.

[Joe Fields]

3. Thank god there is at least one judge that shows a little common sense.

And decency. I doubt that the Larimer County Sheriff's office have taken care of those plants. Most likely they have been destroyed.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Amen!

[freebrew]

19. Or burnt...

a little at a time.

[FatDave]

4. What are the odds that the cops kept those plants alive?

And what are the odds that they smoked them? I know where I'd place my wager.

Maybe when it's determined that those plants are missing from the evidence room there'll be a big media frenzy to point out the hypocrisy of the police. And maybe Mike Gravel will be the democratic nominee.

[madokie]

6. a friend and I was exiting a four lane hyway that exited in the mediam

so the people getting on were in the next lane to us and here comes a cop car and for some reason, I was looking over there into their car and I seen with my own two eyes the one cop in the passengers seat give the driver a joint. I know what a joint looks like too. But I doubt these cops in this story kept the pot plants alive.

[Kingshakabobo]

9. "Best way to make 'em bleed, is bust their ass and steal their weed" - Sgt. Stadanko

[madokie]

13. I'll just be taking this

I heard that once and I said sure go for it its yours. the cop gave me a warning for the failure to stop completely but never said anything else about the weed. I didn't know if he was being a good guy or a bad guy and at that point I didn't care I was just glad he just took it.

[porphyrian]

5. Ha! They need to use the same estimated value the cops use to convict...

...which may put the cost over the $100,000 they mention (if they aren't already doing that).

[mike_c]

7. happily kicked and recommended!

We had a local case like this several years ago-- IIRC the sheriff cited federal law and still refused to return the plants: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/180/humboldtshe...

Medical marijuana patient Chris Giaque thought he was covered. He had a doctor's recommendation, he had a medical marijuana patient's card, and he was carrying less than an ounce of marijuana. Under California's Prop. 215, or the Compassionate Use Act, as the resulting law is known, Giaque should have been safe from the tender mercies of the police.

Wrong. He was arrested after deputies found his medicine during a traffic stop in the Humboldt County town of Garberville in April 1999. When he protested, deputies added disturbing the peace and resisting arrest to his charge of illegally transporting marijuana. Welcome to the world of Sheriff Dennis Lewis, ardent defender of marijuana eradication in this county where growing has been a way of life for years.

Sheriff Lewis is so ardent that he took time off from the lucrative SWAT-style raids in which his department participates along with an array of state and federal anti-drug agencies, to tell a district judge to bugger off.

Last December, Judge Bruce Watson ruled on a motion from Giaque's lawyer, Eureka attorney Russ Clanton, to return his client's seized property, a tupperware container of marijuana. He granted Clanton's motion and ordered Sheriff Lewis to return the marijuana to Giaque. But when Giaque tried to retrieve his property, he was turned away.

"My position is that a state judge cannot order me to violate a federal law," Sheriff Giaque told the Eureka (California) Times-Standard last week.

The defendant in that case disappeared some months later and is presumed dead.

BTW, Denver police have returned medical marijuana at least once before, in 2005: http://www.freecolorado.com/2005/03/return.html

[robinlynne]

8. I'm sure those "terrible" plants have been smoked by now.

[tridim]

10. The best part, if there wasn't a BS war on (some) drugs..

The plants wouldn't have anywhere near a value of $100,000. Pay up suckers!

[JitterbugPerfume]

11. K&R

YAY!!!!!!!!

[Richard Steele]

12. Good. K&R

[cboy4]

14. Fortunately they were not seized by the DEA or they

would be history.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. K&R

[BlueIris]

16. Nice! But somehow, I can't imagine the cops watering the plants or anything, so...

I think the couple will now have to go through to lawsuit process and the hassle of growing new plants...

[progressoid]

18. The Sheriff Department & Larimer County Drug Task Force could not be reached for comment...

They were at Sams getting jumbo bags of Doritos.

[Ganja Ninja]

20. We wouldn't have this problem if it were just flat out legalized.

This is the problem with medicinal marijuana laws and decriminalization. It still ain't legal! Legalize and don't leave any gray areas about it. Then there will be no argument about it.